Music 4: A cacophony of sound resources

Stacked to the brim with lesson ideas, iPad Apps, names of musical composers and movie scores, I feel like I’ve emerged from the music workshops far less intimidated by the idea of ‘teaching music’. Aside from the necessary skills, terms and knowledge of musical concepts which need explicit teaching, I’m excited to use music as a tool for teaching other KLAs. For example:

Maths:

-       Graphic notation as a form of algebra

-       reading music using fractions

-       skip counting using body percussion

-       singing multiplication tables

-       pie charts to breakdown the structure and tone colour of a piece

-       graphing pitch, time, tempo and dynamic changes over the course of a piece

-       identifying the missing rhythm in a bar

-       measurement: scale of instruments like xylophone bars will affect the pitch

English:

-       writing and listening to verses and rhyme in song, akin to poetry

-       analysing the meaning of songs

-       analysing song structure, like repetition for emphasis

-       using picture books as a stimulus (writing a song accompaniment for a picture book, or writing a picture book for a song)

-       onomatopoeia

Billy Goats Gruff

For example, Billy Goats Gruff by Susan Hellard, could be used for readers theatre using instruments, composing and playing an accompanying percussive piece. An example of how this text has been used in such a style can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO-5KgcfHmI

Art:

-       Paint or sculpt what you listen to

- Design a picture book cover or page spread

-       Compose and play a musical accompaniment to a famous artwork, comic strip or digital text

-       Discuss how music reflects the culture, art periods and architecture of the time (links with HSIE)

-       Life drawings of instruments, making instruments (links with science of sound)

- For example, the image to the right depicts Billy Goats Gruff in a very different style to that of the average picture book.

Science:

-       Labelled diagrams and hands-on experiments and explorations of instruments are an excellent way of teaching the science of sound. What parts of instruments are responsible for the pitch and volume?

-       Design and make your own musical instrument

-       Recreating the sounds of a natural habitat, eg. rainforest, beach etc…

-       Exploring how animals make sounds, like crickets, frogs and lyrebirds.

HSIE:

-       Historical and art periods go hand in hand – past, present and future.

-       Sustainability, for example, making instruments from recycled materials. The Landfill Harmonic do just this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYu7c4Vkmp0

-       Culture studies

PDHPE:

-       Moving and dancing to musical elements: give a pitch, tone colour, rhythm etc… and move and dance accordingly

-       Pass the ball when the tempo / structure / lead instrument changes. Pass a ball overhead for high pitch and under for low pitch

-       Create a percussive or vocal sound tunnel of students and have students run through to experience the acoustics

Music can also be used for behavioural management. I met a teacher who used the ukelele to gain student’s attention, and used it in transitions, like a musical-pack up. You can use have students repeat percussive rhythms to gain attention.

What also stands out for me is how we should engage students in performing, organising sound and listening, the latter of which I had not really considered as much when I first conceptualised ‘teaching music.’ It is a large and integral part of the syllabus and exposes students to the diversity of musical pieces, vocal and instrumental, from a range of contexts, cultures, eras and families of instruments. This may be in part due to my experiences of music in primary school, involving only playing and performing, rather than thinking criticially about musical concepts. I now have a list of the sorts of critical questions and lesson ideas I can guide students with in appreciating various musical stimuli, incorporating the musical concepts specified in the Syllabus (BOS, 2006). Having a visual and aural piece using ICT like Youtube, is valuable as it allows students to both listen and watch the instruments being played and conducted. An interview or commentary by the composer as the piece plays is another interesting way of critiquing. You can differentiate the response style to questions by making them open-ended or providing multiple-choice options. Another factor to keep in mind is the length of piece. Playing and analysing a certain section in-depth may have more value than having students listen to a longer piece. And in some cases, having students respond to questions through actions, humming etc… may be easier as they may lack the terminology to describe concepts, like diminuendo and accelerando!

Stimuli:

-       Carnival of the Animals (Camille Saint-Saens)

-       In the hall of the mountain King (Edvard Grieg)

-       Ice Dance: Edward Scissorhands (Danny Elfman)

-       Hedwig’s theme: Harry Potter (John Williams)

-       Mission impossible (Lalo Schifrin)

-       Batman (Neal Hefti)

-       Flight of the bumble bee (Rimsky Horsakov)

-       Baby elephant walk (Henry Mancini)

Tone colour: What do the instruments represent? Describe how they are played. What is the first instrument you hear? What family of instruments comes next? Why does the composer use this instrument? What voice range can you hear? Does the lead instrument stay the same throughout the song? How does the family of instruments make the sound of _____?

Dynamics: How would you describe the dynamics of the piece? What words would you use to describe this piece? What images come to mind?

Duration: Describe the tempo and rhythm. What sorts of short and long sounds are played?

Pitch: What effect do the high pitch sounds have? How do the low pitch sounds make you feel?

Structure: Describe how the piece is organised. Is there an introduction, chorus, bridge, interlude and conclusion? Can you hum or play the ostenatto (repeating riff)? Can you suggest a story or narrative to go with the piece?

Once students have an understanding of the sorts of questions you can use to critique, they can be encouraged to write their own questions!

The last workshop really drove home the utility of ICT in teaching music. For listening (and watching) music, Youtube offers a diverse range of pieces. For composing music, iPad and computer apps like Garageband and Audacity, Finger Stomp, MyStory and Percussive Latin, allow students to experiment with different instruments at the touch of a finger. There are also programs for school music incursions, like:http://wrightstuffmusic.com/

References

Board of Studies (2006). Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus. Sydney: author.

Dance 4: Moving to a stimulus

Today’s workshop gave us the choice to experiment with all the different elements of dance, using a stimulus. As always we started with a locomotor warmup, which had a more cardiovascular orientation, due to the more physically challenging nature of the choreography in today’s task. We traveled around the space to music and moved into the corners of the room, to carry out burpees, star jumps, triceptives and crunches. This reminded me of the dynamic stretches you would start a PDHPE lesson with.

We were then introduced to the choreography sequence, which was more organic movement than previous sequences. It linked with last lesson around the picture book Henry and Amy, by Stephen Michael King, asking us to characterise a movement as being akin to either Amy (controlled, restricted movement) or Henry (free, wild movement). The sequence used levels, canon, isolated body parts and contrast.

This followed on to the main task, which would normally comprise a term of work with background research and cross-KLA integration. We formed groups based on our interest in a range of stimuli presented:

- Tactile (feeling an object in a bag). The range of possibilities here are endless!

- Visual (a tribal statue of a woman with her head in her hands)

- Kinaesthetic (creating a narrative to go with the choreography sequence)

- Ideational (creating a 30 second advertisement for a product, with criteria of vocals, slogan, a focus on a particular body part, an element of contrast, etc….

I worked in a pair on the visual stimulus. We had to brainstorm ideas, develop a concept, create movement to show intent. We had to consider using space, time, dynamics, relationships and structure.

What do you see, hear or touch?  How do you move?  What do you feel or think?

our visual stimulus

We brainstormed ideas based on the functional way the object opened up, the cultural context of a naked tribal woman (the aesthetics of material and shape) and the vulnerable emotion conveyed in her body language. 

Our piece had the intent of showing her moving from a stressed state of vulnerability, pausing for self-reflection, seeing herself (in a mirror image), and eventually breaking free. We used mirroring techniques, isolating body parts by focusing attention on our fingers running along the floor, contrast in the way we broke from mirrored actions, and changing levels from low to high. The musical accompaniment we chose was perfectly suited (Salt, from a Bangarra Dance Theatre performance called Terrain, composed by David Page).

The sorts of movements we used were also partly inspired by Bangarra Dance choreography, as can be seen below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgMt_7el44

After ten minutes, we performed our pieces, after stating our title and intent. I think the piece really connected with the audience due to the relationship we conveyed and the slow, occasionally contrasting movement. It was satisfying receiving feedback from peers who said the piece really touched them!

The difficulty of this task was not having parameters to guide our thinking. In comparison to other tasks, the visual stimulus was more open to interpretation. I would start students with stronger scaffolding before moving into tasks that are more open for interpretation.

Music 3: Soundscapes

Creating a Soundscape is a method I am really excited to use in a classroom, as it would holistically engage my students whilst teaching them about organising sound. We listened to and discussed our thoughts on an instrumental percussion piece called ‘rainforest’ by David Hewitt of B’Tutta. I was surprised how easily a context, mood and narrative sprung to mind, almost subconsciously developing skills in thinking imaginatively and creatively (with English syllabus links). Social and cultural contexts are conveyed, and students would draw on their own memories and experiences. The musica viva website contains other pieces which can be used for soundscapes on lessons: http://www.musicaviva.com.au/vivazone/musicians/musician.asp?id=2

our Road Rage soundscape graphic notation

A soundscape can be represented using graphic notation, taking the form of a sequenced pathway, a static image read as bars from left to right or top to bottom, or read with each group in rows. Some sounds could be used continuously, intermittently, just once, and could be played loudly, softly, fast or slow, and either standing alone or in conjunction with other sounds. We created a narrative about road rage, using the skin of a tambourine to indicate the air conditioning in the car, finger cymbals to rattle keys, and a drum with a soft beater to create a feeling of simmering rage as the volume and pace increased.

Lastly, we created a rap, selecting a theme (in this case road rage) and brainstorming words that rhymed with the final word. We composed four lines, indicating the words that would fall on a beat and adding percussion (a beat box) to count in and hold the beat. Other groups experimented with repetition, intros, outros, having certain people emphasise keywords (vocal punches) or allocating certain parts to people to shift emphasis around the group. The enunciation was important as well as the sharpness and expression used in the voice, as no changes in pitch are permitted in raps. You can use raps in helping students remember concepts in any KLA, and it improves English skills in syntax and rhyme.

Dance 3: Literacy meets movement with Henry & Amy

In today’s workshop we explored the use of stimuli for dance. We read Henry & Amy, a picture book by Stephen Michael King, which explores the themes of friendship, sameness and difference, conformity and individuality and is suitable for Early Stage 1 through to Stage 2 depending on the context of use.  A single page spread may be used as the visual stimulus, a selection of words used (in this case an ‘opposites’ word bank), a character study or the general themes presented.

We began with a locomotor warm-up, playing the follow-the-leader game using words from the opposites word bank, such as topsy-turvy, straight, wiggly, backwards, forwards. This progressed into a sequence of lines moving down the floor, moving from specific and concrete words into more abstract ideas such as sunny, rainy, right, wrong, same and different. I tried to incorporate the elements of dance in my movements, such as levels, relationships and structure, adding pauses, ducking low and using facial expressions to convey the emotion of the more abstract words. The stimuli in this exercise were visual, auditory and ideational, performed in time to music, and all in relation to the picture book.

As a kinaesthetic warm-up activity we performed a movement embodying the character of Henry or Amy, which was passed down a line like Chinese whispers. Although this was quite funny, it was interesting to observe how different people’s interpretations of movements are embellished and change the shapes and energies conveyed in a movement. This could also be extended with adding a movement on to each cumulatively, building the student’s capacity for remembering choreographed sequences.

The focus activity involved choosing to work in a group of Amy’s, Henry’s or their relationship, and creating a sequence without music that reflected the characters or the themes. We told a story entitled “breaking free”, which carried the intention of showing how people may be trapped in a conformist, balanced life, but after they take a risk and express themselves, others may follow. We played with levels, canon, travel and shape to provide variety. Though this was achieved without music, extending the activity to include music selection or composition would add another layer.

Before this lesson I was hesitant to know how to introduce dance into a lesson, but I can see how characters, feelings and concepts can be kinaesthetically explored through dance to improve outcomes in other KLAs, particularly literacy. This ties in with Gibson and Ewing's (2011) premise that the arts is a kind of "aesthetic literacy" (p. 8).

References

Gibson, R. & Ewing, R. (2011). Transforming the curriculum through the arts. Camberwell: Palgrave Macmillon.

Dance 2: Letting our hair down

We consolidated some of the elements of dance from the previous workshop, and learnt more complex ones, culminating in a filmed choreographed piece to “hairspray” the Musical. The warm-up consisted of traveling around the space at different speeds, forms, shapes and levels, independently and in groups, such as “hop around…. Make a tree with 5” and with an appropriated PE tag game. We then played follow-the –leader, using sustained, lyrical, percussive movements.

We eased into some choreographed walks, staying in line as we walked toward a point, including a jazz run, a walk and turn. This became more complex and specific, breaking down and teaching sections of choreography. In putting the choreography together in our “hairspray” piece, I could see how effective the choreography became once we used levels, ducking and rising; and canon, freezing as certain characters took the stage. This would create more variety and be more engaging for audiences, than a synchronised, whole-class dance. After a practice run we were filmed, making a link with digital media. The task also required elements of drama like characterisation with body language and facial expression, and could cross KLAs into English to reflect written and film texts. 

Music 2: Sing your heart out!

The thought of having to sing infront of other MTeach students in today’s workshop was daunting, but surprisingly easy. The teacher took us through a variety of warm-up exercises, focusing on breath control, articulators and stance. These were fun and challenging, including tongue twisters and grouping the class to perform a variety of sounds.

Tongue exercise warm-up

Lips exercise warm-up

Breathing exercise warm-up

The teacher went through the elements of singing which teachers should focus on. More than just handing students a lyric sheet and pressing play, I now feel equipped with some starting skills I need to help children become pitch perfect, rhythmically harmonious and confident singers. Incorporating a variety of kinaesthetic and aural modes of learning would be important, such as percussion, actions, staging and movement that reflects the genre and structure of the music. It is important to pay attention to the music appreciation side, as well as performing – by highlighting the key points students should listen out for when responding to a song. Questions should focus student attention on the conepts of music which are specified in the syllabus such as, “what can you tell me about the way the song is put together?” (structure), “what sorts of sounds do you hear?” (tone colour) and “did any parts of the song get louder or softer?” (dynamics).

After this discussion we sang Wet Day Blues, splitting the class into different sections to layer the song.

Wet Day Blues songsheet

The selection of material to sing is important, making sure it does not breach copyright, is lyrically appropriate, encourages music reading and is challenging but achievable. The teacher gave us a variety of websites and resources. The website http://www.karaoke-version.com/ is a useful site for affordable instrumental backing versions of songs, with and without backing vocals. You can also change the key and the tempo. The material should also consolidate and build upon the skills taught previously so as to increase complexity in rhythm, harmony and so on.

Dance 1: An introduction to the elements of dance

As a warm up, we traveled around the room to music in random patterns: straight lines with sharp corners, curved pathways, backwards and leading with different body parts. To get the heart rate up we also did a dynamic isolated body part warm up to music. As a lead-in to dance and to get our performance confidence up, we divided into groups. To music, each row walks in unison toward mirror with a walk, then with a basic walk and turn, then with a choreographed step sequence. This was easy to see individual’s sense of timing, coordination, unison etc… without feeling like you were performing.

The next activity was moving around the space based on given parameters, like move with “two feet”, “one foot two hands”, “no hands or feet”, “make letters of the alphabet”. This served as a brainstorming method, as we then formed groups and devised and performed a piece to music using these parameters. We used our bodies to spell out the letters of our names, which we then performed to a partner and then to the class. I was surprised how the letter formations constitute such unusual dance movements, without even thinking of it as choreography!

In all of the activities, we almost implicitly considered the elements of dance like levels, space, travel, timing and so on. The structure of activities (working in groups) eliminated the feeling of self-consciousness and reserve we would usually feel in a performance space.