MARCH 2024
It has been wonderful to see both the Year 7 and Year 9 students continuing to involve themselves even further in their music classes as we head towards the end of Term 1. In the last week, all students in music have been busy completing their CATs.
The Year 7 music students have been building their confidence in understanding the elements of music, deepening their knowledge of dynamics (volume levels) and tone colour (sound qualities of instruments) in particular.
It has been great to see students engaging in the ‘Peter and the Wolf’ listening activity. This has been a valuable opportunity for students to strengthen their understanding and recognition of instruments of the orchestra through a fun narrative, to see how musical instruments can portray characters and their personalities, and to develop greater confidence in describing the sound qualities of these instruments which has consolidated their understanding of tone colour.
It has also been excellent to see some students demonstrating their performance skills on instruments in front of the class, as well.
The Year 7 students are currently working on completing their Unit 1 CATs which tests them on recognition of these instruments, recognising which instrument families they belong to, understanding key differences in how these instruments are played, and demonstrating their knowledge of tone colour by writing adjectives to describe the sound qualities of particular instruments.
The Year 9 music students have been continuing to learn about Medieval music and culture, and the influence this has on certain gaming soundtracks. They have been learning about theoretical and stylistic elements relating to Medieval music, such as the treatment of texture (the layers of music and whether these are structured in a simple or complex way) and the use of Medieval modes (a more extended and varied scale system).
Students have been continuing to increase their familiarity with Medieval instruments and making connections to modern versions of these instruments. They have enjoyed watching video examples of these instruments to strengthen their understanding and to make comparisons to modern versions of these instruments.
Students have also begun learning some basic keyboard skills and have enjoyed learning a few notes within a hand’s reach and learning some simple melodies within this range. A few students have extended themselves and had a go at playing with the left hand or combining both hands together. Shortly before sitting the CAT, several students were having a go at improvising on the keyboards in pairs or small groups, applying their new knowledge of Medieval modes and which notes these contain.
The Year 9 students completed their Unit 1 CAT this week. This tested their recognition of Medieval instruments from both images and performance recordings, Medieval modes and how these relate to major and minor scales, their understanding of different types of textures in Medieval music, including different types of polyphony, and their recognition of Gregorian Chant.
The instrumental program is gaining momentum, and it is great to see some more students keen to sign up for instrumental lessons. The band has recently resumed regular weekly after-school rehearsals and is getting ready to perform early next term at a few events. They were sounding great when rehearsing the ‘Peter Gunn’ theme the other night. We look forward to more outstanding advancements in our music program next term.
