After a lot of language arts activities, we switched gears this week to science! Our final project is focused on landforms, so today was an intro activity to get the kids thinking about the connections between music and landforms.
We started off with a trailer video of Frozen turned into a horror trailer. The kids loved it. "Is Frozen actually a scary movie?" "No!" "So what did the person editing this video do in order to make it into a scary movie?" The class came up with a list like this:
-they made it darker
-the music had a lot of loud crashes
-the music sounded scary
-the music had creepy bells
-they took the scariest parts of the movie
We had a great discussion how we can use music to set a scene like this person did when creating Frozen as a scary scene. "Okay, let's see how the composer can use music to make it sound like parts of our planet". I had the students draw this chart:
We then watched a short clip from the beginning of the Mountains episode in Planet Earth I. All the students listened carefully to the music and wrote down in each column what happened in the music to create the imagery.
We then had a great class discussion about things a composer can do in order to tell a story or create an image. We worked through an example of a beach together as I explained these different "imagery techniques" in music composition.
As a class, we came up with ways we could create a song about the beach. Students answered that we would use quiet dynamics with occasional loud for the waves crashing. The song would be slow, and it would be a calm and happy mood.
DETECTIVE TIME!
"You all get the chance to play detective. By using clues in the music, you have to decide which landform this planet earth song is about. You must write down evidences that you found that prove your point"
I gave the following example to clarify my directions. "Let's say I think it is a waterfall. Here are some things I might be hearing and this is what I would write down"
All the students actively listened as I played the song "Monsoon Deserts/Canyonlands" from the Planet Earth II soundtrack. After playing through the song twice, they were all very excited to share their guesses.
The guesses were all over the board.
"I think it's a volcano because the music builds and builds like lava about to explode".
"I think it's a Mountain because the music goes up and down just like the peaks of mountains"
"I think its a canyon because it sounds like a bird flying through different parts of a canyon over a river".
I was amazed by how well the students were listening and connecting what they heard with their knowledge of landforms. In general, this lesson was a fun way for students to apply what they had previously learned about landforms by connecting it with a different art form. I highly recommend this lesson for any teachers looking for fun new ways for students to learn and apply landforms.
Here is the lesson plan:
