Term 4 Week 4: Guy Fawkes and Fireworks Music

This is the Houses of Parliament.  

Follow this link to a website about the gun powder plot.

This week, on November 5th, Guy Fawkes is celebrated in Great Britain,  and also in New Zealand. It commemorates the failed attempt of a group of men to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London in 1605. They wanted to  kill King James and all his family and politicians who supported him.  Even though he wasn't the leader of the group,  Guy Fawkes was in charge of the explosives, and he was the one found with the barrels of gun powder.  King James was so pleased that the plot was discovered that he ordered a big celebration with bonfires every year. 

Guy Fawkes

 Ever since then,  children have made effigies of Guy Fawkes (dressed up dummies - now called 'guys') and burnt them on a large bonfire. Children used to makes these guys then take them round their town and ask for a penny (one cent) for their guy.  They would then use this money to buy crackers to let off at the time of their bonfire. 

This is a photo from a New Zealand newspaper in 1932 of a young boy taking his guy around the streets to collect pennies to buy crackers.

A Guy Fawkes effigy  - Follow this link to another story about the gunpowder plot.

Today, people seldom make guys - or have bonfires - to commemorate Guy Fawkes.  Many people buy fireworks and let them off in their back yard. There are a lot of people who want to ban fireworks because of safety issues - for animals, people, and property. It tends to be the fire service's busiest night of the year! 

This is a link  a New Zealand site  with the story behind Guy Fawkes, and includes safety tips and how to make sure animals are kept safe.

And another link to Kiwi Kids News Guy Fawkes article 

 

The New Zealand Fire Service have these safety hints for using fireworks.

Here's a Horrible Histories short video about the gunpowder plot led by Guy Fawkes.

This is a simple story - with animation - that tells the history of the gunpowder plot, and how we came to celebrate Guy Fawkes night.

This is a short video about Guy Fawkes by some children who are learning English in Czechoslovakia. 

This is a slide show with captions - if you are a good reader, you will get a good idea of the story of Guy Fawkes from this link.

 

A Guy Fawkes Nursery Rhyme 

 Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,  'twas his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England's overthrow.

By God's mercy he was catch'd
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the King.

-------

Fireworks Music (144 years after Guy Fawkes)

The Allegro  (La Réjouissance) is the fourth movement from Music for the Royal Fireworks, by George Frideric Handel.  It was composed in 1749.  Rejouissance is a French word and it means rejoicing.  (We've already learnt a bit about Handel in Term 2.) 

 King George II *of  Great Britain asked Handel especially to compose music for an outdoor concert and  fireworks display in Green Park, London, to celebrate the end of a war that England had been involved in (The War of Austrian Succession).   

There were very few outdoor concerts then. So many people were interested in this performance that there was a three hour traffic jam (horses and carriages) on London Bridge as twelve thousand people made their way to the rehearsal a week before hand. The actual  event  one week later was not entirely successful – the day was rainy, many of the fireworks didn’t go off,  part of the staging pavilion caught fire, and two people died.

King George had insisted that Handel write the music for percussion, brass and woodwind instruments only – no strings  at all – and Handel followed these instructions for this special performance. Later, Handel rewrote the music for another indoor performance to include violins - so both he and the King got their own way.

This is a recording of the entireMusic for the Royal Fireworks. Can you see that the instruments look a little different to the ones you usually see in orchestras? These are ones that the musicians might have played in Handel's time. 

(*George II was the great-grandson of King James I)

Test your knowledge of instruments of the orchestra with this quiz. 

Term 4, Week 3: Hallowe'en and Día de los Muertos

This is the link to The Nutcracker ballet  that the junior classes have been watching at the beginning of lessons.  Look at how the dancers tell a story without using words. How do the dancers show they are talking to other people? 

A scene from The Nutcracker

 Hallowe'en

There are many stories about the origins of Halloween, from the area which is now Ireland, United Kingdom and northern France. Over two thousand or more years, the occasion changed from a pagan ritual to a day of fun, dressing up, parties, decorations and sweet treats for children.

Halloween has evolved  from an ancient Celtic  festival (Samhain, pronounced sow-in) which marked the end of the harvest season (autumn) and the beginning of the long, dark , cold winter season. This was on October 31st,  and on November 1st they celebrated their new year. They also believed that the change of seasons was a bridge to the world of the dead. Celts believed that on the eve of the new year, the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.  There were bonfires and celebrations. When the Romans conquered most of the Celtic lands, they  included some of their traditions in the festival

In the 8th century (700s), Pope Gregory III decided that all saints and martyrs would be honoured on November 1st.  It would be called All Saints' Day and  would include some of the traditions of the Celtic Samhain festival. The night before All Saints' Day was called "All Hallow's Eve" and eventually shortened to Hallowe'en" (e'en short for evening).

In 1000AD, the church made November 2nd All Souls' Day - to honour all dead and the was also celebrated with festivities. 

Over time, the the festival changed from a religious festival to a community celebration and involved children dressing up and trick-or-treating.

Hallowe'en celebrations  evolved further in America as immigrants brought their traditions and festivals with them to their new country. It changed into a community event and lost any of its connections with religion. Further over time, and with commercialism and advertising, it has evolved into a huge industry with billions of dollars spent on decorations, costumes, parties and special foods.

Here's an easy dance called The Monster Shuffle.  Follow the words and mirror what the group are dancing. 

This is another dance called the Skeleton Dance . It helps you learn your left and right sides - and the names of your bones.

Día de los Muertos: 
 The Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated on November 1st (for children)  and 2nd (for adults)  and is recognised throughout Latin America, but especially in Mexico.  Día de los Muertos honours the dead and evolved from a combination of ancient Aztec rituals and the Catholic religion which came with the Spanish conquistadors.

Although it looks similar to Halloween, it is quite different.  It's not about being scary or frightened or tricking people. The festival celebrates  the lives of deceased family members with food, drink, parties, parades and activities the deceased enjoyed when they were alive. It helps keep deceased loved ones part of the community. It is a time for happiness and celebration - not sadness or mourning.

Symbols of the celebration are calacas and calaveras (skeletons and skulls) which can be sweets, masks or dolls. Although they may look scary, they are intended to be happy and having fun.

Families decorate the graves of loved ones, and make ofrendas to honour individual loved ones. These are decorated with flowers, candles, food, photos and other items to remember the person.

                      

Here's a video in Spanish about Día de los Muertos. You may be able to understand some words - especially if you follow the English subtitles.

Here's a short documentary item about Día de los Muertas. You might be able to understand soem of the words spoken by the people being interviewed.

Here's a short movie made especially for people learning about Mexico and its culture.

This video tells you what you need if you were going to celebrate Día de los Muertos.

Here's some skeletons dancing. They may look a bit scary but they are meant to be happy and having a fun time.   El Twist del Esqueleto 

This is a counting song - and telling the time. It's not meant to be scary. Learn to tell the time in Spanish, with dancing skeletons.

Term 4 Week 2: Diwali

 

This week we have a guest writer for our blog. Thank you to Shristi from Kea 1 for researching and writing this about Diwali.

Diwali is the festival of lights which is celebrated once a year.This is the story of how Diwali originated: 

Once upon a time there was a great warrior Ram and his beautiful wife Sita. There was also the meanest demon named Ravan. He had ten heads and twenty arms. He wanted Sita to be his wife but one day he kidnapped her and took her away in his chariot all the way to his kingdom. But clever Sita managed to leave a trail of her jewellery for Ram to follow so he could find her. Ram found her trail and followed it, but along the way he found a monkey named Hunaman who agreed to help him find Sita, and Ram became his good friend.

Hunaman called his monkey and bear friends to help fight the evil servants of Ravan. After a long search they found Sita trapped on the island, but the monkeys and bears couldn’t get across so they built a bridge.

Finally it was complete they rushed across and fought a nasty battle. Ram killed Ravan with his magic arrow. Then Ram could take his beloved wife home. The whole world welcomed them back by lighting divas (lights).

Diwali is an Indian tradition now,  and this story was one of the legends behind Diwali. This year, we are celebrating Diwali on the 23^rd of October with delicious sweets that our parents make,  and lights to celebrate good over evil. We wear our traditional costume and the most exciting part is the fireworks‼ (BOOM‼, BOOM‼) Diwali also celebrates good over evil and India’s Happy New Year. Diwali goes on for a period of 5 days.

By Shristi (Year 7)

 Here is a video of the story of Diwali.




Here's a nursery rhyme about Diwali.

Here's a song wishing a Happy Diwali. 
Here's a video of the dance and song Jai ho from the movie Slum Dog Millionaire.  Can you hear that the language changes to Spanish towards the end?

Here's a group of children dancing to Jai ho.  Watch the little guy in the middle.

You can copy this version of the dance  yourself.

Here's a group of people dancing to Jai ho in America.


Here's a Christmas song you may not have heard before, sung by Bob Dylan.

www.nancymusic.com

Vocabulary for this week:

Diwali - "festival of lights" which celebrates the New Year. It is India's most important holiday.

banished – sent away and not allowed to come back; banned

exile – where you are when you are banished and not allowed to come back home.

chariot – a kind of horse drawn carriage

diva – an oil lamp

rangoli -  a colourful pattern on the floor

Term 4 Week 1 - Count down to Christmas

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells 

Jingle Bells is one of the best-known and most-often sung Christmas songs in the world.  It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822-1893) and was published in 1857. It was actually written to be sung for American Thanksgiving. There's a bit of confusion over where the song was written.  A plaque in Medford, Massachusetts claims that Pierpont wrote the song there in 1850, inspired by the town's popular sleigh races.   Its original copyright was under the name" One Horse Open Sleigh" in 1957. It is now in the public domain, which means anyone can sing it or use the tune.  In 1857, Pierpont was actually the organist of the Unitarian Church in Savannah, Georgia, and married the daughter of the mayor.

In the days before cars,  it was common to decorate horses' harnesses with bells as a way for drivers of sleighs to hear each other approaching - especially when they couldn't be seen - because the snow muffles any sounds the  sleighs and horses' hooves made. The rhythm of the tune mimics the rhythm of the trotting horse's bells.

Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh

O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way

Bells on bobtail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.


Here's a Kiwi version of Jingle Bells.  
Here's a Wii Dance to Jingle Bells 
    A heavy metal version of Jingle Bells 

Here's a version with an actual sleigh ride and a few more verses.  

Here's an orchestra play Jingle Bells in many different styles. How many different percussion instruments can you see being played? 

Here's 17 different versions of Jingle Bells - how many styles can you recognise?
Here's a  Jingle Bells mash-up of a lot of Youtube animal videos 
and this one's of cats and dogs. 

Here's a very simple version of Jingle Bells. Can you clap the rhythm?

Did you know? 

"Jingle Bells" was the first song broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra. While in space on December 16, 1965, they sent this report to Mission Control:

Gemini VII, this is Gemini VI. We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, up in a polar orbit. He's in a very low trajectory traveling from north to south and has a very high climbing ratio. It looks like it might even be a ... Very low. Looks like he might be going to reenter soon. Stand by one ... You might just let me try to pick up that thing.

The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleigh bells and broadcast a rendition of "Jingle Bells."The harmonica, shown to the press upon their return, was a Hohner "Little Lady", a tiny harmonica approximately one inch long, by 3/8 of an inch wide.

Interesting sites for the September Holidays

Here's another Silly Symphony. If you listen very carefully, at the very end, you will hear a part of the overture from the Opera William Tell.



Here's another Walt Disney Silly Symphony about musical instruments.



Here's a new dance to learn. Might be good for our next disco.

Term 3, Week 10: Last week of term request session

This week we having a "request session" which means students get to ask for their favourite songs, videos and activities to sing, watch or do again.

This has become an all-time, much-requested  favourite, and we are all getting very good at working on the railroad...

We also get to listen to one of Mrs Vincent's and Mrs Lee's favourite stories from when we were young, when  children wrote to radio stations asking them to play a favourite song or story on the Children's Request Session on Sunday mornings: the story of the Waltz of the Flowers .

This is a video of  the Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker ballet by Tchaikovsky.

We looked at The Grasshopper and the Ants story from Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies.   Last week we looked at how Vivaldi composed music to represent the season spring, and this week we looked and listened to how the composer of this music represented summer and winter. Listen for the theme music of the grasshopper and how the music changes to show how the ants were busy.

Term 3 Week 10: Spring Concerto by Vivaldi

Continuing from last week's work we did on Antonio Vivaldi and his concertos for violins (The Four Seasons Op. 8, nos.1-4)

Il Prette Rosso - Antonio Vivaldi

The series of concertos which includes the Four Seasons was published in Amsterdam in 1725. They were dedicated to Count Wezel von Morzin who was a Bohemian nobleman and Vivaldi's patron (a bit like a sponsor nowadays).

A concerto is a piece of music made for a solo instrument and an orchestra. If the solo instrument (sometimes there might be two) is a violin, it is called a violin concerto. If the solo instrument is a piano, it's called a piano concerto).

During this time, Vivaldi was travelling all  around Europe and the Four Seasons was very popular. The French King Louis XV liked it very much when Vivaldi performed it in Paris in 1730.

Each 'season' is accompanied by a special 14-lined poem called a sonnet. These sonnets describe the setting and events of the music. 

Each season  concerto has 3 separate movements, written for a solo violin and an orchestra plus a continuous line  of music for a bass instrument, organ or harpsichord. This helped keep everyone in time when there was no conductor.

Concerto in E 'Spring'

Allegro   opens the music. It is a fresh and happy tune. A soloist and other  violins imitate birds singing (runs and trills); a 'flowing' passage represents a stream and a gentle breeze; rapid scales, tremolo,  and scampering solo passages represent a thunder storm. 

Largo is a long and tender melody for a solo violin with other strings accompanying, and this represents a peaceful scene of a shepherd and his dog dozing under some trees.

Allegro is a relaxed country (pastoral) dance where the soloist plays along with, and leads, the rest of the orchestra. 

An Italian sonnet has a special form. It has 8 lines then 6 lines. 
(Can you see there are 2 lots of 4 lines and 2 lots of 3 lines?)

The first part of the sonnet tells of birds, brooks, trees, the breeze, storms,  thunder and lightning.
The second part tells of rustling leaves, a goatherd,  bagpipes playing, a dog barking, and dancing  

(Note - there is a 'g' missing from 'dog' in the poem image)

 

Learn the parts of the violin and test yourself on the picture underneath.

From the bird feed nyc

From the birdfeednyc

This is easy violin music for Spring, but it might help you learn the names of the notes as well.

Here's another listening map of the first Allegro. Can you follow it?  

You can see more images of Vivaldi and Venice on this blog.

Here's a very easy chart of how to play a simple version of the first allegro of Spring.

Here's a video of the entire Spring Concerto with images of Spring - in Europe - and the words of the sonnet written to match the appropriate place in the music

Here's a group of musicians playing Spring in Venice. Watch for images and video clips of other scenes in Venice.

This is an animated graphic showing the tempo  (speed of the beat) of the first allegro of Spring. Can you see patterns and rhythms in the movement of the images?

Here's another listening map  called Prima vera which is Spanish for spring. 

Who would have thought there would be a link between sushi, rock guitar and Vivaldi's Spring Concerto? 

This electric guitar and drum rock version gives a very good example of the change in dynamics from forte to piano, and you can see the mimicking of the bird sound done well, too. It's also good for your air guitar and air drum practice.

 

Term 3, Week 9 - Spring has Sprung

 It is now officially spring! (Please note, seasons do not have capital letters, unless they are used in titles as above - and including titles of pieces of music, or at the beginning of sentences. Otherwise, they are written: summer, autumn, winter, spring.) 


The most famous piece of music written about the seasons  is called The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi. This week we are listening to  Spring

Antonio Vivaldi  was born in born in Venice in 1678 and  died in Vienna in 1741. He was an Italian composer.  He was a very important composer in Italy. He became a priest and was called il Prete Rosso  -  the Red Priest - because of his red hair. Notice you cannot see his red hair in this painting because it's covered with a wig. He wrote more than 400 concertos  for various instruments,  but especially for the violin.  He taught at a school for orphaned girls and  wrote a lot of his music for his pupils to play. His most popular work is the group of four violin concertos called “The Four Seasons”. Each concerto describes a season: spring, summer autumn, and winter. Vivaldi's music is in the Baroque style which means an ornate style of music which was popular from 1600 - 1750.

Interesting facts about Vivaldi:
- There was an earthquake in Venice on the day he was born
- He had asthma and was often quite sick.
- He was a quick worker and could write a concerto in a day and an opera in a week.
- a lot of his work was discovered after his death, and some was discovered in 1926  and 1973 

Here's an activity page about Vivaldi's Spring  with a music map to work out the differences between loud and soft, and many and few violinists.

 This is Itzhak Perlman conducting an orchestra and playing the violin to Spring by Vivaldi.

Electric guitar version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Spring 

Sand animation  by Ferenc Cakó (born 1950), a Hungarian artist, to Vivaldi's Spring

Here's our favourite drummer   Andrea Vadruccci (Vadrum) playing his version of  Vivaldi's Spring 

Here's a group of women singing Vivaldi's  Spring  a cappella    Listen to how they make all the different sounds.


Karaoke sing-along to Let It Go from "Frozen".

Everything is Awesome Karaoke. 

There's a hole in my bucket - Muppet style.  The words change a bit in this version, but the story is the same.

There's a hole in my bucket - sing-along karaoke.


 Here's New Zealand's own Topp Twins singing along to the book "There's a Hole in My Bucket".

Term 3, Weeks 6 and 7: Daffodil Day

This Friday 29th August is Daffodil Day in New Zealand.  It's the  one of the Cancer Society's major fund-raising events.  The daffodil is one of the first flowers of spring and represents 'hope' for those affected by cancer.  Funds raised on Daffodil Day go towards scientific research, helping those who have been affected by cancer, and other health promoting and education programmes for cancer awareness.   Here's a page of activities related to Daffodil Day.

Here's a short song about a daffodil, written for Daffodil Day, by a New Zealand musician.



The words are:
Dance like the sun
Swing with the breeze
Daffodil,  daffodil, sing with me.
Daffodil, daffodil, daffodil,
So pretty and yellow on my windowsill.


Here's William Wordsworth's famous poem about daffodils - written over 200 years ago - but done in a very modern rap version. 

Here's the poem Daffodils by William  Wordsworth 

Here's a cartoon about William Wordsworth's poem "Daffodils".

This is a short time lapse video of daffodils in a vase over 10 days. Watch how they change from closed buds to full blooms - and then wilt.

And another one. 

This time lapse is even shorter. 


We have been practising our conducting skills; here's how Bugs Bunny conducts. The "Leopold" they refer to in this cartoon is the famous conductor  Leopold Stokowski who was the conductor on Walt Disney's Fantasia movie made in 1940.





Here's a link to another performance of Edward Yudenich (now 8 years old) conducting Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik  (which means "A little night music".)The language written on the video is Russian.

Next week is kite day at school. Here's  our kite song  - or poem