2016 Term 2 Weeks 5 and 6: Fat Cats and Fishy Themes

Flying cat gif is from Mrs Lee. We are still laughing out loud.

New Zealand Music Month finished this week, but we still like to learn more about New Zealand music, and this new song from Fatcat and Fishface is definitely a fun song to sing.  It will take a bit of time and practice to get up to speed, but will be a great feeling when we can sing it through. 

 Tip of my Tongue  (Look for the sound track at the top of the page. It's free for the first few times - then you can buy the song on iTunes or the CD. It's well worth it.)

Some vocabulary from the song:
mollycoddle - to fuss over someone and be over-protective
cranny and nook - small places or corners 
buttie - a sandwich 
hoodlum - a person who is out of control or very naughty 
hurtling - travelling at great speed
weasel - an animal, a pest in New Zealand 
Morris Minor - a type of car 

A weasel 

Morris Minor 

A bacon buttie 

More Fatcat and Fishface:

Selfish Shellfish  Lyrics and sound track. (Look for sound track at the top of the page.)

Some vocabulary from these songs: 
typhoon - a very big storm 
port - the lefthand side (or direction) from a vessel when facing the front. 
starboard - the righthand side (or direction) from a vessel facing forward. 

anachronism - something which is historically incorrect because it wasn't invented  or known about at the time. For example, the flush toilet in the Wreck of the Diddley video is an anachronism because those kind of toilets did not exist on ships at the time the song is written about. 
dozen - twelve 
abandon - leave 
core - centre
pipi -  a type of shellfish found on many New Zealand beaches - especially harbours and estuaries 
tua tua - a type of shellfish found on ocean beaches, bigger than a pipi 
kina - a type of sea urchin found on New Zealand beaches. 

tua tua 

pipi 

kina 

Wreck of the Diddley    Lyrics and sound track 

Best Day of My Life - with lyrics 

Best Day of My Life -  with dance moves 

Sh-Boom Sh-Boom Life Could be a Dream (The Koi Boys version)  

Sh-Boom Sh-Boom  lyrics - look on the "Songs we sing" tab above.

Juniors: 
Looby Loo 

And if we have time - A cat concerto by Tom and Jerry from 1947. The music in Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 by Franz Liszt.  Here's some interesting information about the cartoon.

2016, Term 2, Weeks 3 &4: NZ Music Month Part 2 - More Kiwi Classics

 


This is the original soundtrack of Love in a Fowl House by Garner Wayne. Someone else has done a mash-up of images to accompany it.

This is Crowded House having a bit of fun doing a short version of Love in a Fowl House

Life in Sunshine by Jamie McDell  - with lyrics

Walking on Water by Benny Tipene - with lyrics

Take it Easy by Stan Walker - with lyrics  

Paradise (with New Zealand Sign Language) by Waimarie Smith 



Juniors: 

Here's the Wonky Donkey Dance performance from last week. 

Wreck of the Diddley by Fatcat and Fish Face  
Here's the lyrics 

Selfish Shellfish lyrics   

Another New Classic for New Zealand Music Month: Dave Dobbyn and Herbs  - Slice of Heaven from Footrot Flats

Six Months in a Leaky Boat  by Split Enz is one of New Zealand's most popular songs of all time. Below is a live version of the song.  Live versions are often extended and can sometimes have variations on the original version. 

Listen carefully and see if you can work out the pattern of introduction (intro) verse, chorus, instrumental, and "outro" (coda)




This is what Six Months in a Leaky Boat looks like written in note form.  What notes can you recognise? Can you follow the rhythm?

 

 

Check this link for the zebra version of the running man challenge.

This week's  bonus funny music video

2016 Term 2, Weeks 1 and 2: New Zealand Music Month

Welcome back to Term 2. 

May is NZ Music Month - celebrating and promoting New Zealand homegrown music and the people who make it. 

Juniors: 
Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith

This song won APRA Silver Scroll Award in 2008 for Best Children's Song .

Wonky Donkey composer, singer and author, Craig Smith 

There are lots of videos of this. Here are some: 
Song writer and singer Craig Smith sings Wonky Donkey and plays guitar. 

A cartoon animated version of Wonky Donkey.

Another  animated puppet version 

A dance group's version of the song,  performing to a live audience (of children). 

Love in a Fowl House by  Garner Wayne

(see lyrics on our Songs We Sing tab) 


Here's Crowded House doing a short version of Love in a Fowl House 
Seniors
Paradise   (with NZ sign language)  by Waimarie Smith, a 15-year-old girl from KeriKeri (and Saint Peters School, Cambridge).  This was the winning song in the 1913 Hook, Line and Sing-a-long song writing competition for NZ schools. (Click on the 'Show More' bar under the video to find the lyrics.)  This is another  You Tube of  video with subtitles, but they are not very well synchronised.

Waimarie Smith (2013) 

Here's a news item about Waimarie and her song (2013) 

Paradise - lyrics and chords  Play along with the music, or accompany yourself. 

Paradise - backing track for your own singing 

Sheet music - if you would like to play it yourself 

Paradise  arrangement -  the complete musical arrangement 

Music has been composed by New Zealanders  since the first inhabitants arrived. Here's a video showing the koauau (flute) being played. 

This is the roria - another traditional Maori instrument.  

Listen for the koauau and the roria in  Maria Smith's Paradise recording.  

This is a combination of traditional Maori music and instruments with modern instruments. 

A very short piece by composer Douglas Lilburn called Poco Lento   which means "a little slower" in Italian - and music vocabulary. 


And this is what music we watched on television in 1967 - there was half an hour of  pop music on tv once a week on a Saturday night - one black and white tv channel - that was all!

NZ Songs to Sing:
Life in Sunshine  with subtitles - Jamie McDell
Life in Sunshine   [Official]

Walking on Water with subtitles  - Benny Tipene

Here's the NZ Music Commission's 2016 calendar of a NZ song a day to check out, and a fact sheet about all the songs, composers and performers included. 

Some NZ Music Month picks for you to watch for homework (Mostly from NZ Herald fetaure): 
May 2: Dominion Road by the Mutton Birds (1992) 
May 3: I see Red by Split Enz       (2006 Live version - spot the differences.) 

An article in the NZ Herald, Sunday May 1, about the history of NZ Music Week. 

 And - because it's May the Fourth - Happy Star Wars Day 

Here's a rhythm activity you can do to the music of The Imperial March from Star Wars 

Vocabulary for this week: 
imperial - is an adjective from the word empire; it means relating to an empire, for example, "The Imperial March" from Star Wars  is the march of Dath Vader of the Galactic Empire. 
empire -  an empire is a group of nations ruled over by an emperor or ruler. The British Commonwealth was once called the British Empire and was ruled over by Queen Victoria and her descendants. 
wonky - means not working properly or damaged in some way 
honky tonky - is an adjective describing a style of country music from the southern and south west of USA. It involves very rhythmic piano music - originally played in bars or hotels on old pianos which were damaged or badly tuned. 
lanky- means tall and thin (or long and thin if it's describing hair)
cranky  - is slang  to describe someone who is  bad-tempered or in a bad mood 
hanky panky - is slang for mischief 
spunky - is slang for good-looking
literally - means exactly what each word means; for example, "take a stand" means to pick up the music stand and walk away with it. 
metaphorically - means not literally; sometimes a saying or a word has a different meaning, which may not make sense unless the idea behind it is understood; for example, to "take a stand" metaphorically means to share a strong opinion about something that you believe in - or believe is right (or wrong.)  

A new feature of each blog - a totally random music-related video just for the fun of it.  Check out this Irish-dancing parrot. 

Mendelssohn's Elijah performance

Our music teachers, Mrs Lee and Mrs Vincent, are in the choir for this performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah.   Do come along to one of the performances.  

2016 Term 1, Week 11: Anzac Day music

This week is the last week of Term 1 and we will review what we have learnt so far, as well as learning and revising the some of the music associated with Anzac Day in New Zealand:

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

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

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  - or Rouse - is played. Reveille means "Wake Up" in French, and  rouse means get out of bed.  
 

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. 

 
 Check out our April 2014 post to learn more about what is involved in an Anzac Day ceremony.  
 

We have been learning about the form of music by following listening maps of some of the dances from the Nutcracker ballet, composed by Tchaikovsky.   Form means the shape of music and how it is planned.  We listened for introductions,  and  other parts which were repeated or different. These were called Part A (first part) Part B (second part), Part C (third part) and sometimes Part A, B or C are repeated later in the piece of music.  We also learnt that some pieces of music finish with a coda. 
 
 We used the listening maps to design our own version of each dance and  then used percussion instruments to accompany each piece of music, using the form as a guide.

Listening maps can be very different - depending on how the listener "sees" the music.  Here's another one we looked at which shows you the pitch and dynamics of the music and the instruments played.

March of the Nutcracker:
- Is there an introduction?
- Is there a coda? 
How many times is Part A repeated before and after Part B?

March of the Nutcracker

The Chinese Dance Tea):
- Is there an introduction?
- Is there a coda?
- 

The Chinese Dance

Russian Dance (Trepak):
Is there an introduction?
Is there a coda?
Where is the interlude (or bridge)?
How many times are  Part A  and Part B repeated?

 

Spanish Dance (Chocolate): 

Is there an introduction?
Is there a coda?

This is  visual representation of this Spanish Dance 

 

2016 Term 1: Weeks 9 and 10 - The Spanish Dance "Chocolate" from the Nutcracker

 Gardens School Newsletter for April 5 2016 
 
In this session's lessons, we will continue learning about the Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky - and we visit another country for another dance: Spain, and the dance is often known as "Chocolate".  Perfect for the week after Easter!

This is a very high definition of the entire Nutcracker ballet.  The Spanish dance starts at 53.33  
The Russian Dance starts at 1:00:03.  Also, we are starting to learn about the music involved in  Anzac Day - which falls in the holidays - so will cover a bit of that over the next two and a half weeks. 

The Spanish Dance - Chocolate - from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky

 The Spanish Dance is one of the dances from around the world that is preformed for Clara and the Prince in Act II of the ballet The Nutcracker. 

Watch and listen  to some of these versions of the Spanish Dance from the Nutcracker. Look at the questions below, and think about the answers as you watch and listen. 

This version from Los Angeles has a principal male and female dancer with other females dancing behind them. 

This version is from the Moscow Ballet in Russia  - and includes a bull . . . 

 
This version is by the Mariinksy Ballet in Saint Petersburg - where Tchaikovsky lived. We have seen many other parts of the ballet by this company.   (It's followed by the Arabian dance, which you might like to check out, too.) 

This is another version of the Spanish dance -  by Russian dancers - at Saint Petersburg. 
This is the Marlupi Dance Academy from Jakarta in Indonesia. 

This is by a dance school in the Caribbean. 

This is a girl doing a solo of the dance with an orchestra playing behind her. Notice her costume, her dance movements - including how she uses her hands and feet.  

This version has several pairs of male and female dancers - including Clara and the Nutcracker prince who join in.  

In this version, you can see a rehearsal of the Spanish dance with several groups of dancers. 

This is a dress rehearsal of the Spanish Dance, starring Ciro Tamayo, principal dancer with the Uruguay National Ballet.  Notice that this version includes a bull!


- What instruments can you hear in this piece of music?   Here's one of them.
- What instruments are the same and what are different from the Russian  dance and the Chinese dance?
- What percussion instrument is used to signify that it is a Spanish-themed dance? (Here's another Tchaikovsky Spanish dance, but it shows you an interesting way of playing the percussion instrument.) 

- What costumes do the dancers wear? What is the same - or similar - in most of the versions of the dance? 
- Describe the different movements of the male and female dancers. 
- What similarities and differences do you notice between  the costumes and dance movements in the Chinese, Russian and Spanish dances? 

Here, you can learn some Spanish flamenco dance steps and hand movements. Each lesson is very short and you can easily follow the demonstrator. 

 
Here are dancers from the San Fransisco ballet who are visiting a children's hospital.  They talk about their characters and show some of their dances. Look for the Spanish dancers, and also a familiar dancer of the Russian dance. 


This is a bit of an unusual arrangement of the Spanish dance. What instruments are used?  

This is  visual representation of this Spanish Dance 

 

This is an orchestra playing the entire Nutcracker music - without the ballet.   You can see the instruments used in the Spanish dance at 55.40. Look hard at the back to find the percussionist playing the castanets. 

And here's what the music looks like written down. How many notes can you identify? 

Here's a Tom and Jerry cartoon of Tom (the cat) doing a Spanish dance.  It's not the original sound track, and I think it's been dubbed over- but you will still recognise it as a Spanish dance. 

 

Check out our April 2014 post to learn more about what is involved in an Anzac Day ceremony.  
And this post from April last year (2015) for more information about the Anzac Day ceremony.   

Orchestra Practice at our school

At our school, senior students who want to learn an instrument can join the orchestra and participate from their very first lesson.  Some students have ukulele or recorder lessons on  Fridays, and they can practise at lunch times when the music room is open.   These are some photos of the orchestra practising Autumn by Vivaldi.  We will be recording it soon and posting it on our music blog. 

Part of the recorder group. 

Our drummers share a set of drums

One of our keyboard players.

It's great to have mini keyboards so more students can learn to play together. Playing together in an orchestra is the ultimate of Team work!

 And when we discover a visiting teacher plays the ukulele, we enlist her help to work with a group of beginners.

The percussionists are  creating their own rhythms - in ways that Vivaldi could never have imagined.

Mrs Lee works with the guitarists. 


Check out the videos  on the panel to the right and see what last year's orchestra achieved.