Year 9 Music
Year 9 Elective Music students have had an exciting year exploring a wide range of musical genres through performance, composition and analysis activities.
Some of the topics included Indonesian Music, Australian Music and Music for Large Ensembles.
Indonesian Music
In term 1, elective Music students participated in an exciting incursion with the Suara Indonesia Dance Company. Students were introduced to the role of music in the Indonesian culture and took part in a fabulous workshop. During the workshop, students learnt elements of Ratoh Duek which is sitting body percussion dances.
Students were also introduced to some traditional Javanese instruments including Randai which are big pants! Students tried them on and learnt how Indonesian Dancers use them as drums to create a fusion of rhythm and movement.
Large Ensembles
Students in Year 9 have been studying large ensembles this year, starting with orchestral groups and the styles of music which we would hear from these groups.
Due to the fact that a lot of this study was online, students completed a composition task where they had to produce some rhythmic and tonal variations for the theme of Brahms Symphony no.3 in F. The composition here shows a rhythmic variation.
They have also investigated the music of large bands and were tasked with producing a podcast about the music of some well known big band composers.
Two podcasts are presented here, one by Ryan which delves into the music of Cab Calloway dating back to the 1930’s and one by Jay and Charlie about the music of Gordon Goodwin who is still producing music today.
Australian Music
Returning to face-to-face lessons has given us the opportunity to again participate in practical music making.
The video on the right shows us playing "Downunder" as part of our study of Australian music this term.
We are not yet able to use wind or voice in the lower elective classes, so those students are substituting on string and keyboard instruments. For some students this was a brand new challenge!