This week, year 10 had just one steel pan lesson, due to the Inset day on Wednesday. This lesson was mostly spent on the Winter composition. Firstly, the tenors went to work with Miss Hasler to learn their ostinatos, while the rest of the pans worked with Mr Fox on the beginning of the piece. We then came back together to put our ideas together, and to create new chords to accompany Deme's ostinato. We finished by playing the whole piece together - and now there's just the ending to finish.
We spent a few minutes at the end of the lesson on Winter Wonderland, but this was difficult as Naomi was away, and Deme had left for her trumpet lesson.
This week, you could blog about:
- Your ideas for the winter composition, and what you contributed to it this week.
- Why you think Winter Wonderland was more difficult this week - and what parts you need to practise.
- What you think you need to do in order to be ready for the Winter Performance in two weeks' time!
Friday, 26 November 2010
Year 11 Steel Pan Week 4: Tuesday 23rd November
This week, year 11 worked on all three of their steel pan pieces:
- I'm A Believer - which is now sounding almost finished! A few timing issues in the introduction which you worked on with Mr Fox.
- Sunshine Of Your Love - this one's still difficult to get together, but it's improving all the time
- Smoke On The Water - this was a new one this week, which everyone picked up really well.
This week in your blog, you should write about:
- How prepared do you feel for your performances? You will be performing at least one of these songs in the school Winter Concert on 9th December - which one do you think will be ready in time?
- Which of the songs have you found the easiest, and which the most challenging? Why do you think this is?
- I'm A Believer - which is now sounding almost finished! A few timing issues in the introduction which you worked on with Mr Fox.
- Sunshine Of Your Love - this one's still difficult to get together, but it's improving all the time
- Smoke On The Water - this was a new one this week, which everyone picked up really well.
This week in your blog, you should write about:
- How prepared do you feel for your performances? You will be performing at least one of these songs in the school Winter Concert on 9th December - which one do you think will be ready in time?
- Which of the songs have you found the easiest, and which the most challenging? Why do you think this is?
Friday, 19 November 2010
Year 10 Week 10 (14-19 November): Steel Pan
This week year 10 had just one lesson on steel pan, which we spent mostly finishing off Winter Wonderland. We worked on the bridge section after the chorus ('in the meadow we can build a snowman...') and managed to put that together with the repeat of the chorus. Tenor pans also added a fast chromatic scale at the end of the bridge section which leads back into the chorus.
At the end of the lesson, we spent a bit of time remembering our Winter compostion - recreating the drones and ostinatos from last week, as well as the chord changes.
At the end of the lesson, we spent a bit of time remembering our Winter compostion - recreating the drones and ostinatos from last week, as well as the chord changes.
Year 11 Tuesday November 16th
This week, year 11 worked on both 'I'm A Believer' and 'Sunshine Of Your Love' for the steel pans. I'm A Believer is almost finished, and we worked on putting the finishing touches to the end of the chorus.
The tenors worked independently to work out the meldoy for Sunshine Of Your Love, while the basses, guitars, cellos and seconds worked on the riff and harmony parts. We tried putting it all together at the end of the lesson, and managed it mostly - although there's more work to be done!
In your blog for this week, you should mention...
- How you feel you are progressing towards a finished performance of 'I'm A Believer'
- What you think the group still needs to do to get the performance ready (practise separately? Focus on rhythms? Try the ending?)
- What the challenges were with your part for Sunshine when you worked on it independently
- How you are finding the steel pan - easy or difficult? Enjoyable? Challenging?
The tenors worked independently to work out the meldoy for Sunshine Of Your Love, while the basses, guitars, cellos and seconds worked on the riff and harmony parts. We tried putting it all together at the end of the lesson, and managed it mostly - although there's more work to be done!
In your blog for this week, you should mention...
- How you feel you are progressing towards a finished performance of 'I'm A Believer'
- What you think the group still needs to do to get the performance ready (practise separately? Focus on rhythms? Try the ending?)
- What the challenges were with your part for Sunshine when you worked on it independently
- How you are finding the steel pan - easy or difficult? Enjoyable? Challenging?
Friday, 12 November 2010
Year 10 and 11 Steel Pans this week
Both year 10 and 11 spent a lesson on steel pans this week...
Year 10
Spent half a lesson working on Winter Wonderland, and performing the final section (section C) together. They then spent the second half of the lesson working on their own winter composition - creating repeated ostinatos on the steel pan, and using different chords.
Year 11
Spent a two-hour lesson working on both I'm A Believer and Sunshine Of Your Love. I'm A Believer is almost finished!
Year 10
Spent half a lesson working on Winter Wonderland, and performing the final section (section C) together. They then spent the second half of the lesson working on their own winter composition - creating repeated ostinatos on the steel pan, and using different chords.
Year 11
Spent a two-hour lesson working on both I'm A Believer and Sunshine Of Your Love. I'm A Believer is almost finished!
Year 10 Music Flexible Learning Day
This week year 10 spent their Flexible Learning Day creating pieces of music to be used in the horror film which they'll be making next term.
The activities we did were:
- Watching a clip from 'Jaws' and learning how a musical motif can represent a character or idea in a film
- Learning about 4 devices that are used in most horror film music: drones, cluster chords, chromatic scales and trills, and practising playing them on the keyboard
- Listening to film clips and writing notes on how they work - including dynamics, tempo, tonality, devices, instruments, etc.
- Creating our own horror music motifs on the keyboard
- Learning how to use the computer programme Cubase to create effective horror music - in particular, how to loop pieces of music (repeat them), how to change the dynamics and how to make the tempo faster or slower
- Composing pieces of music to be used in scenes from the horror film - including music to build up tension, music for a chase, general underscore and music for the closing credits
In your blog about this day, you should both explain a little about what you learnt during the day, as well as how you developed your own ideas for your composition. Try to evaluate your composition so far - is it finished? What do you think you did well? What could you work on and improve?
The activities we did were:
- Watching a clip from 'Jaws' and learning how a musical motif can represent a character or idea in a film
- Learning about 4 devices that are used in most horror film music: drones, cluster chords, chromatic scales and trills, and practising playing them on the keyboard
- Listening to film clips and writing notes on how they work - including dynamics, tempo, tonality, devices, instruments, etc.
- Creating our own horror music motifs on the keyboard
- Learning how to use the computer programme Cubase to create effective horror music - in particular, how to loop pieces of music (repeat them), how to change the dynamics and how to make the tempo faster or slower
- Composing pieces of music to be used in scenes from the horror film - including music to build up tension, music for a chase, general underscore and music for the closing credits
In your blog about this day, you should both explain a little about what you learnt during the day, as well as how you developed your own ideas for your composition. Try to evaluate your composition so far - is it finished? What do you think you did well? What could you work on and improve?
Friday, 5 November 2010
Year 11 Term 2 Week 1: Starting Steel Pan
This week, year 11 began work towards a steel pan performance, working with Miss Hasler and Mr Fox.
In your blog this week, you should write:
- What type of music are you going to be performing on the steel pan? Which song did you start work on this week?
- Which pan were you playing (tenor, seconds, guitar, cello or bass)? Or drum kit?
- How did you find your part in the piece - easy, difficult? What were the challenges in learning to play the steel pan? What techniques did you master this week (e.g. rolls, playing a scale...)
In your blog this week, you should write:
- What type of music are you going to be performing on the steel pan? Which song did you start work on this week?
- Which pan were you playing (tenor, seconds, guitar, cello or bass)? Or drum kit?
- How did you find your part in the piece - easy, difficult? What were the challenges in learning to play the steel pan? What techniques did you master this week (e.g. rolls, playing a scale...)
Year 10 Term 2 Week 1: Steel Pan and Composition
This week, year 10 worked on...
- Remembering and completing your melody and chord sequence ideas for the winter steel pan piece
- Starting to put these ideas onto steel pan
- Putting some of the ideas together to see what worked well together
- Continuing practice of 'Winter Wonderland'
In your blog, you should both talk about what you did as an individual and as a group, as well as your thoughts about how the composition is going so far. What did you think of everyone's ideas - and which ones worked well together? How could you improve your own ideas to make them work better as part of the composition? What do you think the next step should be for the composition?
- Remembering and completing your melody and chord sequence ideas for the winter steel pan piece
- Starting to put these ideas onto steel pan
- Putting some of the ideas together to see what worked well together
- Continuing practice of 'Winter Wonderland'
In your blog, you should both talk about what you did as an individual and as a group, as well as your thoughts about how the composition is going so far. What did you think of everyone's ideas - and which ones worked well together? How could you improve your own ideas to make them work better as part of the composition? What do you think the next step should be for the composition?
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