Song Writing

Students in 456 SNC began term three by exploring the songwriting process in music. They listened to Fleet Foxes 'White Winter Hymnal' which was used in an advertisement for WWF, then discussed how the music was used to raise awareness of endangered animals. 

They learnt and rehearsed the song as a class and made choices about how to shape the music to communicate their ideas. Students then had a go at writing their own songs to raise awareness of an endangered Australian animal. They researched their animal,  identified a target audience, wrote a poem and used 'White Winter Hymnal' as inspiration for their own song. Towards the end of the process, students had the opportunity to perform songs for the class for feedback and completed a self assessment to reflect on their song writing journey. 

8-Bit Music

In term four, the focus shifted to the exploration of 8-Bit Video game music. Students delved into the rich history of video game music, and experimented with a music-making tool called Beep Box. This interactive approach empowered students to combine electronically generated sounds, crafting effects and music for either an existing or imagined video game. In the culmination of their exploration, students designed a poster to visually represent the essence of their video games and presented their posters and music to the class. 

Gatherings & Markets

Students had the opportunity to perform at 456 gatherings and Curiosita Market. Here are some of the talented and brave performers from this semester. 

Musical Me

Students in 456 engaged in a range of musical experiences and projects. They commenced the year with the 'Musical Me' project, which involved sharing musical facts about themselves, fostering a sense of community and connection among the students.

Australian Music 

The focus then shifted to the exploration of Australian music. Students had the opportunity to attend an exciting excursion to the Australian Music Vault, where they delved into the rich history of Australian music. Inspired by this experience, they were encouraged to write their own short songs, unleashing their creativity and musical talents.

Ukulele & Singing

In Term 2, the focus centred around the ukulele. Students acquired essential skills in reading chord notation, developed strumming patterns, and concentrated on transitioning between chords to play popular 4-chord songs. As part of their ukulele journey, they also learned the song 'I am Australian' in English & Italian and focused on refining their singing skills, emphasising control and expression.

Gatherings & Markets

Students had the opportunity to perform at 456 gatherings and Curiosita Market. Here are some of the talented and brave performers from this semester. 

Singing & Drumming

This semester in Music students began by exploring and experimenting with pitch and riffs in the piece ‘The Passenger’ by Iggy Pop. They learnt to sing different riffs, performed different parts together then had to locate the notes on a xylophone or keyboard to play each part. They also learnt about the parts of the drum kit and basic rock beats through chair drumming to practice beat and rhythm. 

Shakespeare Festival

As a part of the Shakespeare Festival students were split into three groups and had different focus’ in music. The production group explored parody song writing and had to choose a song and a topic for their parody then record or perform the piece. Students also created puppets and rehearsed their shadow puppet play with the sound effects during our sessions. 

The musician group learnt a 70’s disco piece as a band. They also explored parody writing and had to change the lyrics of the original song to reflect the story of ‘Comedy of Errors’. Students experimented and made choices about suitable sound effects to accompany the play. Musicians were also given the task of performing musical interludes between each scene. All of the music and sound effects were performed live and required students to work together as a team and follow various cues in the play.

The actors group focused on creating a disco inspired dance for each play. They began by learning a number of disco moves then created their own short dance routines. These dance routines were combined to create the whole group flash mob performed in each play. 

Su Nei Cieli began the year by continuing to develop beat, rhythm & ensemble skills through musical games and exploring different ways to create a performance using rhythm.  

They watched performances including STOMP, Bartucada & Baikal Ice Drumming and discussed similarities & differences the music they heard. Students rehearsed pieces using body percussion and percussion instruments then experimented with other elements to shape their own performances of 'Boom Ga Jam'.

Radio excursion

As a part of the radio program excursion, they explored the role of a music director discussing mood and genres of music. Students then worked in groups to curate BEPS radio playlists. 

In term two students developed their understanding of pitch and instrumental skills by learning to play keyboard, guitar or ukulele and singing. They learnt how to read staff and chord notation then located notes & major and minor chords on the instruments. Students rehearsed and performed songs playing & singing independent parts against contrasting parts.  

Notes on the stave

Students learnt about notes on the stave for treble & bass clef. They created silly sentences to help remember the different notes and played games to practise finding the notes. 

Gatherings

This year Friday Gatherings are back with a bang and we have had some absolutely fantastic performances by brave & talented students from Su Nei Cieli. These are some of the students that performed this semester. Well done to all of the students that performed! 

To start off the year Su Nei Cieli continued to develop beat & rhythm by learning different patterns with cups. To begin with they played passing games such as 'Pass the beat' & 'Freddy Okra' and learnt the cup song.  

They explored ways of expressing their ideas through rap and creating beats to perform to. They learnt about the history of Hip Hop and discussed how hip hop music is often used to comment on social and political issues. They practised speaking to a beat and developing their rapping skills by finding the backbeat in the music.  The students then had the task of writing a rap about their rights & responsibilities as kids in English & Italian. The accompaniment is made by cups and/or a backing beat made in Soundtrap. 

The focus in term 2 was on exploring ways for students to express who they are through music. This involved experimenting with song writing, creating music that could be set to poetry/a story or learning a song that they enjoy. They explored ways of combining the elements of music by using listening skills, voice and a range of instrument to create effects. They then rehearsed and performed their music, to communicate ideas and intentions to the class. Due to lockdown, this project was interrupted however here are some photos and snippets of the students rehearsals and first performance. 

Term 3

In term 3, Su Nei Cieli students participated in Music a bit differently, but being the flexible, creative and enthusiastic learners they are, they joined lessons online and shared some brilliant learning. They started off the term with the BEPS Musical Olympics which involved choosing different events to enter. This task required them to explore the different elements of music to experiment, rehearse, listen, play and perform. Here are some of the entries:

Music Olympics

Composing in Soundtrap

Soundtrap was a highlight for many students as they could finally collaborate with their classmates and create music at home together. Some of the tasks included:

•  Scavenger hunt to learn how to use the different features in Soundtrap

• Creating a ringtone using loops

• Making a backbeat & variations of a backbeat. 

Click the players below to listen:

Film Scoring

Students watched this video and responded to questions about how the different styles and elements of music changed the mood of the video. 

Term 4

Coming back to school, students were eager to play instruments together again. They learnt and practised the song 'White Winter Hymnal' by Fleet Foxes and discussed how it was used by WWF to raise awareness of endangered animals. Students rehearsed and made choices about how they shaped the music to perform the song.

Students then had a go at writing their own songs to raise awareness of an endangered animal. They chose an audience and had to think about how they were going to communicate their intentions to the audience.  They used the musical ideas from 'White Winter Hymnal' as inspiration for their own song. Here are some examples of their song writing process and songs.