Sound allows people to express themselves.

This term Team Magma have been learning through the transdisciplinary theme of 'How We Express Ourselves'

An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.

Using the central idea of ‘Sound allows people to express themselves’ we have been exploring the following lines of inquiry:

• Many aspects of culture and identity can be expressed and communicated through sound. (Connection)

• Sound can create different effects. (Function)

• People interpret sound to mean different things. (Perspective)
  

We started this unit of inquiry while in lockdown. Students were kept busy doing lots of sound activities at home. Sound experiments were popular, as was building homemade instruments. Kitchen equipment was transformed into musical instruments! We loved watching students performing during Zoom meetings and on the many videos we received.
Once back at school, we continued this unit of inquiry into Term 4. We spent time listening to different pieces of music, exploring the feelings and emotions the music evoked. Students spent time learning different techniques for making music, using traditional/non-traditional instruments and body percussion. Bucket drumming was particularly popular! Students worked together in groups to create and perform a piece of music based around a theme. They learnt to draw/write a soundscape of their sequence of music. This was a great unit of inquiry for the integration of digital technology, with GarageBand, ChatterPix, iMovie and Padlet being used within the team.