The Arts

After an inspiring, energetic musical performance from Kaboom! Percussion late last term, every class at Hackham East has been involved in exploring beat and rhythm through body percussion and through playing non melodic percussion instruments. 

We had a successful “clap off” at Assembly in Week 4 with the whole school participating in clapping different patterns to the song Brave by Sara Bareilles.

Castle Unit/ Holly Unit classes

Echo imitation and improvisation using body percussion such as clapping hands, slapping knees (known as pasching), tapping floor, hand criss crossing the body, etc have been a vital part of our Music lessons this term. Students have also been exploring dynamics (volume of sound) and tempo (speed of music) through listening and responding to classical pieces as well as popular songs. 

Over the next three weeks, we will be reinforcing how to keep the beat and learning how to create different rhythm patterns in the story “Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons” using our bodies, tapping sticks (claves) and djembes (African hand drums). This will lead to composing rhythm pattern performances in small groups using colour names.

Holly Unit students have also worked on pen drumming on desks using the song, Counting Stars by One Republic and they will try bucket drumming in the last few weeks of this term.

Stillwell Unit 

Classes have participated in some of the online Kaboom! tutorials to learn different techniques to assist them when we start drumming using buckets and djembes later this term. They have used their listening skills to identify and perform rhythm and pitch patterns. 

Students have also developed their technical and expressive skills through body percussion, desk and pen drumming using modern popular songs such as Life is a Highway and through trying tricks with drumsticks in a Maori music game known as Ti Rakau. Flipping, clicking and throwing drumsticks to your partner in time with the music is a huge challenge, just ask our Year 4/5/6 students!

Choir

The Choir are extremely busy practising their songs to be fully prepared for the Southern Music Festival concert in Week 3 next term. We have been fortunate enough to have the head conductor, Kristie Fudge, visit us three weeks ago and she provided lots of tips to help with improving our breathing, pitch and expression when singing. She also taught us the Rubber Chicken which is a fun warm up activity that we now want to do at every Choir session!

Students in the HEPS Choir debuted at the Week 4 Assembly singing I Got the Music from Netflix series, Julie and the Phantoms. We have also been asked to sing a couple of songs at a Service Provider Lunch in the Penney Space in a couple of weeks. Three of our Choir members, Isabella Cook, Lily Hay and Lillian Collinson will be auditioning next Tuesday for a solo part to sing on the night of the concert. We wish them the very best for their audition!

Photos from Kaboom! Performance with Grace and Nathan

Ti Rakau – Maori Stick Game – Miss Woods Year 4/5 students

Mr Grieve’s class – tapping the beat to Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons