Music and Performing Arts Term 4

Hello/Assalamu Alaikum/Yama/Hola, Nĩ Hão, Ciao, Kon'nichiwa everybody! What a brilliant, jam packed Term 4 it's been in the Music and Performing Arts Department!

Preps started Term 4 with Performing Arts, acting out day-to-day scenes including customers in a supermarket when something goes wrong! Being zookeepers and a wild animal escapes and a movie set, where an assistant accidentally drops a coffee onto the script!

Preps, 1s and 2s, looked at the improvisation game Why Are You Late?

The aim was to make up an excuse, either far-fetched or honest for being late for work! The funnier, the better. Grades 1 and 2 were encouraged to try not to repeat other reasons to promote creativity and imagination!

Preps then moved on to keyboard skills. We were looking at finding the note names of the white keys, using the two black notes as a base (D for dog ears), and then using the alphabet to fill in the gaps CDEFGAB. They used mini whiteboards to write their answers, as well as using iPads using the QR code below to do the activity.

We then applied our knowledge to play through Jingle Bells and Basketball to learn the notes in C position with the right hand. Thumb being C, Index 2, Middle 3, Ring 4, Pinky 5.

Grade 1s worked on reading through short plays each week for the first 5 weeks. The scripts were custom-written to fit the students' reading abilities with a focus on:

•Taking it in turns

•Helping each other with reading and working in teams

•Leaving pauses between each speaker

•Leaving pauses when the audience is laughing

•Facing the audience and speaking clearly

They were written to get the kids used to script reading, which they will be able to apply in 2025 with the school concert (more information next year Term 2).

They also worked on finding the notes on the keyboard and using the correct finger numbers.

Grade 2s, followed a similar scope and sequence to the Grade 1s, with more complex scripts and reading required. They also continued their note reading of the treble clef using mini white boards and iPads, with the aim that all the kids in the school will be able to read basic-advanced sheet music at the completion of primary school.

Grade 3-6, jumped back into making group videos using CapCut and iMovie. We focused the first two lessons on character development, watching a range of characters and describing what the writers/actors did to create the character.

They then answered a range of questions to create a backstory for their character, their characteristics, their looks and their identity.

Students then wrote and filmed a short interview with their made up character before putting them into a narrative to act out, making any amendments as required.

Weeks 3-4 they looked at using the correct conventions with the script writing, leaving spaces and putting in stage directions to help them when it came to making the videos.

Weeks 5-6 we explored establishing shots, looking at TV/movie examples before incorporating them into our videos. Examples include a picture of apartment buildings, schools, space ships and sports stadiums to imitate the location of the next scene.

In weeks 7-8 we explored fixing audio, including tidying up background noise, over-dubbing scenes that needed to be re-recorded to take out background sounds and adding sound effects to door openings, kicking a ball like foley artist in films

Summing it all up:

A big thank you to all the students and families this year, as we roll into next year with bigger and better things. To those graduating or leaving it's been a pleasure and hopefully you got something great out of music and performing arts this year. We also had our amazing Talent Show and next year will have our big concert.

In Performing Arts, we made our own scripts, read scripts and improvised.

In Music, we played keyboards, percussion, glockenspiels, ukuleles, music production using the MIDI keyboards and Bandlab. We explored reading notes on a treble clef and reading, creating and playing rhythmic patterns.

What a year.

See you in 2025!

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