The pupil iPads come with Garageband built-in and tutor Jenni Borthwick has made online lessons to learn how to use this great resource. She has made these two initial lessons, with a part 1 and 2, that will introduce your class how to play their first tunes.
The teaching videos can be accessed in class or at home as part of your blended learning. Further Garageband lessons can be found on our YouTube channel or YMI Team group Making Music.
Video Lessons
Easy GarageBand In The Classroom Part 2A
Easy GarageBand In The Classroom Part 2B
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:
For teacher and school staff with access to GLOW all the videos, audio, pintable’s and teacher sheets can be downloaded from our YMI Making Music team Many more Garageband lessons can be found in theIpad for Musicchannel.
Use the code wjimn8lto join the team if you are not already a member.
On our Resource Page you can find the songsheets, MP3 tracks and worksheets for all our Blog posts.
The pupil iPads come with Garageband built-in and tutor Jenni Borthwick has made online lessons to learn how to use this great resource. She has made these two initial lessons, with a part 1 and 2, that will introduce your class how to play their first tunes.
The teaching videos can be accessed in class or at home as part of your blended learning. Further Garageband lessons can be found on our YouTube channel or YMI Team group Making Music.
Video Lessons
Easy GarageBand In The Classroom Part 1A
Easy GarageBand In The Classroom Part 1B
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:
For teacher and school staff with access to GLOW all the videos, audio, pintable’s and teacher sheets downloaded from our YMI Making Music team Many more Garageband lessons can be found in theIpad for Musicchannel.
Use the code wjimn8lto join the team if you are not already a member.
On our Resource Page you can find all our songsheets, MP3 tracks and worksheets for all our Blog posts.
The YMI team have produced some resources about the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who wrote some of our most well known songs and poems. He is remembered every year on the 25th January when people around the world celebrate his works on ‘Burns’ night. His most famous work ‘Auld Lang Syne’ is traditionally sung at midnight around the world when the New Year begins. Burns grew up and lived in Aryshire and was just 37 years old when he died. He wrote a lot of poems in Scots, such as the lovely To a Mouse.
“Wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beastie”
You can listen to the tutors sing some of his songs, sing along yourself and learn to play them on your iPad . We have added a few of the songs into in this post. and for teachers who can access our GLOW site we have several others you can explore.
If you would like to learn some more about Burns here is a great worksheet for Primary pupils, called Burns for Weans (or children in Scots).
For the winter term we have created a lesson to learn Jingle Bells in GarageBand.
The song was written by James Lord Pierpont, under the title “One Horse Open Sleigh” in the autumn of 1857. We are not entirely sure of its first use, perhaps it was sung by a Sunday school choir. It did not have an initial connection to Christmas, but has become one of our most common pieces of music played at Christmas and the holiday season. It was first recorded in 1889 on an Edison cylinder and it is believed to be the first Christmas record.
It played in space in 1965 by the Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Shirra. On December 16, 1965 they sent this report to Mission Control from their spacecraft.
‘Gemini VII, this is Gemini VI. We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, up in a polar orbit. He’s in a very low trajectory traveling from north to south and has a very high climbing ratio. It looks like it might even be a … Very low. Looks like he might be going to reenter soon. Stand by one … You might just let me try to pick up that thing.’
Have a listen to see if you can understand who they think they can see out of the window.
Words
Before we all had cars it was common in parts of America to add bells to horses’ harnesses to let other travels know you are coming, as the snow could dampen the noise of the horses hooves . The rhythm of the tune mimics a trotting horse’s bells. Below are the modern version of the words we use today.
Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow
In a one-horse open sleigh
O’er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Bells on bob tail ring
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A sleighing song tonight!
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.
There are a series of 10 short videos that lead you though the project. We have added two of them here but the rest are in the our YMI YouTube Channel iPad playlist
Jingle Bells – An example of how it should sound when finished
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
You can access the 10 video in three ways. If you have access to the schools GLOW network then all the lesson video’s are in the Making Music Team pages, or in the Making Music Sharepoint folder.
For SBC practitioners with access to Glow, join our Making Music Team pages. Use the code wjimn8l to get immediate access
Mrs Borthwick has created a lessons to play the Addam’s Family Theme in GarageBand.
The Addams Family was a fictional household created by the American cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938. The Addams Family originally included Gomez and Morticia Addams, their children Wednesday and Pugsley, close family members Uncle Fester and Grandmama, their butler Lurch, and Pugsley’s pet octopus Aristotle.
There are a series of 10 short videos that lead you though the project. We have added two of them here but the rest are in the our YMI YouTube Channel iPad playlist
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
You can access the 10 video in three ways. If you have access to the schools GLOW network then all the lesson video’s are in the Making Music Team pages, or in the Making Music Sharepoint folder.
For SBC practitioners with access to Glow, join our Making Music Team pages. Use the code wjimn8l to get immediate access
This game for Early Years matches animals and their sounds, as in Bingo. The children have the pictures of the animals in front of them and when they hear the sounds they tick them off on their sheet. The first one to get all the animal on their sheet wins.
There are two sets off pictures to use, one of farm yard animals and another of wild animals. You can print off the sheets and laminate them so they can be re-used or project them onto a Smartboard or wall.
The sounds are pre-recorded as MP3 tracks so there is no need to make the sounds yourself, unless you want too of course!
Below are four examples of the animal sounds.
Farm Animal – Cat
Farm Animal – Donkey
Wild Animal – Frog
Wild Animal – Wolf
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
On our Resource Page you can find songsheets, MP3 tracks and worksheets for all our Blog posts.
For teacher and school staff with access to GLOW more Early Years information and all the files can be downloaded from our YMI Making Music team pages and from our YMI Sharepoint. Use the code wjimn8l to join the team if you are not already a member.
Mrs Borthwick has created a lessons exploring Beethoven ‘s 9th symphony to create a track in GarageBand.
This piece was the first ever Choral Symphony, written for symphony orchestra, vocal soloists and choir. Beethoven conducted it’s premiere in Vienna and 1824. The last part of the symphony uses a poem by Friedrich Schiller called Ode to Joy. The message of the poem is that mankind should live in peace and harmony with each other.
Before you go ahead with this project make sure you have looked at the Ode to Joy Project Introduction in the Learning Resources section. You will also need to watch and or listen to the clips that are linked in that file.
There are a series of 10 short videos that lead you though the project. We have added two of them here but the rest are in the our YMI YouTube Channel iPad playlist
Links and Additional Learning
Beethoven the Puppet will tell you a little about his life and work in a short fun video here.
You can hear more about how Beethoven’s music has been used in pop music and film here.
Watch an unusual and exciting performance by a flashmob orchestra. Keep watching as the music starts small and builds into something amazing.
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘
In this Museum of Amazing Musical InstrumentsMat the Hat introduces the Yantra.
And if you’re wanting to do an activity whilst you’re visiting the museum, there’s an accompanying quiz for each minstrument and web links to explore.
The yantra is a gentle and melodic drum, and is my musical partner to the Hang drum. The notes ring loud and pure.
The yantra is a tank drum – it is made out of an old propane gas tank. It’s been cut down to this lovely shape, but you can still see the letters underneath. It was made by a man called Jason who lives in Newburgh, Fife, in central Scotland. How do I know that – because I asked him to make this drum especially for me!
The yantra is a really sturdy drum, one that anyone can play with any sort of sticks – it’sindestructible and a great drum to take to a party! I don’t even need a case for it.
Some people call drums like this a tongue drum because the musical notes are made by playing each of these tongues that have been cut into the body. Each of the tongues is tuned to a different note on the scale of F major. The yantra is a tuned drum that I can play with any other instrument, but I especially like to play it with my Hang because the notes are similar. In music, this is because the scales that the two instruments play are related – D minor and F major.
The yantra drum get’s it’s name because yantra is the Sanskrit word for a mystical diagram that is important to members of the Hindu religion. The tongues on the drum look like a picture that you might meditate on. I think it’s rather beautiful!
Links
Here are some other videos you can watch to learn more about the Udo, how is is played and made.
In this second Museum of Amazing Musical InstrumentsMat the Hat introduces the Berimbau.
And if you’re wanting to do an activity whilst you’re visiting the museum, there’s an accompanying quiz for each minstrument and web links to explore.
The Berimbau
The Berimbau is a musical bow from Brazil. Some bows shoot arrows, but this bow shoots musical notes! It produces a unique sound that’s both rhythmic and hypnotic.
You’ll never find a berimbau that’s been made in a factory – all the parts of this minstument either grow naturally, or are recycled. The big bow is made from the wood of the beriba tree and is strung with wire that comes out of a car tyre. The gourd slides over one end – in Brazil this part is called the cabaça.
The berimbau produces three tones – a low note, a high note and a buzz tone. You move the berimbau to and from your tummy to make a wah wah sound that brings the instrument to life.
Berimbau rhythms are called toques. You will usually find a berimbau played for a martial art called capoeira, which is a sport that is very popular in Brazil. The rhythms of the berimbau tell the capoeira players how to play, and everyone sings along.
You hit the berimbau with a stick called a baqueta, which is held with a caxixi in your right hand. Your left hand holds the instrument by balancing it on your little finger, which takes a little while to get used to. Your left hand also holds the dobrão, which is shaped like an old Portuguese coin.
The berimbau travelled to Brazil from Africa in the days of slavery. The African slaves were kept in terrible conditions and weren’t allowed to dance or have any sort of fun, so practicing capoeira and playing the berimbau had to be done in secret. Nowadays capoeira is popular all over the world – it’s a great way to keep fit and play music at the same time.
Pronunciation guide
Berimbau: beh-rim-bow
Capoeira: caa-po-wayra
Toques: toks
Cabaça: kabassa
Caxixi : caa-shi-shi
Dobrão: dobraow (as in a cat’s meeaow)
Link
Here are some other videos you can watch to learn more about the Udo, how is is played and made.
This is the udu – a musical clay pot. How do you do, udu?
Udu pots originally came from Nigeria, Africa, but today they are made all over the world. The musical clay pot is popular in India, where it’s called a Ghatam.
In the Igbo language of Nigeria the word Udu means a vessel, but I think it’s also like the sound the instrument makes – ooo doo!
This udu is made of clay and has tiny grains of iron embedded in the clay to help improve the sound of the drum. You play it by covering the holes in the side or the top. If you bounce your hand over the hole, you make the ‘oooo’, if you place your hand you make a ‘doooo’.
Udu clay pots are a wonderful example of how something from the home becomes a musical instrument. Before they were made with a hole in the side, udu vessels would be placed under ground to store water or milk in order to keep the contents cool. They could be described as the world’s oldest refrigerator!
The udu is a quieter drum that’s nice to play on your own or with other softer sounding instruments. Some players put water inside the drum, which changes the pitch.
Link
Here are some other videos you can watch to learn more about the Udo, how is is played and made.
Mrs Borthwick teaches us three fun tunes from around the world in the lesson called Rainforest Songs. We learn about a tree frog from Japan, the Kaeru. A song from Southern Congo about a tree pineapple in Si Si Si. The last song is called Zum Zum Zum and come from Brazil.
Today’s Song
Now lets sing about a little frog. It is a traditional song about the tree frogs which live in the temperate rainforests of Japan. The words in the last two lines imitate the croaking sound of the frog.
Here are the words. They might look difficult but juts follow along to us as we sing.
You can also have a go at making your own rainforests sounds along with the music track after you have sung the song though twice. You could use your voice, body percussion or some homemade musical instruments to shake, tap, scrape and ting.
Try singing the song with actions to the Backing Track – with Vocal
Try singing the song with actions to the Backing Track which has no voice – just sing it yourself to the track.
Learning Resources
To download files right click on the links and then select either:‘