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From behind the scene...

 

Paganini's violin concerto performed on face

Flashmob orchestra - Som Sabadell

"Piano quintet"

Official site of THE PIANO GUYS

All-in-one: Nick Pitera

Children, watch this video and keep count of the number of characters in it.

Now, let's see how many people were behind the scence during the recording:

Year 3 Music: Song Identity

Listen to the following songs, can you tell which countries are they from?

Song #1

Song #2

Song #3

Whether you are trained or untrained in music, it is not difficult for you to differentiate a piece of Chinese music and a piece of Western music. That comes from past exposure to music (conscious or sub-conscious). A child growing up in Hong Kong can easily pick out the sound of Chinese music because they have heard it on TV during Chinese festivals and have become familiar with the tonality.

This is the first exercise I give to my students before I introduce pentatonic scale to them. I want to get them to ask themselves what is it in the music that distinguishes one piece to another.

Lullaby from Turkey

Turkey is a very special country with very rich culture. It is a Eurasian country located between Europe and Asia. Naturally, Turkish culture is a mixture of Eastern and Western culture. You may click and access to the Turkish Culture Foundation to discover more about this country. Now, let's listen to a Turkish lullaby.

Dandini Dandini Danali

Turkish instruments

1. bağlama (plucked stringed instrument)

2. Duduk (Wind instrument)

You may see other Turkish instruments we've discussed in class by clicking the following links: The Kasik (spoons) , Davul and Tar

This is a photo I took when I was in Istanbul, Turkey in the summer of 2010. The view of this red moon is so pretty!!

Year 3 Music: What's in a rhythm?

Note value names in many languages

Now that you have met most of the note value members in the SIMPLE TIME family and able to apply them to your composition, it's time to rethink what "rhythm" mean. Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a Dutch escaped to NewYork because of war. After he arrived at this big city, he enjoyed his new life. He fell in love with the architecture in New York and American Jazz, boogie woogie style in particular. First of all, let's find out what style "boogie woogie" represents:

Do you like this style? Boogie woogie does make us want to dance. Well let's go back to the story of this Dutch man. Not only did he enjoy listening to boogie woogie, he loved dancing to it too. To prove his fascination over this style of music, he composed a masterpiece called "Broadway Boogie Woogie" and here it is:

Broadway Boogie Woogie (Piet Mondrian, 1942-43)

You may wonder, "Huh? Where's the music?" I never said that the Dutch man was a composer! Nor did I say that "Broadway Boogie Woogie"was a piece of music; it was the title of a PAINTING created by Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). He did not choose to use music notations to represent the rhythm of boogie woogie, instead, he found his rhythm in colours and lines! How brilliant! Now, can you see music in Mondrian's painting?

Inspired by this painting, an Australian student chose to create an animation to it. You'll be hopping right into Mondrian's painting in this video! Fasten your seat belts!

Click to the following link to create your own Mondrian-inspired digital painting: MONDRIMAT

Meet the great composers 2 - Debussy

The second great composer we will meet this year is from France. His name is Claude-Achille Debussy (1862-1918) He was born in a city near Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Many see Debussy as the most important of all French composers. How important was he? His portrait has appeared on France's bank note!

Debussy studied piano at the Paris Conservatory of music but eventually deicided to be a composer instead of a performer. Instead of following the composition rules set by his teachers, Debussy liked experimenting with different kinds of music. As a result, he contributed to the creation of a new style of music! Debussy also liked writing about the nature; listen to the following two piano solo pieces, is about the moonlight another one is an Arabic style song, according to Debussy. (Certainly it sounds VERY different from REAL Arabic music)

Claire de lune (1890)

Arabesque #1 (1888)

So how would you describe Debussy's style - I think it is very dreamy and it somewhat , don't you think his style is very different from Beethoven's?

Other than his famous piano work, Debussy also compose for orchestras and voices. Click HERE to find a mermaid song by him.

Giant Xylophone in the Forest

Last Year, I shared with a group of year 2 students the following video of virtual instrument. They were fascinated and kept asking me if it was real. I told them that I supposed it could be built with technology today but it would take a lot of manpower and resource.

This year, I am so happy to see this idea coming to live! A Japanese crew has constructed a giant xylophone in the forest playing Bach's Jesu Joy of Man's Desire

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW THIS BECAME POSSIBLE

Year 3 Music: A Snow Song

Children, whether you have seen snow or not, you must have dream about playing in the snow - making snow angels, building snowmen, having snowball fights...

I have spent a part of my childhood in Canada, where snow falls non-stop in winter. I love it when snowflakes start falling from the sky at night because the dark blue sky would become very sparkly. I also love tasting snowflakes and looking at them at a very close distance.

Then I discovered, in amazement, snowflakes come in many different shapes and sizes! LOOK!

If you like these shapes, you may click HERE for a video with more snowflakes.

What do you think will happen when a composer sees snow? If you were to write a piece of "Snow Song," how would it sound like? Will you write about snowflakes that melt in your hands? A snowstorm? Melting snow? How will you show it in your music.

I'd like to share a piece of music by a very famous French composer, Claude Debussy (1862-1918). He has written a solo piano suite called Children's Corner in 1908. (Click HERE to see the full piano score)There are 6 pieces in this masterpiece, in which one of them is called "The Snow is Dancing." To Debussy, the snowflakes are really lively and happy! Let's listen to a performance of The Snow is Dancing.

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, a very famous Russian composer (who also wrote Peter and the Wolf!), interpreted snowflakes quite differently in his very famous ballet work, The Nutcracker. Please see below for a beautiful performance of the song.

Finally, I'd like to share a Make-a-Flake Game with you before you go and make your own Snow Song! =)

A famous Australian folk song

When you look at Sydney and Melbourne, you can see the very modern side of Australia; when you visit the Great Barrier Reef, you see how Australia was blessed by one of the most amazing natural wonder of the world. When you walk towards central Australia, you'd meet aboriginals who may not look like Australian to you but actually they were the first people who occcupied this vast land. Here's one of Australias's most recognisable icon, ULURU.

Ayer's Rock, Central Australia

If you can only learn one song from Australia, Waltzing Matilda has to be your choice! This song is known as "the unofficial national anthem of of Australia." This cartoon may help you define some of the Australian slang words that appear in the song! (words in purple are defined for you below)

WALTZING MATILDA

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong

Under the shade of a coolabah tree,

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled

"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled,

"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,

Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,

And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag,

"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred,

Down came the troopers, one, two, three,

"Where's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?"

"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,

"You'll never take me alive", said he,

And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,

"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me".

Matilda: a romantic term for a swagman's knapsack.
swagman: a man who travelled the country looking for work.
billabong: a lake (a cut-off river bend) found alongside a meandering river.
coolibah tree: a kind of gum tree which grows near billabongs.
jumbuck: a large, naughty sheep.
billy: a can for boiling water in, usually 2–3 pints.
Tucker bag: a bag for carrying food ("tucker").
troopers: policemen.

Traditional Australian instrument - didgeridoo 

 When didgeridoo meets a western orchestra

孩子哭了

最近在Youtube找到一條片段﹐急不及待跟學生分享。片段來自一個烏克蘭的節目 (Ukraine's Got Talent)﹔一位擅長用沙粒作畫的藝術家在表演。在時而激昂﹑時而幽怨的音樂下﹐一盤平平無奇的沙粒在八分鐘的表演內變成一幅幅會說故事的連環圖。表演的尾聲﹐畫家在沙上寫了一句我不明白的烏克蘭語﹔亦寫了一句令我明白故事背景的四個亞拉伯數字 - 1945 - 她要說的是有關戰爭的故事﹔第二次世界大戰對烏克蘭來說﹐是黑暗的歲月。

這一段歷史﹐別說對我的小一﹑二學生﹐對我來說﹐也完全陌生。雖然我在學生播放前有過一絲猶豫﹐怕話題太深奧﹐小孩子不能明白﹐但是我還是選擇播了- 第一個原因是我想告訴他們知道創意不應受環境限制﹔哪怕一無所有﹖剩下一雙手和一堆沙﹐人們都沒有停止創作。第二﹐背景音樂很出色﹐整個表演觀賞度極高。

影片開始﹐孩子們凝望著熒光屏﹐看著那盤散沙慢慢變成一副漂亮的圖畫。孩子都驚訝得說不出話來 - 有的小口張開了﹑有的皺著眉 - 我最喜歡在這時候看他們。孩子臉上那副認真的表情總會令我鼻子一酸 - 孩子們﹐你知道嗎﹖老師雖然不算博學多才﹐但只要你們肯認真學﹐我們都願意把自己所認識的世界跟你們分享。

表演到了中段﹐課室裡響起一些不尋常的聲音。我回頭一看 - 有孩子哭了。我不作聲﹐決定讓他們繼續看下去。

八分鐘的演出完結後﹐我關掉熒光屏﹑走到課室另一端開燈﹔課室並沒有發出那一貫“散場”的雜聲﹐每個孩子都在沉思中。我走回自己的桌子前﹐看著他們﹐故作輕鬆地問他們﹕“怎樣﹖喜歡嗎﹖”他們靜靜地點頭 - 似乎他們突然意識到﹐這種”喜歡“有點另類。他們一向都喜歡玩耍﹑喜歡買玩具﹑喜歡吃巧克力...能討他們歡喜的﹐從來只有令他們快樂的事情。所以他們有點不明白﹔明明自己剛剛看完一個令人傷感的故事﹐但自己又確實很喜歡剛才那經驗。我告訴他們故事的背景﹐然後開始討論﹐讓他們抒發一下自己的情緒。他們想知道故事裡的主角為什麼哭﹑又想知道小孩子有沒有機會在戰爭結束後見到爸爸﹑亦問主角為什麼變老了。他們的問題令我想起小王子 - 孩子沒有興趣像成年人般去爭辯誰勝誰負或誰對誰錯﹐那堆有關傷亡數字﹑重建費用和有關年份的數字對他們來說全無意思。但細想﹐他們問的不就是最關鍵的問題嗎﹖戰爭的可怕是因為它令小孩子與爸爸永別﹑令人衰老﹑令人哭。

今天﹐老師跟小孩子一樣﹐都上了寶貴的一課。作為一個音樂老師﹐我從不特意催促你們進步﹑我更討厭比較。藝術的修養從不能強迫出來﹐更不能透過機械式的訓練而煉成。你們今天一起被一幅幅圖畫和音樂感動﹐有的更哭了出來﹔那是因為你們擁有一顆赤子之心﹐能赤裸裸地感受別人的感受﹔只要一直好好保存它﹐你們一定能繼續與藝術結緣﹔長大後成為有修養的人。


各位大朋友﹐有興趣的話﹐不妨一看﹕

Year 3 Music: The Treble Clef

This is the Treble Clef, it is a musical symbol that tells the pitch of the musical notes.

Besides on the musical scores, can you find the treble clef around us?

World Music - Senegal

Senegal is a country in West Africa. Its capital city is Dakar. Senegal was once a colony of France; as a result, French is still a commonly spoken language in the country. We are going to listen to a children song from Senegal. What do you think the song is about?

Song from Senegal - Fatou Yo

Lyrics in Mandango

(Click HERE for the translation and find out what the song is about!)

Fatou yo si diadialano
Fatou Faye Faye Fatou
Fatou klema oundio
Fatou yo si diadialano
Boutou mbele Boutou mbele
O mami sera
O mami casse
Ja cana canfa boulodi
Foyer zorola sodiaye
Sodia sodia ina gambia
Coco inako soyango

Music is a natural part in Senegalese culture. People sing and dance as they work and play. Two of the popular instruments from Senegal are the kora and the djembe. Let's listen to their sounds and see how they're played!

KORA demonstration

DJEMBE demonstration

Year 3 Music: Music appreciation 1 (Music with dotted rhythms)

I'd like to share two pieces of music with you; both of these tunes open with some dotted rhythms! (Please refer to your Music Appreciation Worksheet 1 for the scores.)

Humoresque in G flat Major, Op. 101, No.7

A Homeresque is a type of music that is funny or humorous. One of the most famous piece of humoresque is written by Czech composer, Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904). The piece is called Humoresque in G flat Major, Op. 101, No. 7.

Here is a performance of the piece by two very famous strings players, Itzhak Perlman (violin) and Yo-Yo Ma (Cello)

2. Minuet in G

This second famous tune was written by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). In this video, the same violinist, Itzhak Perlman, plays the tune. It was from a Sesame Street show in 1980.

Can you find the composer of these two tune in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra Kids Website?

Volkswagon's contribution to creativity

I think Volkswagon hires the most talented Marketing team. They always produce creative TV commericals, like this one:



This is not necessarily the best commercial from a marketing point of view, but it's a delight to watch it - cool idea and amazing performance.

Another video is from a site called "The fun theory." It's a site sponsored by Volkswagon.

The site describes itself as "[a site that is] dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better"

They give out award to those who can come up with creative ways to change people's behaviour; hence make the world a better place. Here's one of the award-winner - THE PIANO STAIRS:



My original intention to share this video with my Year 2 was more for fun. But it turned out to be a very good lesson:

I was surprised to find out that my Year 2 students don't really have an idea of what "being musical" is about. Their sense is narrow - only singing or playing an instrument is being musical. (composers, instrument makers don't count to their definition)

So after showing them the video, we had a discussion about the meaning of being musical. After the discussion, I asked them to finish the sentence," I'm most musical when I...." one said, "I'm most musical when I stand in front of an ice-cream van." Another said "I'm most musical when I play musical Wii games." And i'm surprised how many of them write, "I'm most musical when I sing in shower."

Year 3 Music: Improvising on the piano 1

A chocolate-coloured keyboard at the Art & Historic Museum, Geneva

A lot of children play the piano; they practice set pieces for a while until they reach a certain performance level. After a while, playing piano becomes a chore and children cannot really exercise their creativity on this wonderful instrument.

In a classroom setting, teaching piano keyboard is quite difficult because children are at different levels of piano playing; some have no piano background while some is already preparing for their Grade 5 exam. When I had my Dalcroze training in Geneva, I was deeply inspired by the piano improvisation class. Although I play a certain level of piano, my music background has given me very little preparation for improvisation. I attended the most elementary improvisation class and the class content proved to me that everyone can demonstrate a certain level of creativity on the keyboard - even if one has NO piano background at all. Most importantly, it promotes the idea that playing piano is FUN!

Based on this philosophy, I encourage students to come to the piano and improvise with me; and, within expectation, they all do very well. Here are two games I recommend.

The 1-note composition

A student is asked to pick ONE note on the piano keyboard and given 1 minute to improvise a song. (He/She can play with the speed, the articulation, use of the pedal, dynamics, etc - as long as he/she sticks to the "one-note" rule. This eliminates the opportunity for piano players to "show off" their skill and the feeling of inferiority in the non-piano player) Other students are asked to analyse what the piece is like.

Improvise a story

Ask 2 students come up to the piano and each pick a note from a high and low register, give each note a character (e.g. The giant and the bird). The 2 students start improvising and "making conversation" on the piano. Certainly, more characters can be added to the "story". You'd be amazed by how these two random notes can entertain a class of 30.

Next, I think it's important to let children know how the piano work, before showing them the inside structure of the piano (which will surely will create some chaos in class. =p), I use the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's Kids site to teach them about the basic first. Click to the following link to access to the piano game (and many others):

Game - What's in the Piano?

Or alternatively, show them this Tom & Jerry video, these two little characters certainly show us how a piano work through Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2. =)



Finally, let's compose a song using a mini keyboard - this help children relate piano keys to notes on staff lines:

Compose a Quick Song on the Piano

Evelyn Glennie - the percussionist who plays with bare feet

Before I tell you the story about Evelyn Glennie, let's hear her play first.

Don't you think she's amazing? But let me tell you a secret of Evelyn Glennie - she has been deaf since the age of 12. However, this disability has not hindered her in persuing a career in music. She always plays bare feet so that she can feel the music. To her, if you can feel the music in the body, anything can be an instrument! Evelyn Glennie has become a very successful percussionist and an inspiration to many. Here's another appearance she has made in Sesame Street.

If you'd like to know more about this amazing Scottish virtuoso, you may click HERE to visit her website.

Year 3 music: The Snowman

Finally, finally! The weather is getting cooler, meaning winter is near! Children, do you like summer more or winter more? I like winter because both Christmas and Chinese New Year fall into this season. Winter is definitely a season of joy. Since a few years ago, I developed a seasonal hobby of searching for magical stories in December. To me, winter is also a season full of magical happenings! I'd like to introduce to you a children story that I discovered only a few years ago, called The Snowman. (Click on this link to find out more about the story!)

This is a story written by English author Raymond Briggs in 1978. A few years later, this magical story is turned into an animated movie with awesome music background composed by Howard Blake.

Part 1/3

Part 2/3

Part 3/3

I wish you can all have a magical dream after watching this wonderful winter cartoon!

This winter, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong will perform live music with this animated film on a big screen in December. Hope you can get the tickets for it. Please click HERE for more information on this show.