A journey to discover sound

First steps towards a conscious listening

by ERMINIA MARIA RUSSO
    School sections
    • Primary
    Educational subjects
    • Aural skills (Ear training)

A journey to discover sound

The aim of this educational path was to investigate the sound as a physical phenomenon and as an expressive-communication ‘object’. Starting from a musical piece that triggered specific emotions, the aim was to disassemble it in its constituent parts and try to discover the secrets of musical communication. With no claim of holding the truth, the path aimed at exploring, in a more conscious way, the musical language that is so present in the students’ lives.

Work tools

In order to realize the project, different school environments were used: the music classroom, a quite large space with not much furniture; the classrooms of the classes involved, for the phase dedicated to the reformulation of the contents, and the theatrical space for the realization of the final performance. The materials used included: multimedia devices - PC, IWB, sound system, digital recorder – and rhythmic and melodic musical instruments. For the final event, the students used: felt-tipped pens, carboard and colored ribbons.

For the cymatics experiment we used: a bowl, a Bluetooth speaker, plastic wrap, a rubber band, kitchen salt and an App that generates tones.

Educational purposes

The skills, goals and training objectives selected by the teacher for this experience are shown below.

Competences
    Listening
    • Sound perception
    • Interpretation
    • Analysis
    • Comprehension
    Production
    • Execution
    Reading and Writing
    • Use of conventional analogic music notation
GOALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETENCES [...]
    Primary
    Listening
    • Learning to listen to oneself and to the others
    • Identify the constitutive elements of a simple piece of music
    • Listening, interpreting and describing pieces of music of different genres
    • Exploring, identifying and elaborating sound phenomena on the basis of quality, space and source
    Production
    • Exploring different expressive capacities of voice, musical objects and musical instruments
    • Producing timbre, melodic and rhythmic combinations applying basic schemes; executing them with the voice, the body and instruments (including IT tools).
    • Playing, alone or in group, simple vocal or instrumental pieces of music belonging to different genres and cultures, using also didactic instruments and self-made tools.
    Reading and Writing
    • Using analog and codified notation
Educational targets

The students learned how to:
- listen actively and consciously
- recognize and identify sound parameters when listening (pitch, timbre, duration and intensity)
- identify the expressive function of sound parameters
- recognize the structure of easy pieces when listening
- grasp and verbalize the emotions felt when listening to the pieces proposed
- perform simple rhythms and melodies with the voice, the body (body percussion), objects and musical instruments easy to use
- recognize simple rhythms written with the conventional notation
- play ‘all together’ coordinating their movements with each other
- participate in an effective and active way in collective activities
- manage their emotional reactions during the performance



Transversal competences

The students acquired:
- the ability to listen
- self-control
- attention, concentration, memorization
- the ability to dialogue and cooperate

Community

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Link utili
Esperimento di cimatica 1 Click here
Esperimento di cimatica 2 Click here
Esperimento di cimatica 3 Click here
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