Flying Books of Morris Music Companion #2

Part Two

The

Music Teach er’s Companion

By Samuel Wright wrightstuffmusic.com

To use this resource you will first need to purchase and download the Film & the iPad app from the Apple iTunes Store.

What is this resource?

This booklet, and others like it, will form a collection of music lessons intended for junior to senior year students, that will build on the material created by William Joyce and composer John Hunter.

Why would music educators want this resource?

This film, and iPad app, encapsulate the very meaning of ‘interactive learning.‘ The unique theme development and incidental music heard in the story present unique situations for students to develop active listening and composing skills. They can analyse music simply by interacting with the iPad app or by watching the film.

About the author Samuel Wright is a music teacher who saw an opportunity for extensive learning within this beautiful story. Samuel holds a Bachelor of Music and Music Education and has recently completed a Masters in Music Technology.

Samuel has sought to create resources that inspire learning ever since he began teaching in 2004 and this was the beginning of wrightstuffmusic.com.

With these lessons it is expected that teachers build on the framework and continue to share their imaginative ideas for teaching music.

Part 2 Outline You will no doubt come up with many more exciting ideas for teaching with this resource. It may not even be for Music! This outline details the lesson material for Part Two, Conversations in Music.

1. Teaching the tune with Borduns • Different accompaniment patterns • Sing tune using Solfa • Transferring these to instruments 2. Listening for ‘conversations in music’ within the story • Listening activity, the ‘book waved’ (4.00s) • Improvising their own question and answer phrases 3. Improvising call & response lines over a bass line • Play ‘little and big book’ accompaniment • Call & response improvisation over accompaniment

Music Lessons Remember this is a book made for the iPad with a film to accompany it.

This process could be applied to any resource for the study of concepts in art, dance, languages and of course music.

Book Icons Based upon the Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore each book icon represents something in this resource. The images are taken from http://morrislessmore.com/ Themes & Transcriptions Based upon the Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore each theme is my own arrangement or transcription by ear from http:// morrislessmore.com/

Tune with Borduns The tune used for this book is Pop Goes The Weasel.

First published in 1855 as an English Nursery Rhyme this tune is manipulated throughout the story of to reflect nature, emotion, books and adventure!

In this lesson we will sing the tune, and experiment with various bass accompaniments called Borduns.

Lesson Plan A. Watch the film B. Demonstrate the iPad app using your projector or IWB 1. Teacher sings phrases in solfa, students echo

2. When song and solfa established start teaching Bordun patterns • Teach by body percussion, showing notes by patsching • Start easy and always play the bass line by itself, then add tune * gauge the level of your class to see what works 3. Students can add parts from first arrangement if able

Bordun Patterns 1.

4.

2.

3.

5.

6.

1 . Pe d a l - no te o n the to nic 2 . Simp le Bo r d un - simulta ne o us 4 th & 5 th d e g r e e s o f the sca le 3 . Le ve l Bo r d un - a s simp le b o r d un but with a c ha nge in r e g iste r 4 . Br o ke n Bo r d un - p laying the two no te s o f the b o r d un in succe ssio n (to nic f ir st) 5 . Ar p e g g ia te d Bo r d un - to nic , 5 th, up p e r to nic , 5 th o f the f ir st d e g r e e o n the sc a le 6 . M oving Bo r d un - move me nt o n o ne o f the two no te s up o r d o wn to a n a d ja c e nt no te

Conversations in Music A. Watch the film for the following scenes i ~ 4mins, Book waving hello and Morris replying ii ~ 6mins50s, Little Book and Big Book want Morris’ attention Lesson Plan Teacher Questions to accompany notated music opposite: 1. How to do you know the book is trying to communicate with Morris?

2. How many times does the book ‘talk’ to Morris?

We call these two ‘talking’ sections, phrases 3. What is the shape or contour of these notes? Can you draw it?

4. Morris replies to the book in a different way. His music sounds different. We call his reply an answer to the book’s question.

Can you draw the shape or contour of Morris’ reply?

Question & Answer

5. Move to tuned-percussion instruments in pairs Using the idea of question and answer create your own musical languages with your partners on the instruments. a) keep them short b) use patterns going up and down c) Keep to the notes of C pentatonic C D E G A to begin with * Teacher can model concept with another student if needed 6. Have students perform the conversations one after the other

Blues in the Library The music in this section is where Morris is woken up and undertakes his daily chores of feeding, dressing and caring for the books in the library.

The entire musical framework is based upon the blues - a style of music that uses three chords! In this case C, F & G. Use the arrangement over the page to play & sing the music before embarking on improvising question and answer phrases over the piece in pairs.

Life in the Library, 6m50s A. Listen & watch the scene in the film B. Discuss with the class how the rhythm fits Morris’ daily chores 1. What layers of sound can you hear?

Is there a melody or bass line?

2. As you listen for the bass line can you clap its rhythm?

What note values is it using? Crotchets, quavers etc?

3. What is the time signature of the music? Can you count to 3, 4 or even 5 while it is playing? Do you notice if it is different to the main theme? (hint: main theme is in 3/4)

a) teach the bass line first b) have all students perform the bass line and comment on the repeating 12 bar structure * introduce the theme as an extension option for students to learn or sing d) teacher models different question and answer phrases around the room with students e) all students play the accompaniment pattern while the teacher undertakes question and answer phrases with individual students f) pass on the process to other students as the ‘leader’ to ask the questions and other students answer

Buy the hard-copy book for more interactive fun with Morris’ Flying Books

Stay tuned for part 3