Grouptime events

The drums is a kind of a percussion instrument that is common in many cultures. The children described the sound of the drum as strong, loud, and powerful. As part of our inquiry and appreciation of music across cultures we listened to 3 different kinds of drums: First Nation's deerskin drum, the African Djembe, and the Irish Bodhran. As they listened to each one the children described how they felt and imagined as well as showed different ways of moving along the sound. With the First Nations the children nodded their heads to the beat. The Djembe made them shake and swing their arms from side-to-side while the Bodhran made them jump and skip. We watched a video about how the different cultural groups use the drums. They observed a common trait among the groups: they used the drum as part of parades and celebrations.

The children explored beat and rhythm. We practiced the song "Hot, Cross Buns" to help us hear the difference between the two. The children listened carefully as I first clapped the beat of the song and then the rhythm. They noticed the difference between the two and they described beat as something that sounds "same"and that the rhythm changed sometimes fast and sometimes slow. We thought of different ways to tap the song using our body parts. Then we practiced the song using an idiograph.

The different sounds we hear can trigger some memories and feelings. Thinking about the sounds we hear in our forest the children thought of feelings of bravery related to climbing tall trees and overcoming the fear of walking in the dark forest. They also thought of the sounds of the trees rustling which reminded them of the falling leaves and the changing season. After reflecting on the sounds they hear, the children danced along to the music called the "Memory of the Forest" by Enya. They listened carefully to the tempo as they moved gracefully with the music. Then they painted images of the forest while the music played.