Dynamics – Loud and Quiet
This week we are learning about dynamics, which means the volume of the music.
You may want to watch this BBC Bitesize video about dynamics first. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zcbkcj6/articles/z3rcgdm
Listen to your favourite music. Change the volume - play some loud, play some quiet. How do the different volumes make you feel? Can the music be too loud or quiet?
Dance or move to the music you have chosen (or the YouTube links below).
When you hear loud music, make big movements, such as big stamps, or spread your body wide. When you hear quiet music, make small movements such as tip-toe steps or scrunch your body up as small as possible.
Be the conductor of the music (there is a video-clip of Tom and Jerry as conductors below!).
Make big, wide arm movements for loud music, and bring your arms very close together and make small movements for quiet music. Can you also move your arms in time to the music?
Have fun playing with balloons. Add rice to some balloons so that they make a noise when they are shaken. Find out which are noisy and which are quiet.
Use pots, pans, plastic bowls and wooden spoons to make a drum set. Play it loud, play it quietly, hit the pots hard, hit the pots softly.
Go on a listening walk. What can you hear? Which sounds are loud and which sounds are quiet? You can use the Sound Walk sheet attached below to help you make a note of the sounds you hear. Or you could record them using an app such as Keezy and create your own piece of music or soundscape!
What is the loudest/quietest sound you can make with just paper?
What is the loudest/quietest sound you can make with your voice?
Can you make a sound that goes from quiet to loud, or from loud to quiet?
Boom Chicka Boom – start really quietly. One person leads and the others echo it back (the lines in italics).
I said a Boom Chicka Boom (I said a Boom Chicka Boom)
I said a Boom Chicka Boom (I said a Boom Chicka Boom)
I said a Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom (I said a Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom)
Uh huh (Uh huh)
Oh yeah (Oh yeah)
One more time but a little bit louder! (One more time but a little bit louder!)
Repeat, getting a little bit louder each time.
In the Hall of the Mountain King
We used In the Hall of the Mountain King a couple of weeks ago for the activities about Tempo. This is also a great piece of music for learning about dynamics, as the music gets louder and louder throughout, with great drum and cymbal crashes at the end. Move or play instruments along to the music, making your movements and sounds louder and louder in time with the music.
Beethoven, Symphony 5, 1st movement
Beethoven, Symphony 5, 1st movement
Beethoven’s Symphony Number 5, 1st Movement has good contrast of loud and quiet throughout and is very exciting to listen to.
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