Christmas themed Music Theory!

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Silly Season begins!

Wow! Where did that year go?? I can't believe we are nearing Christmas already. I am thinking of being a bit crafty this year and thought I'd try some ideas with a music twist.

Enjoy your Silly Season! :-)

Strings in the Cathedral, 2014

Every year in early November, I present a massive concert in either the Cathedral of St Stephen or St John in Brisbane city. All the string students from Year 5 beginners through to our graduating Seniors perform in the glorious accoustic.

This year our program was as follows:

What end of year concert ideas are you thinking about?

Halloween Fun!

It has been loads of fun creating these little worksheets for my students in readiness for Halloween. Although the tradition is not quite as big here in Australia as it is elsewhere, we managed to incorporate some Spooky Madness into our days in the Music Department!

Teaching Music History.

I adore teaching music history and helping my students to appreciate "on whose shoulders we stand" today. Music Analysis tasks can be contextualised to particular times and places in world history and when students understand the inexorable link between people and art in the past, I find it helps to present a lens through which they can view the relationship between people and art in their own contemporary culture.

My most comprehensive Resource Package yet is my "Music through the Ages - Part 1".

The file you purchase includes:

- a 35 page study guide with information and activities covering Ancient Music through to the Baroque era.

- 4 powerpoint presentations with over 150 slides in total covering Ancient Music, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque.

- 10 Musical scores just perfect for student analysis and/or guided listening, featuring Ancient transcriptions, Gregorian Chant, Hildegard from Bingen, Morley, Palestrina, Monteverdi, Bach, Vivaldi, Scarlati and more.

The Art of Romance

I am very proud to present a collection of beautiful Romantic piano works, performed by my wonderful husband, Carson Dron.

Track Listings:
1.Clair de lune (Debussy)
2.Au bord d'une source (Liszt)
3.Intermezzo Op 18 No. 2 (Brahms)
4.Nocturne Op 62 No 1 (Chopin)
5.Nocturne Op 60 No 2 (Chopin)
6.Impromptu Op 90 No 4 (Schubert)
7.Sonetto del Petrarch (Liszt)
8.Berceuse Op 57 in D flat major (Chopin)
9.Etude Op Posthumous No 2 (Chopin)
10.Ballade Op 23 in G minor (Chopin)
11.Prelude in B major (Rachmaninov)
12.Waltz in A flat Op 2 (Chopin)

You can download a preview and purchase the CD as a digital download for only $8! Link to Product.

Film Music Compositions

"Music in Film" is probably my favourite Senior Music Unit. In particular, the composition dimension seems to produce some fantastic student work. This year, for my year 10 Music class, I provided the students a choice of three film segments they could compose a soundtrack for (A spooky animation, A human Flight clip and a Futuristic Nike animation).

Once students had spent a great deal of time analysing the codes and conventions of different film genres, they were able to experiment effectively in creating their own original compositions utilising the compositional devices they had studied in class.

Take a look at these three different student created soundtracks for the same, cute animation I found:

Original Clip:

Student Clip 1:

Student Clip 2:

Student Clip 3:

The following clip was also very popular and I found it on Vimeo. In addition to a "spooky/horror" theme option above, I wanted the students to have the option of exploring "flight" themes. All of the compositions were made using Garage Band and some students opted to record themselves on other instruments and embed it into the soundtrack.

Human Flight Student 1:

Human Flight Student 2:

And finally, a highly popular choice was this Nike Animation found on Youtube:

Find my Film Music resource Pack here 

Nike Student 1:

Composer Collections.

I love immersing my students of all ages in Masterworks of music history. I was inspired to create some supporting resources which gives the students some background context in hopefully, an engaging way.

My students have loved these Composer Packs and I hope that yours will too.

 

You will find 2 biography pages, information on form and melodic contour in music, a melodic contour activity, drawing activity, a word search, a “Let’s make an Opera” activity and a guided listening journal with reproducible pages. There is also a recommended listening list for teachers.

 

 

 You will find 3 biography pages, a word search, information on dynamics in music, a dynamics coloring activity, 4 “Be the composer” activities and a guided listening journal with reproducible pages . 

 You will find a biography page, a word search, information on the Baroque era, information on the string family, a 4 seasons stimulus for each season with excerpts from the original poems which Vivaldi used as the inspiration for the composition, a guided listening journal with reproducible pages. .

Recommended works by Vivaldi to play to your students are:

The Four Seasons RV 269
Gloria RV 589
Guitar Concerto In D Major (Lute Concert, RV 93)
Piccolo Concerto In C Major, RV 443

Some Easter Music Madness!

Take a look at these Easter Themed Music Theory Ideas:

10 pages of fun with these cute music theory sheets which include treble and bass clef reading and writing, musical math, dynamics terms and time signatures. Watch out for the Ninja Bunnies too!

Find the Product here!

St Paddy's Day Fun!

I couldn't let this opportunity pass without mentioning my little collection of 

St Patrick's Day Themed Music Theory Activities.

Have fun with 8 pages of music theory including treble and bass clef reading, dynamics and more!All for only $0.50!

Link to the product.

Products for Mini Maestros!

I love creating resources for our very young music makers. Colourful, visual representations of aural concepts can often be very helpful ways to engage and reinforce ideas. I have often found it helpful to emphasise the correlation between the natural syllable rhythms of familiar words and musical rhythm notation.
I have developed this idea within two popular themes: "Ocean" and the "Jungle".

 Here are a few -

These posters can be printed for the wall, or as A4 Cards to be used on the floor.

My product also includes some little worksheets:

The Ocean Theme:

Find these products here!

Crazy Times with our “Crazy for you” School Musical!

As crazy as I know it sounds (and in fact is), the tradition in our school is to rehearse and present our school musical every two years in the first 6 weeks of Term 1! Auditions were held last October and parts were assigned for the chosen musical – “Crazy For You”.
Crazy for You is a romantic love musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as "The New Gershwin Musical Comedy", it is largely based on the song writing team’s 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but incorporates songs from several other productions as well. Crazy for You won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical.
CRAZY FOR YOU™ is the story of Bobby Child, a well-to-do 1930′s playboy whose dream in life is to dance. And despite the serious efforts of his mother and soon-to-be ex-fiancée, Bobby achieves his dream!
It is ostensibly a Gershwin Review with big chorus and band numbers such as “I got Rhythm”, "I Can't Be Bothered Now", "Slap That Bass", "Tonight's the Night", "The Real American Folk Song is a Rag", “Nice work if you can get it” as well as romantic ballads such as; "Shall We Dance?", "Someone to Watch Over Me", "Embraceable You", "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and "But Not for Me".

All in all, this musical is a fantastic choice for schools on many levels. It brings to life the rich, tapestry of Gershwin's epic scores and reminds us all of the timelessness of his musical genius. It calls upon engaging and charming character acting skills, just perfect for the young, developing actor. It provides an opportunity for wonderful, Vintage costuming and set design. With the intrigue and interest for the 1920's and 1930's generated by recent films such as "The Great Gatsby", students and audiences alike, will have a ball recreating the time and setting of this beautiful Musical Production!

From Maracas to Mozart

The end of 2013 also brought about for me, the end of an epic era as a music educator. It was a bittersweet moment as I gave my last lessons to graduating high school students with whom I have had the privilege of teaching since they were tiny, little preppies! So many memories have been flooding back to me as I reflect on the amazing journey of working with these tiny tots and watching as they grow into the incredible young adults I know and love today. It is my hope to use these blog entries as a way of reflecting on the many musical journeys I have shared with my students in the past as well as documenting new travels with my current students as we explore the world around us through musical lenses.

Approximately 12 years ago, I had the fantastic fortune to be offered to purchase an established early childhood music school in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. From a quaint, old Chapel on a hill (in the suburb of "Chapel Hill"), I ran classes in music and movement for children 2 years and up, group keyboard classes for 4 year olds up, beginner strings from 3 years, as well as theory and choral programs.

What constantly strikes me as a teacher is how much I learn from my students and it was in these years at "Merri Merri Music" that I believe my little music makers shaped and influenced, not just my views on teaching music, but in fact my whole perspective on what music actually is!

I absolutely love this quote and I will include it in the farewell letter I am painstakingly writing to my graduating students as they embark on University study in the next few months. Some, to study music specifically, others to study Engineering, Medicine, Law, Arts, etc but all have been shaped by what they have learned through this beautiful art form: