Additional Pieces for Recorder Aerophones are classified as those instruments that produce a sound without physically altering their form 'African Dawn' is a song inspired by my time living in East Africa. African Music and Dance This is, of course, a vast area to research. This website about African Music should be extremely helpful. There are many websites dedicated to downloads of .mp3 files of African Music. Search for ‘Jambo’, ‘Malaika’, ‘Awe Somagwaza’ for a start. These songs come with lyrics and are easy to learn from the audio file. No doubt many of your students will recognise some. Student groups might select three or four songs they have downloaded to learn, rehearse and then present them together with a brief illustrated documentary about the music. More ambitiously this could be transformed into video format or a powerpoint presentation. Afro-American Music The impact of the forced migration of Africans to the Americas across generations continues to be felt today, particularly in contemporary music. A survey of Afro- American music could lead to a performance presentation of music that has its roots in Africa. This could include authentic African songs and instrumental pieces – often pentatonic, spirituals, 12 bar blues (a great opportunity to find out how ‘form’ – the plan of a piece – enhances our enjoyment), jazz, reggae, rap, and almost all modern commercial music around the world! An Arabian Diva - an outline Angklung - an outline Angklung and other Bamboo Instruments A survey of these tuned bamboo instruments of western Indonesia should prove a surprise not only in its abundance but in the ease with which these instruments can be played. Angklung belong to the family of ‘rattles’ called idiophones. Another Island Aura Lee Australian Composers In all probability few of your students will be aware that Australia has a long history of quite significant composers in the Western ‘classical’ tradition. Among the most famous are Percy Grainger who founded the world wide International Society for Music Education (ISME) and wrote a large repertoire of extremely approachable pieces of music. There are several women composers. A search of the internet for more will probably surprise students. Perhaps the most famous of our living composers is Peter Sculthorpe. This is a subject well worth investigating. Several modern composers write for middle years students. Australian Idol While I recognise that TV programs such as 'Australian Idol' (based on its American counterpart) are not everybody’s favourites, many of your students will be 'expert' in this area. Almost certainly they will know somebody who has auditioned and may even know one of the finalists. This could prove a winning project for a group of students, who might present recordings of songs presented in the program, provide some invaluable background about the musical histories of participants and so on. There are unlimited possibilities here, particularly if the program is current at the time of the project. Bahasa Indonesian Language & Music Balinese Kecak Bamboo Shakers BAND IN THE CLASSROOM, Suggestions for... 1. Introduction Untuned Percussion 2. 'I Could Play Music' Tuned Percussion 3. 'Play Some More' Double Bass & Bass Guitar 4. 'Ode to Joy' Guitar 5. 'Aura Lee' Keyboards 6. 'Greensleeves' Ukulele 7. 'Slow School Blues' Recorders 8. 'One Up Blues' Managing Instruments in the Classroom 9. 'Fur Elise' Classroom Instruments - some suggestions 10. 'Greensleeves' 11. Nursery Reggae 'Bazza' - the song Beatles, The I suggest the Beatles as a project focus because, while students will tell us they’re ancient, their arrival and ensuing evolution as a group of musicians had an enormous impact on the development of many areas of music. OF particular interest is their modal ‘Yesterday’. This is well worth learning along perhaps with John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. Reading and interpreting the latter is almost a project on its own! Other possibilities for investigation in a similar light must include Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Queen and groups you may well identify with as influential. The projects could take a number of approaches – students could learn songs, chord progressions, look at world events across the period of time when these musicians were operating at strength. A focus question might be ‘How did ...... influence the musicians and the music that followed?’ Any amount of resource material will be accessible, of course! Beethoven; his life and music The distance between Beethoven and the Beatles is less than we think. The Beatles even produced a cover version of ‘Roll Over, Beethoven.’ Comparing and contrasting these musicians is probably beyond the challenges we ought to set students but somebody keen might decide to try. There are two instrumental works for classroom band on the CD that students might like to learn, the ubiquitous, ‘Fur Elise’ and the theme (which Beethoven borrowed from elsewhere) to the Choral Symphony, ‘Ode to Joy’. These could be rehearsed and performed together with some research into their backgrounds. Who was ‘Elise’? Why is ‘Ode to Joy’ titled as such and what are its origins? Bees' Knees, the': Music for beginner classroom band 'Beguiled' Music for student-inspired lyrics about 'Feelings' 'Bendrong': Lancaran (music) for traditional Javanese Gamelan - arranged for classroom tuned percussion 'Born to Blush Unseen' Original lyrics and music based on Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Unrecognised talents! Boys and Music - an Outline Boys' Business 'Brain Functions': a song for teachers and parents about how the teenage brain functions! 'Breezing Along' for recorder Careers in Music Students are probably unaware that the Music Industry in Australia – and almost certainly in New Zealand, given the significant numbers of its musicians who often live and work in Australia - is perhaps one of our largest employers. For students contemplating a career in music a project focussed on learning as much about the huge range of occupations that are music based could be extremely useful beyond its classroom life. Your school’s Careers Adviser (assuming you have one) ought to be a helpful and supportive resource person. Carl Orff and 'Carmina Burana' Carl Orff is probably best known for his highly emotive, evocative percussive setting of the Medieval ‘Carmina Burana’. However he is also recognised among music educators as the innovative creator of the music learning system Orff-Schulwerk. A project based on some of the musical excerpts from ‘Carmina Burana’ would, on its own, have exciting potential with opportunity to learn and perform some of the more accessible music. However interested students might also produce a multi-media project which surveys contemporary Orff-Schulwerk activity. There are OS sites in Australia and New Zealand and unconsciously or consciously many of us will have use OS based music activities in our classrooms. My ‘Bazza’ is one such item. Catch Sticks Chants - an Outline Chants, Rap and Related Musical Types This is guaranteed to grab the attention of some of your more ‘street-wise students. While the project may need a little supervision to ensure that it remains at least ‘PG’ rated, there is an unlimited resource in rappers alone and many students will be able to list and name these. There will always be at least one who can improvise his or her own rap. This project might easily incorporated associated street art, graffiti, with discussion about tags – no reasons why the concerns of property owners couldn’t be voiced. Students armed with digital recorders and cameras might well visit skate parks and other sites to collect their own resources. There are several chants (eg 'Iron John')at the site and opportunities for students to create their own original works. Church Music There was a time in the history of Western Music when the church controlled the evolution of musical styles. This might be the subject of a project. A student group might examine the influences of missionaries on music in Oceanic or even Indigenous Australian communities where this promoted particularly powerful change in the way music is performed.  In some churches music is highly valued and an important part of ritual; in others it may even be banned. Why might these two highly contrasted situations have arisen? Here is an opportunity to survey Church music in a whole variety of settings, in Medieval Plainsong, in 19th Century Protestant Hymns, or in the Marching band music of Afro America that played a significant part in the origins of Jazz. Classifying Musical Instruments How musical instruments are grouped and categorised depends on the criteria for doing so. Typically most of us learned that Western musical instruments fitted into one of four primary categories, Woodwind, Brass, Strings and Percussion. This is all very well but in reality only suits instruments of the Western Symphony Orchestra and even then it is an unsatisfactory way of listing musical instruments. For example, because it plays in the woodwind section of the orchestra the French Horn, a brass instrument, is often conveniently located in the Woodwind section. Pianos may be listed with the strings but they combine percussive hammers with strings so, like the saxophone, a hybrid of Woodwind and Brass, they are also hybrid. A more satisfactory classification is probably the musicological one presented here that identifies families of instruments by the manner in which they produce sound. A variety of projects suggest themselves. Students might investigate members of a particular family of instruments and run a presentation where others can see and hear these played. This could be a live performance or a multi media presentation. Students might survey the instruments performed in the music of another culture and present a see-and-hear project. Classroom Bands Classroom Instruments Classroom Instruments - management 'Come to Bali' Computers and Music You may well find some of your students are already more expert in the field of computer music-making than you or I! Computers are ideal music makers, great for creating, recording and playing recorded music, for setting up music studios and for manipulating the finished product. Integrated with other computer applications there are no limits to what they may produce. Projects arising from this focus might well continue for sustained periods of time. Students could be invited to create, record and refine their own computer generated music items, without necessarily having indepth musical skills and understandings. Check out some of the programs that can be freely accessed on the internet to support these projects. Cordophones Creating 'Creativity' - a song Cumulative Songs - an Outline Dance & Music - an Outline Davy Jones' Locker Divas. Prima Donnas and other soloists Double Bass & Bass Guitar Early European Music Understanding our musical heritage ought to enhance our appreciation of not only music of previous historical periods but also within our own times. In an increasingly merged musical culture European music history still has a place. There’s no need for ‘history’ to be dry, boring and meaningless. Using existing and new technologies and turning process into product – particularly an interactive live performance – supports lifelong learning and retention. Why not start with the itinerant music of ‘wandering minstrels’ , troubadours and the likes. The stories of those times might be drawn from ‘Robin Hood’, and the minstrel song taken from the ‘Mikado’ (yes, Japanese, I know, but the minstrel’s song could belong to almost any historical context). The Crusades and Richard the Lionheart’s capture and ransom might also feature. Consider plainsong and the role of the Church of the times in the evolution of new music. Early Music Echo Songs - an Outline Echo Songs, Call-and-Response and Antiphonal Music Echo or 'Call-and-Response Songs may belong to one of the most ancient of musical genres. Think about the educative power of a song where the leader provides the lyrics. Students could check out echo songs on this website (‘Tell you what went down this morning’, ‘Too Many Questions’, ‘Whatcha Gonna Do Today?’) and share others they already know. The ABC Song Books have several including ‘Hello, Baby!’ Survey Call-and-Response as a musical device in Religious settings – many religions depend on the form in their rituals. A performance of songs in this genre – particularly a few ‘home-made’ ones – should go down well with an active audience. Electronic Music From the first simple experiments by composers in the twentieth century to the present plethora of electronically driven music this has been a fascinating and relatively new development. What does electronic music allow musicians to access that couldn’t be accessed prior to its appearance? What do we actually mean when we talk about music that is ‘electronic’? There are limitless possibilities with this theme. Electrophones Enjoying Music You may well have students who enjoy finding out how our minds work. A focus such as this could well interest them. What is it about music that we enjoy? Why? What goes on in our brains when we listen to and respond to music? Students could talk to people who work in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. They could interview each other, and musicians to seek solutions to these questions. European Music and Dance Doubtless in this day and age you’ll have a classroom peopled by students from many different national backgrounds. Sharing and talking about their music and dance has many positive social, aesthetic and informational positives. In this instance encouraging children who are conscious of their own recent European background to talk about it and share music with others should support acceptance of who and what they are. Again live performance is the best means of doing this but recorded audio and video playback of music and dance is perfectly acceptable.