Ukulele

This semester in Music 123 students began by learning ukulele. They learnt the different parts of the ukulele and how to locate and play simple chords. They practiced strumming and accompanying the class with singing. 

Singing & Pitch

They continued to explore pitch and develop in tune singing by playing singing games with a focus on group and individual singing and performing simple ostinatos. 

In term 4, students began rehearsing for the performance at the Twilight Market. Students made decisions about actions and how they wanted to present their song to the audience.

 In the Hall of the Mountain King

They explored the piece of music ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ by Edvard Grieg. They completed different tasks such as deriving the rhythm, creating their own rhythm monsters, dancing and telling the story through movement. They even surprised the audience at gathering with a flash mob dance. 

Gatherings 

Body percussion rhythms

Alveare began the year with a focus on beat and rhythm. They learnt songs and rhymes that involved adding movements or body percussion while keeping a steady beat. They explored rhythmic notation by performing using body percussion and then creating their own body percussion patterns. Here are some snippets & photos of the students playing, composing & performing. 

Finally we combined both body percussion and rhythm notation to make our own ostinato patterns to accompany the song 'Icka Backa'. 

Singing, Xylophones & Keyboards!

In term 2 the focus was on pitch, singing and playing xylophones & keyboards. We started each session off with warm ups, playing listening and singing games then played instruments.  Students made choices about the music they performed by changing elements such as tempo and dynamics. 

All 3 groups performing Performing 'Pudding on the Hill' listen out for the different farmer voices!

Listening & Responding

Students listened to different styles of music and responded through drawing and dance.  They described how the different use of elements of music creates moods, effects or how it changed. 

Students had fun learning a folk dance to a piece called 'Chimes of Dunkirke'. They had to listen to the patterns in the music and for any changes in the tempo. They also worked as a team to make sure everyone had a turn at sharing their moves down the middle. 

Gathering Performances

This year Friday Gatherings are back with a bang and we have had some absolutely fantastic performances by brave & talented students from Alveare. Well done to all of the students that have performed so far.

Alveare started off the year with a focus on beat and rhythm. They learnt chants and raps that involved adding movements while keeping a steady beat. They explored graphic notation by performing using body percussion and then playing percussion instruments along with the Donkey Kong theme song. Here are some snippets & photos of the students playing along. 

They then moved onto reading rhythmic notation and performing along with Yoshi's theme. In this task the focus was on playing the rhythms with a steady beat and composing a short solo for the free play section. Students then explored with this rhythm by playing it on different instruments and experimenting with different elements of music like dynamics, tempo and pitch. 

Music & Emotions

To end the term we explored how music can be used to change the mood of a story. They watched this snippet of Lion King and responded by drawing faces or writing to how the different music made them feel and how the story changed. 

In term 2 the focus has been on pitch, singing and using our voices in different ways. We started each session off by doing lots of different warm ups, playing listening and singing games. Here is one that warmed up our mouths & faces.

Plasticine Person

Another warm up activity was 'Plasticine Person' have a listen to the wacky adventures plasticine person went on with Alveare. 

Mama Llama

Mama Llama is a super catchy nonsense song that involves body percussion, singing and creating dance moves.

Down by the Bay

Students read the story 'Down by the Bay' and identified all the rhyming lyrics and learnt the song. They then became lyric writers and created new verses to the song. These new lyrics have been put together to create an LC singing book. 

Rain Storm

Students created a rainstorm by using different body percussion sounds & their voices. They explored texture by putting the different sounds together and dynamics by making the sounds build up through the storm. Here are the 3 different groups performing their rainstorms. 

Isle of Tune

Making musical beats and patterns using the website 'Isle of Tune'. 

Graphic Scores

They created their own graphic scores using sounds and different graphic notation to represent their ideas. 

Chrome Music Lab

There were many different activities students could explore, they were given challenges and had to share what they discovered when making music with Chrome Music Lab. Have a look at what they discovered!

Bucket Drumming 

Students practiced beat and rhythm and became rockstars by bucket drumming to 'We Will Rock You' & other songs. 

Students ended the term with a focus on instruments of the orchestra and playing listening games to help recognise different instruments. 

Term 4

Finally we came back to school and began the term with a spooky Halloween theme by reviewing instruments of the orchestra with a story called 'Musicians' Manor'. Students then learnt a glow stick routine to the song 'Spooky Scary Skeletons'. Here are the students following along with the moves. 

Music Around the World

Students made passports in preparation for a musical adventure around the world. So far they have visited a number of countries such as USA, Japan, Indonesia, Ireland & China to find out about musical instruments, culture and celebrations in those countries.

Students listened to different styles of music, played instruments, used body percussion, read stories and learnt some rhymes. Here are some photos of their adventures.