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.