Table of Contents

New Music Alive Book II: Composition Resources in the Classroom

Lesson Eight: Class Activities

Strand: Listening and Responding
Strand Units: Exploring Sounds, Listening and Responding to Music
Curriculum Objectives:

  • listen to sounds in the environment with an increased understanding of how sounds are produced and organised
  • distinguish and describe vocal ranges and tone colours heard in a piece of music
  • listen to his/her own compositions and the compositions of others and evaluate
    • in terms of personal response and expressive qualities
  • distinguish the main instrument heard in a piece of music
  • sing independently, with increasing awareness and control of pulse, tempo, pitch, diction and posture

Linkage: Performing - Singing, Playing Instruments; Composing - Improvising and Creating, Talking About and Recording Compositions
Integration: ICT
Concept Development: duration, dynamics, structure, timbre, texture

Reviewing Completed Compositions
10 min

Have all the compositions been completed already?
Take time to finish some of your earlier work if you need to.

The students may like to listen back to their class tape piece, and to each group's "found sound" composition, and to their class electro-acoustic piece.

Online Quiz
10 min

If time allows, the students might like to try some more listening questions in our New Music Alive! Online Quiz.

CD

At this stage the class should have put together an entire CD, which might look like this:

Track 01 - Introductions
Track 02 - Class Acoustic Composition
Track 03 - Group One Found Sounds Piece
Track 04 - Group Two Found Sounds Piece
Track 05 - Group Three Found Sounds Piece
Track 06 - Group Four Found Sounds Piece
Track 07 - Class Tape Piece
Track 08 - Class Electro-Acoustic Piece

Design a cover together, perhaps using pictures of the school, the students, or the objects used to make the music.
Make a copy for each student in the class.

Rehearsal and Performance
20 min

It is always beneficial for the students to perform their work to other students and teachers, even in the classroom, or perhaps at a school assembly. While much of the music will have to be played from the CD, the students could do live versions of the acoustic and electro-acoustic compositions. They could even devise a live version of the "Introductions" track, which could provide a demonstration of the sound effects for the audience. Other short pieces could be based on their warm-ups. The concert might look something like this:

Item 01 - A short performance piece based on the 'My Sound Your Sound' game
Item 02 - A spoken introduction and explanation of the project
Item 03 - A live demonstration of the sound effects
Item 04 - A live performance of the Class Acoustic Piece
Item 05 - Listen to the Class Tape Piece that was made from the acoustic piece
Items 06-09 - Listen to the Group Found Sound Compositions
Item 10 - A live performance of the Class Electro-Acoustic Piece

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Lesson Eight: Class Activities

Reviewing Completed Compositions

Reflect on what an impressive achievement they have made. These five or ten minutes of music have never existed before. No one in the world has ever heard them until these students created it. Now they can keep it and share it with others for the rest of their lives. And if they like, they can always make lots more music in the future.

Rehearsal and Performance

If performing in public is something the students are concerned about, you can incorporate some of their favourite and most light-hearted warm-ups into the start of the concert. This should break the ice and use laughter to remove any tension. Let them remember that this is just for fun and the audience want to enjoy themselves just as much as the performers. Starting the concert with something simple that the students know well should provide a boost of confidence before the performance.

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