2017, Term 3, Week 6: Tuneful Glassware

This is a photoshopped image - so it doesn't exist - but it would be fun to drive on it!

 YOU MUST GO TO THIS CONCERT!  The Auckland Philharmonic  Orchestra are doing a FREE Concert at the Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau, at 3pm, SATURDAY  9th SEPTEMBER.   This is a wonderful opportunity to see a real live orchestra, and to practise all those audience skills we have been learning. 

This week's tongue twister: 

Where would you need to make sure you took a lozenge - in a non-crinkly wrapper? 

Theory: 

Add bar lines to match the time signature. Scroll down to end of post to see the completed version

How many notes  and  music symbols can you identify?

The glass harp is made by  having a set of glasses all the same size and filling them with different amounts of water - or by having a range of different-size glasses and filling them all to the same level. The sound is made by running a finger dipped in water around the rim of the glass.   Friction from the rubbing causes vibration, and the vibration creates sound waves.  The more water, the lower the pitch because the liquid slows down the vibrations.  The use of glasses to make music goes back as far as the 14th century, in Persia.  From the 1700s, various musicians performed using the glass harp - sometimes using a stick instead of moistened fingers. Rock band Pink Floyd used glasses in the recording of Shine on You Crazy Diamond in 1975.   
Here's David Gilmour from Pink Floyd doing Shine on You Crazy Diamond  at a concert in Poland. Notice the glass harps.  Here's a very short video to show you how they set it up for their rehearsal. 

Here's a beautiful piece of music by Franz Schubert, called Ave Maria, played on the glass harp. Notice that it's the same person playing both parts, and they've been mixed together.
                                         

Here he is again, playing Fur Elise by Beethoven. And the Harry Potter Theme. 

Here's a musical saw and a glass harp, playing The Swan from Saint Saens Carnival of the Animals. 

Here's how you can have a go at making a glass harp at home. 

                                       

Dances: (Student requests, plus the following new ones.) 
Juniors: 
All Star (from Shrek)  skip to 28  to start 
Can't Stop the Feeling 
YMCA - Just Dance Kids 
Maxarena 

Seniors:  Y.M.C.A. by the Village People  (Just Dance) 
What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction 
                                                           

Juniors: 
This week's nursery rhyme is 1,2 Buckle my Shoe. There are many versions of this - including a second verse that goes up to 20. 

Homework: 
Check out someone's version of Spongebob doing Dynamite. 

Choir Concert Sunday 27th August

Mrs Lee and Mrs Vincent are singing in this choir.
 Do come along.

2017, Term 3, Week 5: Musical Tools

Daffodil Day - Friday August 25th 

Add bar lines to match the time signature. Scroll down for completed version. 

This week's tongue twister is especially for Daffodil Day on August 25th. 

Dances: 

Juniors: Goodnight Moon 

Get Ready to Wiggle,  Pop Goes the Weasel,   Walking on Sunshine - Smurfs' Dance Party 

Everything is Awesome, Shout, Boom-Shak- a - Lak (Smurfs' Dance Party) 

Senior: 

Born to be Wild  , Let's Groove , Cheap Thrills (Bollywood version)

Bonus: Istanbul not Constantinople 

Interesting Instruments: 

                                                

Anything can be used as an instrument - even tools!

Here's a clip from a 1990s tv programme called Home Improvement, where the cast use tools to play the theme song. 

Here's some very interesting ways of making music with tool boxes. 

This is a German group who make music with a variety car parts and tools. 

And here's some music using power tools in a a Hitachi promotion video. 

And this is from the opera Carmen - using tools and a saw!

                                         

Juniors - Instead of a nursery rhyme today we have a daffodil poem 

 

We are learning the words for loud and soft in music (dynamics)  

pianissimo means very soft 

piano means soft 

forte means loud 

fortissimo means very loud 

Here's a song to help you learn these words.   

                                              

Seniors / Intermediates: 

Time to revise our notation 

- I Knew You Were Treble 

- Notation Song 

- Ode to Treble Clef

                                                    

New Ukulele Links (See Ukulele tab at top of page for more) : 

Johnny B Goode (C,F,G7) 

Treat You Better - Shawn Mendes Am, G, F, C 

Born to Be Wild  G, A, Em (Use Em for E) This is the lyrics/tabs/chords site,  see Just Dance Born to be Wild for the backing track. 

Can't Help Falling in Love (21 pilots cover of Elvis Presley song) C, Em, A, F, G, Em, B7, A7,

Cheap Thrills - Sia  Em, C , D,  G
El Condor Pasa (C,G,Am, Em)
I Have a Dream (Abba) E7, A, D 
Roar by Katy Perry. The chords/words are here. You'll need to have the song vid going separately if you want to accompany the original.  Stick to Bb, Gm, Cm to start with - with Bb being OK for most of the song. 

Did you put the bar lines in the correct place? 

2017, Term 3, Weeks 3 & 4: Playing with your food - literally

 This week we are looking at musical instruments made from vegetables - so maybe you can play with your food!
                                                         


Thank you very much, Elvis Presley 

August 17  (NZ time - but officially on the 16th August, US time) - Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. 

Here's a few ways to commemorate his music: 

Here's a clip of Elvis Presley singing - and dancing - to Hound Dog in 1956 - at the very earliest stages of his career. 
Here's a clip of Elvis singing Hound Dog through the years. 

Jailhouse Rock line dance (Seniors) 
Jailhouse Rock (Juniors) 
Viv Las Vegas  (Seniors) - a bit of fun - and quite fast. 

Ukulele  songs:  
Medley  with Blue Suede Shoes and Hound Dog   (Note: Rockin' Robin isn't an Elvis song)
Here's Elvis performing Blue Suede Shoes in 1968 

Can't help falling in love (21 pilots version) 
Can't help falling in love  (Elvis version) 

Add bar lines for 4/4 timing. (Scroll down to see completed version.)

This week's tongue twister.

Did you know you can make music with vegetables? 

Have a look at this person play happy birthday on a carrot, some broccoli, potato, and Japanese radish. 
This is a story about the Vegetable Orchestra of Vienna  and it shows you how they make their instruments and play them. 
This is the London Vegetable Orchestra. Can you recognise this music? 
And here's two vegetable players on China's Got Talent. Can you work out what's happening? 
Here's how you can make your own carrot recorder. Make sure you have an adult supervise - and get permission to use any tools . . . 

Can you clap the rhythm of this menu? 

Dances Junior:  Goodnight Moon 
Get ready to Wiggle,  Itsy Bitsy Spider,  Hot Potato 
Jailhouse Rock, Land of a Thousand Dances,  Everything is Awesome,  Fight Song,  (start at 24)
Dances Senior: 
I Gotta Feeling, Waterloo, William Tell Overture (With some safety modifications . . . ) 

                                                    
Juniors  - This week's nursery rhyme: 
Incy Wincy Spider  (sometimes known as Itsy Bistsy Spider) 

Here's some hand actions to do as you sing the song. 

                                                      

2017, Term 3, Week 2: Rubbish Music?

                                    This week's tongue twister - how fast can you say it? 

                                           
This week we continue to look at, and listen to, interesting instruments. This weeks instruments are rubbish . . . 

Find Paraguay and find New Zealand. 

 Some vocabulary:
Paraguay - is a country in South America.  It's capital city is called Asunción. It is land locked which means it has no coast and no sea.  Its neighbours are Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. 
philharmonic -  a full size  orchestra may be called a symphony orchestra or a philharmonic orchestra, and includes strings, brass, woodwind and percussion instruments.  
land fill - a dump or tip where rubbish is taken. After a while, it is often buried or covered over with soil. 

                   
Cateura is the biggest rubbish dump in Paraguay, a country in South America. The families nearby all work at the rubbish dump.  They are very poor, and they live in very poor conditions.  Over 40% of the children don't finish their schooling as their parents need them to help work in the land fill. Drugs and gangs are a problem.  An environmental engineer called Favio Chávez was working on a recycling project at Cateura,  and he wanted to do something to help stop the kids playing in the rubbish landfill and getting into trouble.  Chávez had a musical background, so when a rubbish picker found an old violin,  they recycled it to make a new instrument  and then went on to make more instruments from the recycled rubbish, and organised a group of children to learn to play them.  It was difficult finding a place to practise, and there were many obstacles, but the children were keen to learn and worked hard with Chávez  to form an orchestra.  News started to spread about this amazing group of children and their orchestra leader, and eventually the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura travelled all over the world to sold-out performances.  

Here is a short documentary about the orchestra and some images of the instruments they play.  

Here is some information about  a film, called Landfillharmonic  made about the group. There are lots of images of the orchestra and Cateura - showing the landfill,  the instruments, and their community, 

In this video, the orchestra are playing  Beethoven's Ode to Joy at a concert in Holland.  
Here are some videos - of varying quality recording and sound - of the Landfillharmonic orchestra. 

The orchestra from last year will remember this piece of music called "Canon" by Pachabel. 

And Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A little night music)  by Mozart. You can compare it with a standard orchestral version here. 

Theory: 

Add bar lines in 4/4 timing. Scroll down for completed version. 

Dances: 
Juniors: 

Goodnight Moon   Hot Potato        I like to Move it, Move it    Itsy Bitsy Spider 
Everything is Awesome      Land of a Thousand Dances   Jailhouse Rock 

Seniors: 
I Gotta Feeling , Waterloo, Don't Stop Me Now 

Here's Queen doing 'Don't Stop Me Now' .  Lead singer Freddy Mercury died in 1991.