I was asked recently to write a guest blog by my friends at fairandfunky for their website to be published during Fairtrade Fortnight which starts today, 24th February. The focus of Fairtrade Fortnight 2014 is bananas! This set my mind a-reminiscing….
Archive | Composing Activities for Classes
RSS feed for this sectionPoem: Camels
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
It’s camels…with kings on their backs! If you pretend to be a camel and you’re a class of 5-6 year olds, then this is what it feels and looks like!
Graphic Scores – Aids to Listening
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
I often find it a delicate task to encourage youngsters to listen to what is considered by some, strenuous or exotic music. I like to lead them though this thorny endeavour with something that is perhaps more familiar to them. One such technique is the use of graphic scores.
Graphic Scores – Inspiration Cards
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
Inspiration Cards: These are brightly-hued cards with some sort of brightly-hued swirl of an image intended to inspire brightly-hued, fantastical musical ideas to come flooding from their brains to the instruments they’re holding.
Graphic Scores – Musical Structure and Development
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
I developed a series of graphic scores to help youngsters, particularly in the upper primary/lower secondary years with the process and techniques of composing music, particularly with the structure of their pieces and the development of musical ideas.
Graphic Scores – Starting With Art
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
I have frequently used a visual art technique/concept as inspiration, with the resulting art works being then interpreted through music, and becoming a Graphic Score as a subsidiary role.
Graphic Scores – Fostering Literacy Skills
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
It is an effective and wonderful way to help very young learners with their reading and writing skills using music as the learning medium.
Graphic Scores – Introduction
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
Graphic Scores are a wonderfully useful and creative tool for use in composing activities with youngsters.
Autumn Sounds
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
Here’s another Autumn/Harvest assembly-suitable poem I wrote with a Year 2 class once. They recited the poem and made up music to go with each line.
Autumn Orchestra
Categories: Composing Activities for Classes
I’ve been asked a few times by colleagues and others to provide ideas for Harvest or Autumn assemblies. Here’s one of my favourites.