2018, Term 1, Weeks 7 &8 The Woodwind Section - and Easter

                                             
Dances:
Wrap Me up - by Claudia Gunn  (Warm up and creative movement) 
Kids Bop Shuffle - practise your own moves - how can you move to the left / right / kick/ walk around in a circle? 
Chicken Dance 
Can't stop the Feeling 
Dynamite 
YMCA (Junior Version) 

Scroll to last week for more dances

The Bunny Hop - Here's a video of it from 1957 - when the song / music first came out. 
Here's the steps - it's very easy:
(1) Get in a line - any amount from 2 people.
(2) Hands on shoulders (or waist) of person in front).
(3) Keep weight on left foot - right foot out to the side and back. Repeat.
(4) Keep weight on right foot - left foot out to the side and back. Repeat.
(5) Small hop forwards on two feet- pause for one beat.
(6) Small hop backwards on two feet - pause for one beat.
(7) Three hops forward without pauses.
(8) Repeat from (3)
                         
Songs: 
La La song 
The Fox (Scroll down this blog post to find the lyrics) 

This week we are learning about the woodwind section of the orchestra.  There are quite a few different instruments in the woodwind family -  and some, surprisingly, are not made of wood. 

Here's more examples of woodwind instruments being played. 

In this video, you can hear the same tune played by the most common woodwind instruments in the orchestra, so you can hear the difference in pitch and timbre. 
pitch - how high or low a sound is
timbre - (pronounced 'tamber' and less commonly 'timber') the tone, character and quality of the sound. 

A wind instrument is one where  sound is produced by the vibration of reeds in the mouthpiece, as a bassoon, clarinet, oboe, or saxophone, or by the passing of air across the mouthpiece, as a flute. 

The woodwind section of a traditional orchestra has bassoons, clarinets, oboes, flutes, and piccolos. A A band or modern orchestra could include saxophones and other types of wind instruments.  A reorder is also a member of the woodwind family.

Watch this outdoor concert of music from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.  It's called the Dance of the Mirlitons or the Dance of the Reeds. It starts with instruments from the woodwind section, then shows you other sections playing. How many instruments can you name?   Watch the conductor - why do you think he makes different movements and gestures? what do you think he is communicating to the musicians? 

Flutes are played in many different types of music, and are some of the oldest tuned instruments ther are.

Here's a flute made from a fossilised mammoth tooth - over 30,000 years old.

Here's the flute used in a jazz blues  song.

And Ian Anderson in the group Jethro Tull, brought the flute into rock music. 

And some interesting versions of wind instruments from Sesame Street . . .  (James Galway on Flute and Maria on Pool Toy).







Hot Cross Buns: 

Clap these rhythms - Can you name the values of each note and rest? 
   


And here's  a joke for last week's lesson about the brass section.

Homework / Extra: 

Have a go at making your own woodwind instruments at home. (Ask your parents before you start cutting stuff up, though. )

Easter is coming up - here's a very old Walt Disney "Silly Symphony" called Funny Little Bunnies about the Easter bunnies and chickens preparing  for Easter. It was made in 1934 - so how old does that make it?  Listen to the music, and how it changes to fit the animation. How does the music help tell the story?