Rhythms of the Rainforest

Musical activity ideas for this popular cross curricular topic

Composing

Use body percussion and vocal sounds to create a storm in a rainforest: rubbing palms for rainfall, stamping feet for thunder, whistling noises for the wind, and shrieking noises for monkeys and parrots. Add dynamics and tempo changes to show the progress of the storm.

Musicianship

Make your own origami frogs and tap them in time to the beat to make them jump along with the pulse.

Singing

Sing along with the Anthem for the Amazon, created by the Amazon Aid Foundation and Rhythm of the Universe, featuring 500 children from 50 different countries around the world.

Listening

Listen to Eleanor Alberga's 'Nightscape' and use the Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ excellent Beacon Project resources to explore this piece through movement, becoming tree frogs and other nocturnal animals in response to the music.

History of Music

Find out about the music of the indigenous people of the Amazon. What does it sound like? What is it used for? What part does it play in their culture?

Performing

Learn to play the ocarina, one of the oldest instruments in the world, which originated in South America, and is still very popular in Peru today!

Theory

Talk about the layers of the rainforest being like texture in music, with all the different layers being separate, but part of one whole. Create a piece of music that uses pitched layers to represent the sounds of different parts of the rainforest e.g. high bird sounds for the canopy.