Read about how much fun we had in Performing arts this term!

We have had a fabulous time in room 22 this term creating a Chaos Orchestra - learning about playing and composing with percussion instruments.

Year 1 students had their first lessons exploring percussion instruments. This involved taking turns at "conducting" their group on untuned percussion. They learned about dynamics (quiet, medium, loud), and how to play the instruments following their conductor. They did a great job!

Year 2 and 3 worked in groups playing untuned and tuned percussion, reading and playing basic notation (Ta and Ti-Ti), and also taking turns at conducting - this involved quite a bit of multi-tasking - leading a group of musicians, counting how many times they played their rhythm cards, and controlling the dynamics (soft, med, loud). Year 3 students also created a soundtrack to represent the main Atua in the story of Ranginui and Papatuanuku. They used set rhythms and atmospheric sounds to help retell the story.

Year 4 students also explored untuned and tuned percussion, re-visiting basic notation (Ta, Ti-ti, and Rests). They used Minecraft landscapes as inspiration for creating a soundtrack which they performed for each other.

Year 5 & 6 explored reading music, writing basic notation (composing), and playing 4 x 4 beat rhythms on instruments using quarter and eighth notes, and rests. They rehearsed and performed before rotating to another station to learn another group's piece, everyone worked collaboratively and creatively with lots of focus. Students also composed individual pieces of music using Music Lab and Incredibox (online applications).

A big thank you to Andrea Holmes for a wonderful term!