Primary Schools Resource
LOCAL HEROES CONCERT Pre-Concert Activities
PRINCIPAL PARTNER: ACO COLLECTIVE
Contents CONCEPTS & PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH
3
RESOURCES
4
ACTIVITY 1 ACTIVITY 2 / ACTIVITY 3 TEACHING GENERAL CAPABILITIES AND CURRICULUM LINKS
5-7 8 10 - 11 12
The Local Heroes concert performed by ACO Collective explores through music the life of a person from your town who has lived an exceptional life in some way. Our facilitator introduces students to the instruments of the orchestra before using musical storytelling to transport them back in time to learn about the life of their hero. ACO Collective will reveal the identity of your local hero at the concert, so work through the pre and post-concert activities for contextualised learning opportunities for your students.
How to use our resources This is a two-part resource. The pre-concert activities introduce students to musical concepts and guide students through the process of learning to play a melody and learning to play an accompaniment. Students then watch the ACO Collective Local Heroes concert which tells a story through music. Using the post-concert activities after the performance, students use the skills they learned in the pre-concert activities to compose and create their own story through music. This resource is suitable for students in years 3 to 6 and is relevant for the Australian Curriculum area of The Arts (Music) with cross-curricula links to English, Humanities and Social Sciences and Technologies. Teachers should consult the WA School Curriculum and Standards Authority for details on their currently endorsed curriculum/syllabus subject material.
page 1
Concepts & pedagogical approach This resource uses an Orff-Schulwerk approach to Music – that is, “experience before understanding.� This resource has been created with the intention of giving students an experience of playing, performing, and composing music. While there are minimal aspects of theory for the teacher, theory should not be a barrier to the student. Concepts used: Phrase A musical sentence. English is written in sentences: Music is played in phrases. Melody The part of the music that you sing: the main part. Accompaniment The music underneath the melody. Important, but not as important as the melody.
page 3
Resources This resource is written for Orff instruments – xylophone, glockenspiel, or other similar pitched percussion instruments. There are many advantages to using these instruments: they don’t need to be tuned, they often have the letter names on the instrument, they are comparatively cheap, and kids tend to like the physical activity of hitting things. If xylophones or glockenspiels aren’t available, there are a number of apps on iPads that simulate these instruments and can be used instead. If using concrete instruments and not digital ones, it is recommended that students take the notes off they are not going to use and put them neatly to one side. For these melodies, we are only using five notes: C, D, E, G and A.
A photo of what a xylophone looks like with only 5 notes:
Here is another photo, this time using high notes:
Either setup of the instrument is fine. page 4
Activity 1 In this activity, you will teach students a melody and accompaniment through call and response. There are a few melodies below. It is recommended the teacher plays the melody in sections – the first half a few times, saying the letters out loud, then the second half, saying the letters out loud, and finally putting both seconds together to form a complete phrase. There are two options below. An audio guide has also been provided below.
page 5
As the teacher, you can use these resources to help call and response in your classroom, or you can challenge yourself to play them for the students.
page 6
Students may add a second part as accompaniment. This goes underneath either melody and is played at the same time.
The melody and accompaniment together sounds like this:
page 7
Teaching Teaching tip – Pits! At times, it can become quite chaotic with thirty instruments in the room, digital or concrete. If this noise becomes too much, students put their mallets (or their hands) in their armpits when you call, “Pits!” You might like to practise this a few times so the students understand the cue.
Melody
Accompaniment
Phase 1
Phase 2
Students learn a melody through call and response. For this, you can choose either the easy melody, or the harder melody. The teacher plays the first half of the melody, and the students play it back as a class. Do this until students can play it fluently. The teacher plays the second half of the melody, and the students play it back as a class. Do this until students can play it fluently. The teacher then plays the phrase all the way through, and the students play it back as a class. Do this until students can play it fluently. page 8
Students learn the accompaniment through call and response. The teacher plays the accompaniment – the students play it back. The melody and accompaniment will now be played together. The teacher could play a recording of what it sounds like (above, from resources). The teacher then divides the class into Melody people and Accompaniment people. The Accompaniment people start, and continue playing. The Melody people then begin. When the melody stops, the accompaniment stops. Be careful Accompaniment people – don’t go too fast! Congrats, you’ve just learned a piece of music!
Food for thought – Some primary teachers can be quite unsure about playing music with students, as they don’t consider themselves to be musical. For this reason, audio guides and pictures are included in the resources section above, and can be used instead of the teacher demonstrating. However, consider that it might be beneficial for the students to see a role model taking positive risks and owning any musical mistakes.
Composition
Performance
Phase 3
Phase 4
This is the “composition” phase.
The “performance” phase.
Students split into groups of roughly four. Students use the melody they have as the first phrase. Their job, as a group, is to come up with a second phrase. The second phrase can be about the same length and use the same notes as the first phrase. It is recommended that of the four students, some play the melody, some play the accompaniment. They may like to use the same accompaniment, or change it.
Students perform their composition for the class. Students might like to explain their thoughts, ideas and process before they play.
Students work in groups for five to ten minutes, writing their melody.
At this point, it might be valuable to talk to the students about performing, noting that it is difficult to perform in front of your peers. The teacher might like to go over audience expectations (being attentive, showing appreciation through applause) and performer expectations (acknowledging the audience, usually with a bow.)
page 9
Activity 2 Reflection Students reflect on their pieces they have just heard. 1. What did they like about them? 2. What might they change about them? 3. What did they like best about creating music?
Students have just had an experience performing in front of their peers. 1. 2. 3. 4.
What did they think? Did they get nervous? Did they like it? Would they want to do more?
Activity 3 Research Task Students will see a performance by a very special group of musicians, called ACO Collective. They play music, just like the students did, and will perform for the students, just like the students did. In groups or individually, students research five interesting facts about ACO Collective. After a short session of research, students may like to present their five facts to the class.
page 10
General capabilities and curriculum links Teacher’s Notes for reference to the Australian Curriculum: The Arts. This table identifies general capabilities and cross-curriculum links for pre and post concert lessons sequences.
General Capabilities
Cross Curriculum Links
Critical and Creative thinking (CCT)
English
Personal and Social Capability (PSC)
Humanities and social sciences
Intercultural Understanding (ICU)
Technologies
Literacy (LIT)
page 12
GOVERNMENT PARTNERS:
aco.com.au
PRINCIPAL PARTNER: ACO COLLECTIVE