2015 Term 2, Week 2: Continuing from last week...

Last week we looked at Peter Jackson's video of restored film footage from Gallipoli, and we listened to Lacrimosa by Mozart which Jackson used as background music to his video.  (Go to last week's blog)
This is a boys choir from Russia singing Lacrimosa with only an organ for accompaniment.  Watch how the conductor uses her hands to signal changes in loud and soft (dynamics).  Notice how the boys all watch her.

Watch the conductor Herbert von Karajan conduct this choir and orchestra. Notice how he uses his hands to get the relevant expression from the choir.

And  who'd have thought there was a rock version ....  as well as a classical guitar version? 

Listen to how Evanescence used Mozart's Lacrimosa  in  counterpoint* to another tune. And here she does it live at an outdoor concert.

Vocabulary:
*counterpoint: two (or more) pieces of music which can be played  or sung together at the same time  and which fit the same timing and work in harmony

Rhythm and Reading Practice: 

 

Dances for Mrs Kyd's Class - the '50s:
Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley 
Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley - Just Dance version
Jailhouse Rock - a line dance version

Dances for Mrs Kuba's Class - the '60s
Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys - Just Dance version 
Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys - Just Dance version  
Do You Love Me? Just Dance version 

Dances for Mrs Mathlay's Class - the '70s:
Kung fu fighting - Just Dance version 
Celebration - Just Dance version  
The Hustle - a '70s Classic  Just Dance version

Dances for Miss Delaney's Class - the '80s: 
Footloose (movie version);
Footloose - a group of kids singing and dancing this - from the '80s.
Footloose - the Just Dance version 
Micky - classic '80s song - Just Dance version

Dances for Mrs Bradshaw's Class -  the '90s:
This video has a lot of  dance moves from the '90s.
Everybody Dance Now - Just Dance version - this one's quite difficult. 
Mm Bop by the Hansens - Just Dance version

2015 Term 2 Week 1: Back to School - Anzac Day

Check out this site to find more about many of the activities and  special commemoration events which are taking place over the Anzac Day - Gallipoli remembrance period. 

This year is a very special commemoration of ANZAC Day as it is 100 years since the ANZACs landed at Gallipoli.

Check out this site WW100 New Zealand  ANZAC Connection. It has lots of articles, photos, stories and links to follow. 

New Zealand film maker Peter Jackson restored  rare film footage from Gallipoli to make this short tribute to the ANZAC soldiers.  The film footage was rare because it was in the very early days of moving pictures, and it was  incredibly difficult - and extremely dangerous - to film anything at all in the middle of a war zone, and then get it back to safety to be developed.

The background music is Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor (K. 626). It was composed in Vienna in 1791. It was still unfinished at the time of Mozart's  death on December 5.  A requiem is a special church service  (called a mass) with special music to remember people who have died.

                                  

The background music to this film  is called Lacrimosa

Most religious music was written in Latin.  If you listen carefully, you can follow the words as they are sung.   Can you hear where the words are repeated?

Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem. Amen.

(translated from Latin) 

Full of tears shall be that day
On which from ashes shall arise
The guilty man to be judged;
Therefore, O God, have mercy on him.
Gentle Lord Jesus,
grant them eternal rest. Amen.

Some questions to think about while listening:

- Why do you think Peter Jackson chose this particular music to go with the film?
- What is it about the music that you like or dislike?
- What does Mozart do to make the music sound more interesting?
- Can you hear the sopranos singing the very high parts?
- Can you hear the basses sing the very lowest parts?
- Can you hear parts where just one group (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) is singing, or different combinations of those groups?
- Where are the crescendos and decrescendos?

This is what the part of Mozart's requiem looked like when he wrote it.

There are many stories about Mozart's Requiem. Here's a summary of some of them.

In 1791 a secret messenger visited Mozart in Vienna. He had a note asking Mozart to compose a mass for  a mystery man who wanted a requiem for a loved one who had died, and that Mozart could suggest how much he wanted to be paid. Mozart accepted the offer and asked for 30 ducats, which the mystery man agreed to and promised more money when the requiem was finished (because 30 ducts was not a lot of money for Mozart to request).   

As soon as he had finished a concert trip to Prague, Mozart worked night and day on this project.   He was beginning to become unwell and started to believe that he was writing his own requiem.  He believed he was being poisoned, but it is more likely he had rheumatic fever. He often wrote with tears in his eyes and  was always saying,  “I know I must die. I am writing a requiem for myself.” 

An artist's idea of Mozart working on Requiem with musicians.

On November 20, Mozart was so ill he  had to stay in bed. Even so, he still worked  frantically on the requiem - right up until his final hours. 

At 2pm on December 4, Mozart sang the alto parts of the requiem with his friends and family singing the other parts. They sang through to the Lacrymosa which was as far as Mozart had got composing the requiem. Apparently the last thing Mozart did was to imitate the kettledrums in his requiem.

An artist's idea of Constanza, Mozart's wife, helping him work on Requiem.

Because his illness, Mozart’s body was very swollen, so a doctor cut him regularly so he would bleed ( it was thought to be help lessen the swelling in those days). Mozart died shortly afterwards at 1:00 am on December 5 1791. 

Because they were very poor, he was buried in an unmarked paupers’ grave ( grave for poor people). When his wife went back  with flowers a few days later, she could not find his grave, so it remains a mystery where one of the greatest composers is buried. 

It is thought that Mozart’s wife, Constanza, got several people to help finish the requiem, using notes and drafts left by Mozart, so that she could still get paid the rest of the money from the mystery person who commissioned the requiem.
 
This site gives you easy to understand background information about Mozart, and includes links to other Mozart activities.  Click on  the Read to Me arrows  and you can listen to the stories being read aloud.


This song is called Beautiful Soldier by singer-songwriter Marian Burns.
Here's a news item about this song. 


Dona Nobis Pacem is Latin for "grant (give) us peace".  This is Part 1 of a very well known round. 
- Can you find crotchets, and quavers (in pairs and a single one)?  
- Can you work out which note would be called a dotted crotchet?
- Which note would be called a dotted minim? 
- How many counts do you think they each have?  
- What do you think the 3/4 time signature means? 

Vocabulary in the context of this week's music lesson:
ANZAC -  an acronym for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps.
acronym - a word made up of from usually the first letters of the words it represents - such as ANZAC
corps -  (pronounced core) from French word meaning a body. In English it means a group of people
organised for a special purpose.
centenary - remembering an event that happened one hundred years ago. Bi-centenary means remembering an event that happened 200 years ago.
requiem - a special church service (mass) for the dead -
mercy - pity or kindness
eternal - forever
grant - give
cinema - another name for movies, or the movie theatre
glimpse - a quick look at something
correspondent - a news reporter
secured - captured,  got control of something
gully - a  small valley, a low area between hills or higher areas
plateau - a high area of flat land
sniper - a person who is hiding and shoots at other people (Photo shows captured Turkish sniper)
Allies - countries who were fighting on the same side as New Zealand
yards - a measure of distance a little bit longer than a metre
periscope rifle -  an attachment was added to a rifle so that the person firing could remain unseen  in a trench and still shoot
mule -  a cross between a male donkey and a female horse. Mules and donkeys were often used in war for carrying people and equipment

Quiz: Term 2. Week 1:
1. What day is Anzac Day?
(a) 25 December   (b) 25 April     (c) 6 February  (d) 29 February

2. In what year did the ANZACs land at Gallipoli?
(a) 1914                (b) 1915           (c)  2015          (d) 1918 

3. What does centenary mean?  remembering an event which happened:
(a) 1000 years ago (b) 200 years ago      (c) 500 years  ago     (d) 100 years ago
     
4. What does the acronym ANZAC stand for?
(a) Australia  and New Zealand Apple Core 
(b) Australia and New Zealand Army Corps
(c) America and New Zealand Army Corps 
(d) Australia and New Zealand Army Corpse 

5. In what country is Gallipoli?
(a) Turkey    (b)  New Zealand    (c) Australia   (d) India

6. How did the ANZACs arrive at  Gallipoli?
(a) parachute   (b) ship   (c) car     (d) walked

7.  A mule is:
(a) half horse, half donkey    
(b) half horse, half zebra  
(c) half donkey, half zebra   
(d) another name for a donkey
 

JUNIORS: 

If you go to an Anzac Day ceremony, you will hear the Last Post played - usually on a bugle, 

This man is playing a bugle that was played by a soldier at Gallipoli 100 years ago.

but sometimes on a trumpet.  

This woman is the first female bugler to play the Last Post at Gallipoli in 2014.

In the army, the Last Post is played at the end of the day to let people know that all the work is done.  

It is also played at military  funerals, and at special events such as Anzac Day. 

It is a very special part of the Anzac ceremony where people stand very still and silent while the flag is lowered.  

This is an Anzac Ceremony in Otago in 2012

After the Last Post is played,  a short poem called The Ode is read, and at the end, everyone says, "We will remember them." 

This is called "The Ode"

Then Reveille is played. That means "Wake Up" in French.  
 

The soldier is blowing the bugle to wake everybody up to start their day.

It is played in the morning to tell everyone it's time to wake up. In the Anzac ceremony, it means the service is over and it's time to get back to normal activities again. 

This is a video of the Last Post being played at the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park in London.

Here's a video of the Last Post being played at the Gallipoli Dawn Service. Can you see the flags of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey?

This is Reveille played at the 2011 dawn service at the Wellington War Memorial. 

2015 Term 1, Week 9: End of Term 1 already!

 
Last week we looked at "Charge!" from The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins. 

This is another piece of music from The Armed Man, and it is conducted by the actual composer, Karl Jenkins. It's called "Kyrie Eleison".  The words Kyrie Eleison come from the Greek Language and mean "Lord have mercy". They were used in some forms of pagan worship and were later incorporated into Christian worship.

At 1:50 there is a special part sung by a boy soprano, which means a young boy who can sing very high notes. After that, the whole choir joins in. Can you hear 4 different singing parts: soprano (high female voices),alto (lowest female voices), tenor (high male voices), bass (lowest male voices). (We are stopping at 4:40 in class but you may like to watch the entire piece at home.)

Can you identify where the music is soft (piano) and loud (forte)? What instruments can you identify? How are the orchestra and choir different in this piece when we compare it with last week's "Charge!"?

When The Armed Man is performed for an audience, there is usually video backdrop showing images relating to wars through the ages.  

 
Well, that's the end of Term 1! 

Here's some  Easter-themed holiday viewing you may enjoy over the next two weeks of holiday. 

This is another of Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies - from 1934 - called Funny Little Bunnies.  It's about a magical place where Easter bunnies and chickens prepare Easter eggs. 

Here's a Bugs Bunny Easter cartoon called Easter Yeggs. 

It's Easter, Little Critter 

 This is a video of Mercer Meyer reading his picture book "It's Easter, Little Critter". It is about Little Critter who is very excited on Easter morning, as he wakes up to find a present  of a bunny from his parents. Suitable for juniors. 

Here's a dance sequence by Fred Astaire from a movie called Easter Parade, although the actual dancing here has very little do do with Easter but a lot more to do with percussion.

This is a video of an Easter Parade at Disneyland in April 2014.

And some interactive Easter activities:
 Decorate your own Easter egg. Have fun adding flowers, ribbons and changing colours of the egg. 

Some online Easter colouring pictures. Choose picture, click on it, and then use the online paint box to colour it in.

These online Easter colouring-in pictures require a bit more skill, as you have to keep the paint brush within the lines.

Some online interactive music activities: 

Have a go at composing your own music here.  This is an American site, so note that crotchets are called quarter notes here, and minims are called half notes. There will be a few notes and rests we haven't covered in class yet, but you will probably be able to work it out for yourself.   Note there is a beginners and an advanced level.  There is also an option for emailing your composition to a friend if you like. 

Create your own band with a bass, keyboard and drum set.  Play around clicking on all the options and I'm sure you'll work it out for yourself. 

Compose your own classical music by dragging groups of notes (measures) onto a stave. You can rearrange them and make different tunes. 

This is a really interesting game matching interesting instruments from around the world. It has 3 levels  and by the end of the game, you will be able to identify several instruments by their name and sound. Some of these we have already met in previous music lessons. 

Have some fun matching the musical instruments to their outlines and create different types of bands.
                                            
Create a raindrop sound sequence by clicking on the raindrops to make different patterns.  It might take a few tries to work it out, but it's quite fun once you've worked out what to do. Note, the metronome gets slower.

 Musical activities to try at home: 

(Check with your parents before you use any equipment) 

Musical glasses:  

-  Get some glasses or empty glass jars (all the same size and shape is best)

-  Set them up somewhere safe  and suitable (maybe the kitchen bench or outside)

-  Use measuring cups or a measuring jug to pour slightly more water in each glass.  One eighth of a cup of water in the first glass, two eighths in the second glass and so on is an ideal way to create an octave, 

-  Use a teaspoon or similar to gently tap each glass to make different sounds and tunes.

- Here's a video showing how to do it, but I recommend you measure the water into the glasses first, or mark the glasses at 8 equal intervals. 

-   Check there are no chips in the rims of the glasses and you could try dipping your fingers in another glass of water and then running them round the edge of the rim to make a glass harp, although these tend to be wine glasses - and always check with your parents before using those!

Learn about fractions and how to make a musical instrument.

Make your own drum:
Follow this video to make your own drum.  You might need to find alternative tines or containers but I'm sure you will find them if you ask around or check out what's in your cupboards at home (then check with your parents!)   I recommend that you use  strong tape over the rubber bands after you have secured the balloon over the top and bottom over the container.

2015 Term 1 Week 8: Hot Cross Buns

This week we are going over many of the songs we have learned last year and this year. We will also be working on rhythm and notation. 

And, because it's nearly Easter, we'll be singing an Easter song ...

Here's an action song of Hot Cross Buns - using hot cross buns!
Here's another  action song of Hot Cross Buns with a different tune. 

Interesting fact: In the time of Elizabeth 1 (late 1500s) a decree ( like a law) was issued forbidding the sale of hot cross buns or any other spiced bread except at burials, Good Friday and Christmas.  The punishment for doing so meant the bread or buns was confiscated and given to the poor.

 

 Easter is as good a time as any to do the Chicken Dance. 

And to learn the Bunny Hop. This is a video clip from a 1953 tv programme (so the quality is not that great) but you can see some very clever dancers doing the Bunny Hop. We are not expected to do cartwheels and flip people in our version...
Here's the Bunny Hop at Disneyland. 
And here's the music from the Disney version of the Bunny Hop that you can use to practise by yourself. 

Footloose (for Miss Delaney's class)  

 ------oOo------

Watch the video below. It is part of a longer performance called "The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace" by a Welsh composer called Karl Jenkins. It was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum for the Millennium celebrations and was dedicated to victims of the recent war in Kosovo. 

It was first performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 25th April 2000.

This piece is called "Charge!" and the words are from a very old poem. (You will hear some of the lines and words are repeated in the song.)

The trumpets' loud clangor excites us to arms,
With shrill notes of anger and mortal alarms.

How blest is he who for his country dies,

The double, double beat of the thundering drum cries Hark! the foes come,
Charge, 'tis too late, too late to retreat

How blest is he who for his country dies,

The double, double beat of the thundering drum cries Hark!the foes come,
cries Hark! the foes come.
Charge, 'tis too late, too late to retreat.
Charge!

Here are some questions to think about as you watch the performance and listen to the music:

• What are the two sections of the orchestra which feature most prominently in this piece? 
• What instruments can you name? 
• How many different ways can you see or hear drums being played? 
• What kind of battle do you think the music represents?
• How does Karl Jenkins create the effect of a battle?  
• How do the voices add effect to the music? 
• Do you like this piece of music? Why or why not? 

Notice the poster to the right of this post - it is an advertisement for a performance of The Armed Man  on Saturday 2 May at 7.30 pm; Sunday 3 May at 2:30 pm, and Monday 4 May at 7.30 pm, at the Hawkins Theatre in Papakura.    Tickets are available from Guys Pharmacy; Hawkins Theatre;  choir  members - including Mrs Lee and Mrs Vincent; or online at Eventfinda; 

Here's a version of the complete performance of The Armed Man. 

2015 Term 1 Week 7: Singin' in the Rain

Here's ten hours of non-stop rain, thunder and lightning . Some people enjoy the sound of rain to help them sleep - that's why it's ten hours long! 

 

This week had a real change in the weather with Cyclone Pam arriving in New Zealand, so it's a good time to learn a few songs about the weather and rain.

Do you know this nursery rhyme "It's Raining, it's Pouring"?  Follow the old man as he walks in his sleep. 

Here's a jazzy version of It's Raining, it's Pouring.  How many instruments can you identify?

In this video, children play ukuleles and add a short rap and dance to It's Raining, it's Pouring.

 This is  a musical score.  It is  quite slow and is designed for beginner recorder players. Can you follow the rhythm pattern of the quavers, crotchets and minims? Can you identify the rests and what values they have? And here's another score for the song, played by recorder, but without rests. Can you follow the notes?

This is It's Raining, it's Pouring in (British) sign language.  It's very easy to follow.

This is a group called the Speks and they have done an Irish music version of the song. This is a live performance for children.

Here's a very clever soundscape of rain - which becomes a song - by a group called  Perpetuum Jazzile.

Let's  make a soundscape of rain ourselves.

This  song is one of the most well known songs about rain. It is also one of the most famous dance sequences in all movie history.  It's called "Singin' in the Rain" from the movie of the same name.  The dancer is called Gene Kelly, and he was one of the most famous dancers in Hollywood history. 

This is a Muppets version of Singin' in the rain, starring Grover.

Here's a short Pat and Stanley video of Singin'  in the Rain.
 
This is a flashmob in Auckland doing a promotion for their upcoming show "Singin' in the Rain". 

There is now a stage production of Singin' in the Rain. Here's a performance at a Royal Variety  Show in England. What problems do you think the performers and producers of the show would have putting on a show like this - and how do you think they solved them? 

This is a world record for the most umbrellas in a dance - done to celebrate what would have been Gene Kelly's 100th birthday.  Do you recognise the music they chose?

And here's  an action song based on SInging in the Rain.

It's raining cats and dogs.

Raining cats and dogs!

 It's raining cats and dogs means it's raining very heavily.  Here's a story about it, and you will learn how other languages say that it's raining very heavily.

Speaking of raining cats and dogs, here's a video especially for  Mrs Lee's Spanish classes.  Can you find the cat in the weather report?
And - nothing really to do with rain, except it's called a desert rain frog - and is really cute! Here's a bit more information about it. 

I bet you never thought you would see a horse singin' in the rain . . . 

Many people think this is the best dance sequence ever in a movie.  It is from the movie called Stormy Weather in 1943.  The dance scene was done in entirely in one take. Apparently, the movie makers had run out of money and they could not afford to film it a second time, so it had to be perfect the first time.