'Feelings' Film and TV Soundtracks Here’s one project focus where many of your students are almost bound experientially to be even more expert than you! The critical role of music in contemporary film and TV will be apparent to all. A survey of the music and the opportunity to listen to excerpts as they communicate the emotional tracks of the visual experience ought to confirm the essential nature of music in enhancing story delivery. Encourage students to select excerpts from the sound tracks of their favourite movies and to re-relate the original story as it is supported by their music. Without doubt the various genres of film will be exposed and provide further opportunity to categorise and talk about a range of movie and TV experiences, comedy, horror, mystery, action drama and so on. Folk-lore, Music, Dance and Tales The transmission of music, dance and folk tales is a fascinating topic on its own. I usually start a project around this focus with a game of Chinese Whispers to simplify the idea that oral transmission – as a generational means of passing on learned knowledge – is largely effective and accurate but contains possibilities for change as people mishear or reinterpret something they heard previously. Thus folk songs often have many variants both regionally and historically. Already there are several versions of Banjo Paterson’s ‘Waltzing Matilda’. Form in Music - how a piece of music is planned Music does happen spontaneously without necessarily having any formal planning. But almost invariably there will be sections that match the need for repetition and contrast, release and tension, in any effective piece of music. After the first hearing of a new piece of music I often share the preparation of a visual ‘mud-map’ of the piece, recording on newsprint (butcher’s paper) the high moments and low moments of the music, changes (in expression, dynamics, rhythm, speed and so on) to encourage children to ‘LOOK’ at the form and shape of the music. As a theme this could be approached in a variety of ways. You might start by listening to and examining a simple musical ‘motif’ or phrase, then listening to how it is used in a more complex piece. Or you might seek music that is binary or ternary (two and three sections) in form. There is huge potential in a project like this and opportunities for students to create their own floor-plans and subsequent musical compositions. Take a look too at the twelve-bar blues, a plan or form that most effectively satisfies most if not all the requirements of a well balanced musical form. Future for Music, A Here’s the opportunity for those students who have a sci-fi bent or are interested in predicting a future for music, to prepare and present a futuristic music project performance. Rather than suggest how this might be done let’s leave it to their imaginations! 'Fur Elise' Gamelan Orchestras French composer Debussy was so moved by his first hearing of an Indonesian Gamelan orchestra that he captured elements of it in his later works. Gamelan is a word attributed to tuned percussion orchestras throughout western and central Indonesia. There are significant differences between what may be termed ‘gamelan’ from region to region in Indonesia and these are well worth researching. For example Javanese gamelan orchestras perform music often described as ‘courtly’. Balinese gamelan sounds, to Western ears at least, almost frenetic compared. I have featured Javanese gamelan music on this disk. However simplified versions of Balinese gamelan can also be rehearsed and presented in  schools. An ensemble of angklung may also be called a gamelan. I’m sure a number of projects will suggest themselves to students once they have surveyed the topic. Check out gamelan and angklung. Also have a look at the song, 'The Gamelan Sounds,'  an introductory song for classroom gamelan ensemble Games, Musical, and the like! Ghazal: Poetry and music from Northern India, inspired by Persian romantic genres. Graphic Notation: Music represented and presented using graphics Greek Music and Dance Australia boasts some significant Greek communities – Melbourne is often cited as the largest ‘Greek’ city outside Greece! What is of even more interest may be that some of these communities come from specific regions of Greece. Darwin for example was one of the refuges of the Kalymnian Greek sponge divers when that industry failed in the islands off Turkey. With the increasing replacement of natural sponges with synthetic rubber bath sponges the sponge divers suddenly had no major source of income. Many emigrated and a number came to Darwin. Musically Greece is very interesting as a cultural crossroad between the west of Asia and the east of Europe. Consequently its music is delightfully ‘spiced’ with the melodic and rhythm insertions of middle eastern and Asian music and dance. An investigation of Greek Music and Dance could cover music and dance generally or highlight a feature, such as the music of a region, metre and rhythm, or the interactions of European and Asian influences on the music. Performance involving both dance and music ought to be possible given the large numbers of students in our schools whose families originated in Greece. ‘The Greek Dancer.’ Greensleeves  Here are two separate interpretations of this, one of the earliest 'pop' songs in English! One is for Recorder Ensemble, the other for classroom band. Guitar,The Projects might involve an overview of the history and evolution of the guitar. The guitar might be surveyed in different settings, as an instrument performing classical music, folk music, popular music, jazz, flamenco, Latin American and other ethnic genres. Adventurous students could investigate different ways of producing sound from a guitar. Of course performance ought to be a major outcome of any survey. Guitar, The - an outline Haiku - Poetry and Music 'Haunted House, The': A humorous song about ghosts and related objects of fear! Heavy Metal, Grunge and Related Music Some students will insist that these are already ‘elderly’ genres of music. Nevertheless as relatively recent genres still often have a significant following and offer insights, both music and cultural into the ways of the world of their times. I’m sure all sorts of exciting projects can be imagined for any or all of them. History of the Recorder, Recorders, as members of the aerophone family, are classified as 'end-blown' flutes (together with ‘whistles’) belong to an ancient family of wind instruments. Modern orchestral flutes belong to the 'side-blown' flute family. Considering the rather strange name, ‘recorder’ an investigation of the origins of this instrument could be interesting. Projects focused on the recorder are bound to interest students who enjoy learning and playing the instrument. Historical Survey of Western Music, An Obviously this project focus will have greater appeal to some students. There are plenty of resources via CD’s, reference books, the internet and human resources to support a survey. I have briefly summarised a history here. 'Hold the Rhythm' 'Howzat?' Cricket is the theme of this song I Could Play Music:   an introduction to classroom 'bands' Indian Music - a Potted Survey Idiophones Indian Bhajans Indian Lullaby Indian Musical Styles I would be seeking the assistance of an Indian musician for a topic as complex as this one. Otherwise students could investigate and learn accessible Indian music in the form of ghazals, bhajans, and others. Indian Stick Dances Indigenous Australian Music, Dance and Living If you teach music in an Australian school and you haven’t considered Indigenous Australian music as an integral part of student learning it might be that you consider it a sensitive and potentially dangerous area. It is! However there are ways of dealing with it safely and the most appropriate are almost certainly those that employ informed Indigenous Australian musicians in the process. This ought to reduce the risks. Remember too that the music, dance and living are likely to be quite specific to a region. There really is little point in learning through the music of a community in, say the Tanami desert, if you and your students are based in northern Queensland. A little tactful questioning and you’re bound to find someone willing to support and assist you. Personally I’d work towards projects that were practical and active and led to performance. This ought to maintain sensitivity. Check these pages. Indigenous Australian Music and Dance - an outline Introducing A for Recorder Introducing B for Recorder Introducing G for Recorder Introducing high and low E for Recorder Introducing High C for Recorder Introducing High D for Recorder Introduction to Classroom Band 'Iron John' An classroom chant-rap based on the folk tale collected by the Brothers Grimm Italian Music and Dance There was a period in the history of Western music when Italian music was considered the ultimate. Given that many Italian terms are still in common use in Western music (eg piano and forte which together are part of the name of an instrument, now known as the piano) when might this have been? Consider too that if classical music has a textual bias to Italian, why does Ballet have so many French words in its technical language? Either or both of these questions could be the focus of an active project. The other options for surveying Italian Music and/or Dance are again limitless. 'Jackaroo':  An echo song in parts, based on reggae rhythm Jack's Rap: An evolving classroom rap based on 'Jack and the Beanstalk' Jazz We could argue that Jazz might be covered in a project about Afro-American music. However it has such a vast and ever increasing repertoire and continues to evolve into the 21st Century such that any one of its internal genres could be surveyed and presented musically. Given that it is largely an improvisatory music form, it lends itself to opportunities for creativity among your students. It can be as old – surveying the origins of jazz – or as new – including ‘funk’, the music of, for example, the John Butler Trio, or much of what appears on MTV programs. Hence its possibilities are infinite! Jigs