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Lesson 1

Music in nature

1
talk about music
whole class
2
listen to music
whole class
3
talk about music
whole class

Preparation

Print materials (for the entire series):

Additional materials:

  • Printout M1

Activity 1

Talk about music
Whole classroom
10 min.

Task:

1. How can sounds be described? Find adjectives that describe sounds that can be heard in nature and collect them on the board.

2. Try to think of general categories or terms to assign the collected adjectives to?

Possible answers
Describing the sounds of nature

Tempo
largo - adagio - slow - quiet - leisurely - even - changing - hurrying - hectic - lively - fast - presto, etc.

Volume
piano - pianissimo - soft - calm - quiet - getting quieter - getting louder - noisy - powerful - loud - forte - fortissimo, etc.

Pitch
low - dark - buzzing - shrill - glaring - high, etc.

Activity 2

Listen to music
Whole class
20 min.
M1 Printout

M1: Listening to nature (hand out)

Task:

We're going to go outside. Find a place where you can sit and be completely quiet. Write down all the sounds that you can hear around you. On your worksheet describe the sounds as precisely as possible using adjectives.

Afterwards the class returns to the classroom.

Activity 3

Talk about music
Whole class
15 min.

Task:

You heard a lot of sounds outside and had a go at describing them. We will now collect what you found on the board and try to group them into different categories.

One by one, students write their sounds on the board and try to categorise them.

If there's still time...

… play the ‘Chinese Whispers’ game using a sound.

Task:

One student thinks of a natural sound and reproduces it with their voice or body. As in the 'Chinese Whispers' game, this sound is then passed around the circle. In this version of the game however, the sound is not silent nor secret. Listen carefully and observe if and how the sound changes as it is passed around the circle.

After the game:

Task:

What did you find easy and what was difficult about the 'Chinese Whispers' game?

Skills learned in this lesson:

Students... 

... sharpen their ability to consciously hear, perceive and describe sounds.