Context elaborations - Level 6 music–sound arts

Choose a musical work with scope for learning across the strands, for example, songs by Kiwi rock and pop artists, film music composed by New Zealand composers, The Planets by Gustav Holst with Bjork’s 'Cosmogony' (available as a free iPhone or iPad application), Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart, From the Depths Sound the Great Sea Gongs by Gareth Farr, 'Imene Tuki' from the Cook Islands as recorded by David Fanshaw or Jeni Little, 'Te Ku Te Whe' by Hirini Melbourne or the 'Hallelujah Chorus' by Handel. Any of these works will provide a context for integrated learning.

• Use the work to focus student learning on key concepts and relevant terminology, such as the general style of the music, the musical and/or textual meaning that is communicated, how the musical elements are foregrounded or backgrounded (through dynamic or textural contrasts or through digital/production manipulation), the musical devices that are used to develop the musical material, and the structure/form or the performance skills of the music. (UC, PK, CI)
• Use the work as a context to identify, describe, and analyse (through listening) the expressive features, stylistic conventions, and production techniques used in the music, considering beat/tempo, speed/feel, timbre, rhythm, melody, and tonality, and considering how the musical result contributes to the overall form and design of the composition. (UC, PK, DI)
• Use music technologies, such as looping, recording, karaoke, or notation software and applications to listen to, read, describe, analyse, and/or manipulate excerpts of a music work and apply learnings through creation of new musical excerpts using the technology as a medium for communication. (PK, DI)
• Contrast one musical work with another, such as Holst’s The Planets with Bjork’s song ‘Cosmogony’ from Biophilia iPhone/iPad application to investigate conceptual relationships between diverse styles and forms. (UC, PK)
• Use the work to focus on the reading or play back of short rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic excerpts to illustrate musical concepts. (PK)
• Use the work to focus on the texture or layering of instruments/voices, melodic and/or structural signposts of the work. For example, Bjork’s song ‘Cosmogony’ has an animation that students may wish to replicate pictorially using computer software or other digital software applications. (PK, DI)
• Use a structural template of the work (for example, chord progressions or notated melody line) for students to complete (through listening, playback, and notating), the identification, description, analysis, or transcription of selected musical elements, structural devices, or notation conventions. Use the same musical elements and/or structural devices to improvise short fragments of music in a range of keys. (PK, DI)
• Use an orchestration, complete transcription, or collaboratively learned version (by ear or through score reading) of the music work to understand how the parts contribute to the whole. Use a recorded performance of the work as a context to evaluate the accuracy, feel and interpretation of the performance. (UC, PK, CI)
• Use the work as a basis to inquire into the social, historical, and/or cultural context in which the work was originally composed to illustrate how it is similar or different to other works written in the same place, at the same time or by composers/performers who share the same cultural and/or ethnic background. (UC)
• Use the music work(s) to lead a discussion with students on how the work(s) reflect cultural diversity (as found in a composer’s or performer’s culture, language, and heritage), values, and traditions of a particular individual, time, or place.
  • Theorise on how understanding the historical, social, and cultural backgrounds of music works help us to become more reflective in our own music creating and making. (UC, DI, CI)

• Locate a live performance, different recordings of the work, view a DVD or online performance of the work, or use a software application to provide a context for students to comment on the effectiveness of different performance presentations/platforms of the same work. (UC, CI)
• Use a critique (newspaper or online review or a composer’s or performer’s own self-review of their work) to stimulate discussion on how musicians set about the task of creating music and/or prepare for or interpret music for a performance. (DI, CI)
• Use the elements of music, instruments or voices, technologies and/or knowledge of music conventions (for example, theme, bridge, chord progressions, hook, tonality) foregrounded in a studied music work as raw material to create, structure, refine, and represent (either as a notated score or digital recording) an original piece of music.
  • Presenting a performance of the original work to peers provides a context for reflecting on the creative process (for example, how the studied work influenced development of expressive ideas and/or style for the development and structuring of the composition) and effectiveness of the presentation format (that is, score, digital file recording). (UC, PK, DI, CI)

• Use the work as a stimulus for preparing, rehearsing, interpreting, and presenting a piece of music by the same composer or performer as a performance opportunity to reflect on the range of performance skills and techniques shown, and as a context for reflecting on the accuracy and effectiveness of the presentation.
  • The work can also be used as a context for students to demonstrate knowledge of how music conventions (for example, theme, bridge, chord progressions, hook, tonality) gained from listening, describing, analysing, and playing a studied music work) informs preparation and interpretation of the music. (UC, PK, CI)

• Use the work as a stimulus for discussing and exploring ways of transforming a performance space through the appropriate use of acoustics and planning a successful performance from an audience perspective. (CI)

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Last updated June 6, 2012

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