Category Archives: Creative Arts

Major or Minor?

If a song is played in a major key, it will sound happy. If it is played in a minor key, it will sound sad. Are the following songs major or minor? What connections or memories do they inspire?

 



Introducing the Stave

The stave (or staff, if you prefer) is a way of recording how high or how low a note is.

The lines on the treble stave are named for their matching pitched notes. Try the poem below to remember them:

egbdf

Here’s where they match with a piano keyboard:

pianonotes

Try playing ‘Name That Note‘ to practise, or use Ms Salmon’s giant staff to play speed staff games, or musical twister.

Challenge 1 – Chords

Simple chords are made of the first, third, fifth, and sometimes eighth note of the scale (major or minor). If you don’t know the scale, then count:

  • MAJOR: the starting letter is the first note. 4 half steps up to the next note. 3 half steps to the next note. 5 half steps to the final note.
  • MINOR: the starting letter is the first note. 3 half steps up to the next note. 4 half steps to the next note. 5 half steps to the final note.

Choose a starting note, and in small groups, try to find which notes should be in the chord. Record on the whiteboard staves as letters or notes.

Challenge 2 – Scales

Starting on a different note each time, work out which notes ‘sound right’ in the scale. You will need to work out which ‘white’ notes are replaced with ‘black’ notes. Record on the whiteboard staves as letters or notes.

HINT: From easiest to hardest,

  • C – 1# (sharp)
  • G – 2 #s      F – 1 b (flat)
  • D – 2 #s
  • A – 3 #s
  • E – 4 #s
  • B – 5 #s

EXTENSION Challenge 3 – Pentatonic Scales

Penta means five, and tonic refers to tone. A pentatonic scale is made of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th notes of the scale. Starting on ‘C’, the pentatonic scale would be C, D, E, G, A. Can you work out the pentatonic scales starting on different notes, and record the pattern on the treble stave?

 

UPDATE:

 

Discovering Chords from Ms S. on Vimeo.



Tick, Tock, Goes the Clock…

 

How about some clock games?



Aboriginal X-Ray Art

X-Ray art is a style or art that was developed many years ago in Australia. Cave paintings of this type have been found in Arnhem Rock, in northern Australia (east of Darwin). These paintings seem to show the outline of the animal, plus diagrams of the bones and some internal organs. There are solid colours, as well as patterns which can be layered over light colours. Earth colours such as orange, brown, yellow, red, black, and white are used. Backgrounds can include patterned borders and details, and there is often more than one animal sharing the space.

7353468188_1f99dac2f7_b Aboriginal-art

You will need: a picture of a reptile, brown paper, earth coloured pastels

  1. Look at a picture of your chosen animal – an anatomical drawing would be most helpful.
  2. Sketch the outline of silhouette using pencil or white pastel.
  3. Add lines showing the bone structure (eg. skull, spine, ribs) and any known organs (eg. heart, lungs) OR simply divide the inside of your animal into sections.
  4. Fill each section with a simple shape or pattern that repeats. Fine cross hatching called ‘rarrk’ is traditional to Arnhem land.
  5. Consider adding simple details to the background such as rows of dots or lines echoing the outline of your animal.


Pitch

Pitch is how high or low/deep a sound is.

Listen to the following excerpts and determine if they are mostly high sounds, mostly low sounds, and how high or low. See if you notice any patterns of how the pitch of the notes change.

Try some match pitch or compare pitch. Then, listen to how the singers below combine the 7 standard notes to make songs. Do you hear any patterns of movement between notes, such as glissando, trill, steps, or intervals?



Dramatic poetry readings

Years 3-6 (and 2/3 Banks) have been performing Readers Theatre and appreciating spoken word poetry. The following groups arranged their poem or verse, adding their own actions, body language, and expression to entertain their audience. For these performance, they were given 15-30 minutes of independent preparation time.



S3 Morse ‘Sing Out Loud’

S3 Morse had their first visit to Leigh Place to sing with some of the residents and build community connections. Here are some of the songs that we sang:

 

Sing Out Loud Together brings the youngest people in a community together with the eldest people in a community to sing and share stories. In the process children learn about the extraordinary lives of their elders, and have a buddy who wants to hear their stories too. Elders living in the support of aged care services gain a buddy who connects them with new ideas. Singing, talking and reading stimulates memory and brings happiness.



Dramatic Readings

Reader’s Theatre is a drama technique where the actors do not memorise lines or perform actions on a stage, rather, they read the script relying on vocal expression and a few gestures to make meaning.

Some vocal tricks that enhance your performance are rhythmic reading, pauses and emphasis, and tone of voice. See how they are used in ‘slam poetry’. What else do the following poets do to get your attention, and make meaning?

Try the warm-up exercise “My Baby Sister“. Then with your team, prepare a verse of “How to Torture Your Students” or “How to Torture Your Teacher“. Your purpose is to entertain your audience – which is the rest of the class, and of course, ME!

  • Decide which words to emphasise, where to put your pauses, and how you will make your voice interesting.
  • Decide if you want to add any gestures, movements, facial expression, or even  sound effects.
  • Practice with a partner, and share feedback to improve your performance.
  • Time for a poetry battle! Which team can be the most expressive entertainers? 


Dance Assessment!

When we dance using locomotor (travelling) actions, we can plan an interesting pathway to travel along. It could be straight, curved, or even zigzag. You can travel along the pathway forward or backwards, and can change your action. If you have more than one person on the same path, you might meet and interact by doing a non-locomotor movement together. What if people swapped pathways? When a large group dance together, beware of ‘the flush’ – a circular or spiralling pathway!

Appreciation #1

Appreciation #2

Group Composition Task (3-5 students per group)

  1. Mark out, or plan and visualise two pathways.
  2. Decide where and on which pathway each dancer will begin
  3. Each dancer chooses a locomotor movement (or is assigned one from the word bank)
  4. Choose a non-locomotor movement to perform if dancers meet on the same pathway
  5. Perform to music

I am looking for:

  • Clear pathways
  • Distinct locomotor movement while travelling
  • Interacting through a non-locomotor movement


Music Meets Art

Romare Howard Bearden is one artist who found inspiration for his work through music.

Abstract guitar, mixed media 069

 



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