| Subject: | Music |
| Unit: | Tone Colour |
| Topic: |
Rainforest
|
From Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures Level 3Experiment & develop
Every instrument has a variety of sound (or 'tone') colours. Combinations of instruments produce different tone colours. Composers use these colours to 'paint' a musical 'picture'.
Using texture and dynamics (loud & soft), and exploring the different 'colours' in their palette, groups compose a short 'mood painting'. Share outcomes, record final pieces and draw or paint a picture of them.
Rainforest
Using a chime bar or one note on a glockenspiel or xylophone, each student plays on every tenth pulse beat (found by placing the flat of the hand against the neck).The result is random sound.
Now discuss elements of a rain forest and the sound colours that could represent them (drums and stones in a tambourine for thunder and rain, recorders and polystyrene against a moistened glass for birds and small animals).
A conductor could bring different instruments in and out, using dynamics and texture, to create a rain forest soundscape.Record the result and discuss.
There is an activity, "Playing the Landscape", in Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures Level 4 which builds on this activity. It includes a piece of music from the accompanying CD. Click here to have a look and listen.