2016 Term 2, Weeks 9 & 10: Cool Cats and Countdown to Holidays

Cool cats clicking their fingers in time to Sh-boom sh-boom by the Koi Boys from New Zealand. What dance movements can you create for the verses and choruses?  Here's a link to the lyrics for Sh-boom Sh-boom.

Add 4 bar lines to make 5 bars of 4 beats each.

Holiday by Fatcat and Fishface
Here's another fun song from our favourite singers-and-songwriters. 
 
Click here for the link to the web page for this song. You can listen to the song for free for a few times then you need to pay for it  - which I recommend.   Great to support New Zealand music and musicians.
Tahi - rua - toru - wha
 
On a holiday in Polynesia
Sitting underneath the coconut trees
Sun is shining on the pretty blue sea
When a big fat coconut fell on me 

Oh - oh - oh -oh - oh

On a holiday in Australia
Kangarooses on the hop all daya
Sitting underneath the old gum tree
When a blue-tongued lizard took a piece of me
Oh - oh - oh -oh - oh 

On a holiday in the Antarctic
Took my snowshoes and my sharpest ice pick
Played with penguins in the freezing sea
When a hump backed whale got a crush on me

Oh - oh - oh -oh - oh  
hol-i -day   hol-i-day 
hol-i-day  
Oh - oh - oh -oh - oh 
  
On a holiday in old New Zealand
Grass is greener and the sheep are clean and
Birds are singing in the totara tree
When an earthquake shook itself all over me
 Oh - oh - oh -oh - oh 
La-la-la-la-la . . .  

A map of Polynesia.  What islands and countries are in Polynesia? What islands and countries in this map are not in Polynesia?  Poynesia comes from two Greek words meaning  "many islands".

What's at the top of a coconut tree?

Find Australia, New Zealand and the Antarctic

An Australian blue-tongued skink (lizard)

The Antarctic - how many countries can you find?

A hump backed whale "breaching"

Juniors:

Get the Sillies Out 

2016, Term 2 Weeks 7 and 8: Bird Brains and Bugs Bunny

Here's another song by Fatcat and Fishface.  Click on this link to find the music  for Bird Brain- but you can only play it a few times before it's blocked and then you will need to follow the instructions to buy it for yourself. (Well worth it!)
 






















Bird  Brain 

Bird . . .  Brain . . .  Bird. . . Brain 

The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
It can teach you to fly. It can teach you to sing
It can teach you to operate both of your wings
Oh the brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing

Bird . . .  Brain . . .  Bird. . . Brain  

The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
It can make you take journeys in winter and spring
It can make you make nests of tinfoil and string
Oh the brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing

Bird . . .  Brain . . .  Bird. . . Brain 

Your bones may be hollow
Your feet may be webbed
Your song may be just a quack
Yet you can fly thousands of nautical miles
You can fly thousands of nautical miles 
You can fly thousands of nautical miles
And know how to get yourself back

Bird . . .  Brain . . .  Bird. . . Brain 

The brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
It can help you to see when it’s terribly dim
It can lead you to water to duck, dive or swim
Oh the brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
the brain of a bird is a marvellous thing
the brain of a bird  -  is a marvellous thing

Brain  A marvellous thing        Bird  
Brain  A marvellous thing        Bird  
Brain  A marvellous thing        Bird 

Last week we looked at Tom and Jerry's version (Cat Concerto) of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2.  Here's another cartoon version of  Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2, starring Bugs Bunny.   What similarities can you find between the two versions?  They were both released in 1946, and both film studios accused the other of plagiarism, but no proof has ever been found.  In 1947, the Cat Concerto won an Academy Award for best animated short film.  

 Vocabulary: 

rhapsody -  a one-movement piece of instrumental piece of music with several  contrasts of tempo and mood 

movement - one section of a longer piece of classical music. Longer pieces of classical music are often broken up into different sections - called movements. Often  there is a different tempo and mood to each movement.  Audiences are not supposed to applaud between movements, but wait until the very end when the conductor puts down his baton and bows. 

tempo -  the speed a piece of music is played. There can be many changes of tempo in a single piece of music.

applaud -  to clap. Applause means clapping. 

concerto -  from the Italian language meaning 'agreeing' or 'playing together'.  A concerto is a piece of music played by a solo instrument with an orchestra.  (A piano is the solo instrument in the Tom and Jerry cartoon. We don't get to see the orchestra but we hear them.) 

nautical -  means to do with the sea, sailing, or navigation. 

plagiarism - copying someone else's work and using it as your own.  

Chcek out nzso.co.nz for availability of tickets 

2016 Term 2 Week 7 Wednesday: While the teacher's away

Here's some music for the relief teacher to use with my junior music classes while I'm away on Wednesday. Choose from any of the activities below. Look for the links for video clips.
 
How many musical instruments can you find making up this motorbike?

Below are some of the Juniors' favourites and they will be able to sing and dance along with the videos, or just watch and enjoy revisiting some of our favourite performers and performances. 

The Wonky Donkey Dance performance for junior audience.  The students may like to sing along with as much of this they can keep up with. 

Cat Concerto by Tom and Jerry   A six minute Tom and Jerry cartoon where Tom is trying to play Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2, and Jerry ends up getting the applause.  
Ask students to: 
- listen for the audience clapping when the pianist walks on
- listen for the orchestra tuning up, then the conductor tapping his/her baton to indicate that they are ready to start
- look for how a piano makes sound
- look for how the pianist alters the height of the piano stool
- look for where on the piano you play the high notes and the low notes 

 

Here's another version of Hungarian Rhapsody Number 2 - played by two pianists. 

Star Wars March  
Play the sound track but put video on Freeze as the images will be distracting to juniors. (Just a whole series of notes for rhythm work.) March around the room with students following you; avoid stamping and thumping  . . .   

Selfish Shellfish song   by Fatcat and Fishface.    This is the lyrics page; look for the sound track in the top left hand corner. 

Looby Loo    (For  Years 1 and 2) This is slightly different to the version we do together in class, but they will know enough to join in and probably do the dance. 

The Hampster Dance They haven't done this dance this year, but it's easy enough to follow. Just make sure you have enough space for them at the front of the room.  You may need to shut down a few pop ups during the vid. 

The Freeze Game   
They haven't done this dance this year, but it's pretty easy to follow. 

For Years 3 &4: Best Day of My Life - with lyrics 

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