When we see visual representations of sound, do we hear it better?
Hello to everyone. This Term is romping along and I am loving how our music sessions are unfolding across the Neighbourhoods. The question above has emerged as an observation from the Yr 5/6 students as they were watching an animated response to Ligiti’s 1958 electronic sound piece ‘Artikulation’. There is a resonance with the Yr 2s who are learning about Indigenous connection to Country through story telling, and the impact of their stories when sung as songs. How is it that when stories are sung, we have a deeper experience of the story being told and a greater empathy with the story teller? The singing of story and the seeing of sound: different pathways in our minds are ignited and inspired. Meanwhile, the joy of whacking Boomwackers with the Yr 1s and 3/4s is really honing some impressive team skills and co-ordination. Oh, and the Preps are expert Wombat Wobblers!
Music with the Prep Stars has been delightful these past couple of weeks. We have been out under the ash trees by the ’cat and mouse’ playing body percussion and co-ordination games. We have also been marching and dancing Jonny Huckle’s ’Wombat Wobble’ which has lots of Aussie animal dance moves inspired by Indigenous dance. We are looking forward to learning a song for the Harmony Day Assembly in March, and to singing the ’Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ Song.
The delight continued with the Yr 1s and actually rose to a level that ’blew my socks off’! After 2 weeks playing the Boomwackers, they now not only play their ’Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ beautifully as a slow lullaby, but they are also very accurate at a walking pace. Their Twinkles, when performed at the speed of a sports car, are nothing short of spectacular! Don’t mention team building skills and they excell! I’m so chuffed. Excellent listening Yr 1s, you win the Junior School Boomwacker Award! We also enjoyed two, much loved, dances to music by the folk group Shenanigans: ’Highway Number One’ and ‘Seven Jumps’ from Denmark. The music informs the students when to change their dance moves, either through the lyrics or through changes in the melody.
Who remembers the song ‘My Island Home’? It’s now a song loved by folk from across Australia. We all resonate with this ’island home’ of ours as we think of our country, but the lyrics were originally about Elcho Island off the north coast of Arnhem Land. Released in 1987 by the Indigenous group Warumpi Band, it has been covered by numerous indigenous artists including Christine Arnu in the late 1990s and more recently by Jessica Mauboy. I loved listening to the different versions of this song with the Year 2s, and we looked at how the lyrics have been changed to relate to our whole island of Australia and all who live here. The singer sings that no matter where they are living, whether it be out west of Alice Springs or in the city, home will always be the island where they grew up and where their spirit is. We all have that experience of connection to special place, out in the country and out amongst nature. It’s where we feel refreshed, revived and connected to spirit and wonder far beyond ourselves. When we closed our eyes and thought of these places, we all recognised a yearning to be there, and we especially remembered how deeply we longed ’go bush’ during the Lockdowns. This was how we found a entry point to help us understand what it means to have an indigenous connection to country.
The School Bell has become a focal point of interest. It’s a wonderful way of sharing our music learning and celebrating student achievement. Congratulations to Kylie’s flute students for their beautiful ’Frere Jacques’, which has seen us through many months. We are currently enjoying the memory of Kofi and Appiah’s workshops with us as we gather from the school yard to their music on the kora (African harp) and calabash. We are looking forward to rotating the music for the bell frequently as recordings of student’s performances are trickling in with anticipation. Bravo everyone.
The yr 3/4s have been tackling some more complex Boomwacker play-along arrangements: ’The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ and ’The Banana Boat Song’. Ensemble skills are really improving and students are experiencing that listening, watching and staying focussed are the keys to sounding awesome. Fun is good, and there is plenty of that too. When we add in the satisfaction from achievement we achieve super team learning outcomes. Bravo Yr 3/4.
After looking at graphic scores from the past 70 years and comparing how sound can be illustrated, the 5/6s have started to demonstrate their understanding of these concepts. Using a 12 year old student’s graphic score of a thunder storm, we tested out the effectiveness of the visual cues by playing the score with percussion instruments. I am impressed with the 5/6s understanding of how to interpret this visual material as sound, and we plan to create and perform our own graphic scores.
Tomorrow we are excited to present our first Instrumental Music Assembly for this year. Forty-five of our IM students from Yrs 3/4 and 5/6 will perform a variety of music from traditional folk songs and Classical tunes through to contemporary and popular songs. The assembly will be viewed by the school students via online streaming to their Neighbourhoods, and we welcome parents and carers of the performers to enjoy the show with us in the Gym. Thank you to the students for their hard work preparing to perform for us so early in the school year. Fantastic effort.
Many thanks everyone for a lovely couple of weeks and take care. Cheerio,Deb. 😺🌈🌻