Fre eS am ple Good Stuff - for music Classrooms! Featuring - for your teaching pleasure: - Welcome - Listening Diaries - Copyright Fact Sheet - Concentr8 - Ye Olde Mode Worksheete - Composing for your instrument - 4’33” - Day 1: Music classroom management - Option Music - Christmas Creativity - Teacher’s Answer Page Subscribe to ‘Good Stuff’ today at www.noteable.com.au Available as an email subscription or on fabulous wristband USB Welcome! This is your free sample of: “Good stuff - for music classrooms!” There are 2 ways you can order ‘Good Stuff’: 1. Subscribe for a year of Good stuff issues and you will receive one issue twice a term emailed to you. 2. You can purchase a trendy USB wristband which comes with 2008 or 2009 issues pre-loaded. Aimed at upper primary (aged 8) through to secondary, Good Stuff understands that most music classes have students with huge variations of musical backgrounds, instruments and interests - not to mention the teachers! Each ‘Good Stuff’ issue will have a theme, it could be anything from a style or era of music, a composition technique, to a performance area of music. They each have activities as well as some tips, quotes and anything topical. On the 2008 USB On the 2009 USB - Bring on the New Year - The American Dream - The Medieval Period - Michael Jackson/Motown - Celebrate ‘08 - Practising Perfromance - Instruments of the orchestra - Musical Careers - Winter Remedies - The Great Composers - Beijing Olympics - The Ensemble Guide - Wicked - Practise, Practise, Practise - A Christmas Carol - Christmas Ideas + Bonus only on USB - The Planets + Bonus only on USB - The Planets You can print it, copy it, save it, and hopefully teach it! Good stuff is not tied to any curriculum or specific educational philosophy - it is just what it says - ‘Good Stuff’ for your students! The aim is to make life easier for music teachers. Subscribe today at: www.noteable.com.au d, ld soun u o h s c i us w the m e way.” o h e m th lls tand in “God te s u o y t t player bu e p m u r t nini to a a c s o T Arturo “Ber lioz s mus ays noth ic, b ing mag ut he sa in his nific y Jam ently s it es G .“ ibbo ns H unek ar Teacher’s info: The Listening Diary Listening diaries are precious things that not only are good fun but are good for students as well. They are great to fill in the last 10 minutes or to calm students down after lunch. All ages of students enjoy them and they can often generate some great discussions. Rules and tips: 1. Listening diaries are pieces student won’t hear on the radio. - Can be jazz, the latest music theatre, classical, your favorite, music from another culture, a new version of something, something topical different flavours and no flavours are better than others. 2. Listening diaries must be listened to in silence - no matter what the style - Students talk through rock or pop and fall strangely silent for classical music 3. They must ‘appreciate’ every style. - Try describing music as flavours of ice cream - they understand that they like 4. You can either photocopy or just put the headings on the board - maybe permanently in a corner of the board? 5. An ‘interesting feature’ can be anything - from the fact that the piece has a dance to go with it, or an irregular beat, or that it came from a movie. 6. Enjoy these - they can be as serious or as light as you wish. Junior Listening Diary Name of the piece (if known): ________________________________________ Name of the group or composer: ______________________________________ What style of music do you think it is : __________________________________ What instruments can you hear? ______________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ What do you think are the interesting features of this piece? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ What was your favourite thing about this piece? ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Rating:__________________ Copyright How long does music copyright last? Basically copyright on music and lyrics lasts for the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years. When does copyright apply to my work? As soon as you write or record your original piece of music it immediately has copyright protection. It does not need to have a copyright mark on the bottom of the page and it does not need to be published. Putting a copyright sign and your name helps people to identify who owns the copyright. How much does copyright cost? It is free. What sort of copyright categories are there? Most works have several copyrights that apply to them. A song will have copyright on the lyrics and the music. These can be held by 2 or more different people if the song was a collaboration. Printed material has publishing copyright and is held by the writer as well as the publishing company (photocopying etc). Sound recordings also have copyright. This applies to copying audio material. What is Public Domain? This is the term used for pieces of music that are out of copyright. Anybody can record these, publish them or perform them without paying rights. The only issue is that many will have recording protection still on them, so you can perform the music in a public venue but not copy a recording of it being played. Fact S heet What is not covered by copyright? Most importantly, chord progressions and ideas are not subject to copyright. This is why so many pieces can be based on very similar chord progressions. Ideas alone are also not protected by copyright until you actively use them to create something. ‘That was my idea first’ does not stand up in court! How many notes can I use before I break copyright? There is no set number of notes. This is what causes most of the problems as the phrase is you are not able to reproduce a “substantial part”, of the work. If a distinctive part of a work can be recognised then it is said that copyright has been broken. If this has been done without permission - the lawyers get involved. This problems arises because the ‘Jaws’ theme can be recognised after 2 notes and Beethoven’s 5th after 4 notes. ‘Recognisible’ is such a general construct that lawyers are very happy! How does copyright protect my songs and recordings? Anybody who wishes to use your song needs to get permission to use it. If they are using the words or the music, they need to get your or your representatives permission. Getting permission can be anything from a simple ‘yes’ but more often to pay a fee to use the piece. Concentr8: - Elements of Music crossword 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 www.CrosswordWeaver.com ACROSS DOWN 4 What is making the sound and the quality of the sound. Sometimes called the colour of the sound. 5 Rock? Pop? Classical? Baroque? 6 The style of the beat. How many, when and which ones are the strongest. 9 It's all about the chords. 11 How high or low a note is. 12 Most composers like to indicate 'how' they would like some notes to be played. 13 The bit you can sing! 1 The structure of the music - how the different sections of a piece are put together. 2 The central tone, scale and the basis for chords. 3 This describes the depth and layering of a piece. Generally homophonic, polyphonic or monophonic. 4 The pace which the music goes is called the _____. 7 This tells you how the melody should be divided up, like dividing a paragraph into sentences. 8 You wont know how loudly or quietly the composer wants you to play without these. 10 This is the way the beat is divided up. Ye Olde Mode Worksheete: Write these modes below starting on the given first note. Underneath, write the pattern of tones and semitones that are created: 1) Dorian: 2) Lydian T & S: ________________________________________________________ Play the scales below and listen to the difference the T’s and S’s make to the sound of the scale. Finish the sentences below: Compared to a major scale: 3) A Lydian scale has a _______________4th. 4) A Mixolydian scale has a lowered _______ 5) An Aonian scale has a __________ 3rd and a ___________ 6th and a __________ 7th 6) A Phrygian scale has a ____________ ____ , a ____________ ____ , a __________ _____ and a ______________ ____! Below are 2 modes starting on different notes (eg. they have the same tones and semitones but don’t just use white notes). Write in the tones and semitones and then work out which mode they are. 7) Mode name: _________________ 8) Mode name: _________________ T & S ________________________________________________________ 9) Use the Phrygian mode to compose a melody. Tips: You will need to start and end on an E and use only the white notes. Composing for your Instrument: When starting on the road to becoming a world famous composer or songwriter, it pays to start with what you know. Design brief: Compose a piece of music for your instrument 1. Choose a title that best suits your instrument from the list below: Butterflies Fastest flea Pesky pig Elephants plod Monkey madness Ferdinand the frog Casper the cat Dorky dog Boris the bad bear 2. Make a list of sounds, skills or features that your instrument does best. (eg. Flutes play fast well, the trombone does the glissando well) ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ ______________________________________________ 3. Compose your piece Title: ______________________ 4. Either record your piece or perform it to your class (preferably both) NB. Teacher options: The notationcan be optional Work in groups of instruments or instrumental families 4’33” In 1952 an american composer by the name of John Cage wrote a ground breaking piece, in three movements of music called 4’33 (4 minutes and 33 seconds). It’s first performance was by David Tudor. He sat at the piano and closed the piano lid to mark the start of the piece. If you buy the sheet music, it instructs the performer (they can use any instrument) not to play at all. - It just says ‘Tacet’ Just in case you don’t think people are taking this piece seriously, in 2004 the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave the UK’s first performance of this piece - It was broadcast live! They had a lot of troubles with people (including radio technicians) thinking that they were transmitting ‘dead air” (silence). There have even been recordings!!!!! Cage has written many other highly acclaimed pieces but this is by far the most controversial. He has said that this piece is his most important work. Task: In groups discuss the following questions - then answer the question individually (everybody in the room will probably have a different opinion and explanation) 1. What ‘sounds’ do you think would be heard during this performance? ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ 2. Do you think 4’33’’ is music? Explain your reasoning: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ 3. Discussions about this piece always lead to the need for a definition of what is music. What would your definition be: ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ 4. Would it make a difference if the composer wasn’t so well known and the performer couldn’t play the piano? Explain. ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________ Day One: Music Classroom Management Ok - now most of you already have this sorted, you have been doing it for years and are very good at it. However it never hurts to do a painless refresher as we embark on those new classes! It may also help to combat those weird classroom dreams that tend to hit at this time of year. These are for you to read, add, disagree, use, adapt - whatever you like. 1. Never talk over their talking not for a second. The first day is the quietest day of them all - use it! 2. Rules at the start of the lesson, fun at the end - they need to leave buzzing! 3. Show/remind students how to treat the instruments - especially leads, drum kits, pianos, keyboards etc. Remind them every year!!! 4. Make clear and have set guidelines for entering and exiting the room - this is very ‘old school’ but vital for classrooms with equipment in them and for setting a calm mood - at least for the start of the lesson. 5. Do smile - lots! You really do want them to look forward to music, or else you have an entirely new set of challenges. Not to mention that if you smile - they will. 6. Try not to use the ‘or else’ phrase too often. This one is day-one beginner teaching school, but we all forget and find ourselves saying charming things like ‘you need to put away all the instruments in their correct places or you will never get to use them again’. (I hate myself for it!) 7. Make clear, and be prepared to stick to it, that the better they behave, the more time they will get on instruments or doing practical. To follow this up, have a few short, really neat activities that you can use as ‘rewards’ to encourage the good behaviour (examples in next Good Stuff). Often we just use this one from the wrong angle - we remove practical when they are bad but forget to actually have reward activities. 8. If the class is brand new to you, then make sure they get the gist of your personality by the end of the lesson. I do this by playing them YMCA as their first listening diary after giving them a very formal speech. This lets them know that they are in for a long year! 9. Set any rules fast and have a consequence (though probably very small and possibly amusing at this time of year) for any negative classroom behaviour. Book distribution, leaning back on chairs, talking, whatever - have a plan in advance. 10. Tell them about you as a musician. What you play, where you play it, what you like to listen to, great concerts you have been to, why you are a teacher, why you are a music teacher. Students like to know this about us. They have more respect. We also have the edge on many teachers who are not actively involved with what they teach. Be positive - it is the start of the year. Name: ___________________ Option Music Welcome! 1. Write at least 2 goals for you in music class this year. (Things that you would like to achieve or learn in this class) _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ 2. Write at least 2 goals for your performance or specialist area (instrument, composition etc) for this year. _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ 3. Complete a SWOT analysis for music: My Strengths: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ My Weaknesses: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ Opportunities: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ Threats: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ Think of 3 great new activities the music department could run this year. 1. 2. 3. ______________________________________ ______________________________________ ______________________________________ Christmas Creativity 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Organise students into groups - 4 is perfect Assign students instruments - this could be anything from just body percussion to anything they can see, their own instruments or one group of keyboards, one of guitarists etc. Give students a set amount of time - start with 12 minutes, then 10, then 5. Give students a topic - preferably all the same one so you can see the variation Decide whether you want each one with or without lyrics Say ‘Go’ - with a sense of urgency! Give the groups a 5 minute warning Get all groups back really fast to perform each piece to the class. Start again with a shorter time and a new title. Repeat as often as possible for the lesson. Suggested Christmas Topics. Reindeer Romp The Family Lunch Christmas Morning Christmas Tree Super Santa Tinsel Time The Presents Elfin Around Teacher’s Answer Page: Mode worksheet: 1. TS: T S T T T S 2. T T T T S T T S 3. Dorian Mode: T S T T T S T 4. Mixolydian: T T S T T S T 5. A Lydian scale has a raised 4th 6. A Mixolydian scale has a lowered 7th 7. An Aonian Scale has a lowered 3rd, a lowered 6th and a lowered 7th 8. A Phrygian scale has a lowered 2nd, a lowered 3rd, a lowered 6th and a lowered 7th. Crossword answers I know that this is a very large list of elements- most teachers use a list of about 6 elements of music, but it varies. For the sake of a better crossword and better learning (maybe even a discussion?) I have included every item that I found on lists of elements. Ideas: • Have students do this for homework. Look the answers up as a research task • Work in groups and have a speed competition (good for seniors) • Give students a list of possible answers and get them to match the correct one. K E T S T Y L E M P O P I T A F O R T I M B R E X M E T U H A R R E C H Y R T I C U H M E L O E R P D H M O N Y R N A A S M I L A T I O N C G D Y S