MIGALOO, THE WHITE WHALE
A composition project for primary and junior secondary students
Where to start….
The aim of this project is to help students get started with composing music. One way is to read a picture book and to compose music that tells the story of the book. For this project we are using the storybook by Mark Wilson, titled 'Migaloo, The White Whale'. This book can help us begin writing music right now. It is a true story about a rare white whale named Migaloo.
Migaloo was born in the warm waters off the Queensland coast. Every year he travels from Antarctica to Queensland. The journey is filled with many dangers and adventures.
Before we can compose our music we need to really understand the story in detail. We need to read each page carefully and think about the moods, the characters and the themes of the story. For example; the first page shows a pod of whales playing in the warm waters off the Australian coast in Queensland. There is a lot of information on this page which provides clues and pathways to help guide our composition.
Firstly we notice that the main feature of the picture is the water and that the whales are playing in the distance. We can use describing words to discover the mood of this section of the story.
We notice that the colours used are warm. We also notice that the waves are small. It creates a peaceful feeling. That means one layer of the music we create will need to make us feel peaceful and contented. We then need to decide on a way to create peaceful and contented music. How can we show this in music?
Will we use long notes or short notes?
Will the rhythms be bumpy or smooth?
Can we combine bumpy and smooth rhythms to create the effect we want?
We can ask ourselves whether we will use high notes or low notes.
We can ask whether we want to use chords or a melody.... or even both together.
We can ask each other whether we have any other ideas we would like to add.
We can ask each other why we think this would be a good idea to add.
There are thousands of ways to learn to compose music. When we share ideas we can learn from each other. This is great fun as often one person's idea sparks a new and different idea with another person, and off we go, adding one great idea after another. Our composition soon begins to take shape – it is interesting and exciting.
How can we go to 'other worlds' of sound and meaning?
What questions can we ask ourselves when we compose?
How is the music breathing?
What if I created a rhythmic motive using a short phrase?
What if I added a melody using four or five notes?
What if I played the same pattern five notes higher?
We can look at how other people compose.
We can learn to 'talk about music' in ways which help us to compose.