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Jump Jam

Jiggle!

Featuring excerpts from The Planets

Gustav Holst

Arranger and Presenter, Kate Page Musicians of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra

Presented as part of the 2018 Homegrown Festival

for the City of Gosnells.

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Supporting Resource - Jump, Jam, Jiggle The Planets © 2018, West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO) This document is written and produced by WASO and designed to accompany the performances of Jump, Jam, Jiggle on Saturday, 3 March 2018 as part of the 2018 Homegrown Festival for the City of Gosnells. While all care has been taken in their preparation, the information contained within has been sourced and produced for the explicit purpose of supporting program delivery in relation to the performances and presentations noted above, arranged and presented by Kate Page. Families are encouraged to complete wide and varied investigation around all works presented.

For further information, please contact Fiona Taylor, Education Manager on 9326 0022 or taylorf@waso.com.au

Welcome to

Jump, Jam, Jiggle! You have been chosen to be an Astronaut on World Seeker I, a space ship that will travel through our Solar System and into the far reaches of the Galaxy to find a new planet for us to call home.

Together, we will explore what sounds a space ship might make, what kinds of space junk might be floating or orbiting around our Earth, how we might move and walk in space and what beautiful planet might await us at the end of our journey. We will listen to the amazing sounds of the WASO Council of

Earth as they play parts of Holst’s The Planets. You will have the chance to create your own vocal sound effects and movements, to make up music in the moment – otherwise known as improvising – using our voices and body percussion and to move and groove to the music, to simply listen and chill out and to help write some lyrics. I would love for you to join in with the group activities (including grown-up children!), however it is also perfectly fine to sit back and listen at times, and watch the drama and the music unfold. See you soon!

Commander Kate

WHO IS GOING TO BE LEADING OUR JOURNEY...

Hello Astronauts, I’m Commander Kate!

I am a musician that loves sharing and creating music

with anyone and everyone.

I help people learn about music and to feel brave making music so we

can create our own new music together. I have worked with babies

right up to people in their nineties.

My favourite thing is to sing, especially with a large group of people!

Kate Page is a musician specialising in facilitating interdisciplinary, cross-arts learning opportunities, often working with budding musicians-in-waiting. Kate believes that anyone can make music and sing when given a little bit of knowledge and a lot of encouragement, and that everyone – regardless of their prior experience, knowledge, backgrounds and abilities – has a birthright to make and respond to music. Kate’s work locally, nationally and internationally has taken her into schools, concert halls and arts centres, community centres, nursing homes, universities and hospitals where she has worked with a diverse range of people. When not cooking up more ideas for cool, creative projects, Kate moonlights as an oboist, arts manager and researcher (and an amazing mum of 2 little people!)

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WHAT INSTRUMENTS will travel WITH US ON OUR INTERGALACTIC JOURNEY ... While Holst wrote The Planets for a very large orchestra, we will have a very unusual combination of musicians join us on our travels! A group of musicians who perform together is called an ensemble. Small ensembles are often called ‘chamber ensembles’. Common chamber ensembles include: �! String Quartet two violins, viola and cello �! Wind Quintet flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn �! Brass Quintet horn, two trumpets, trombone and tuba (sometimes bass trombone!) �! Piano Trio piano and two stringed instruments, usually violin and cello

Our ensemble is not a standard ensemble … it is a hybrid ensemble – meaning something of mixed character; composed of different elements. These instruments don’t usually play together in a group like this – so it is a very special ensemble! The WASO Council of Earth ensemble includes: WOODWINDS: Flute Oboe

Clarinet Bassoon

BRASS:

Horn Trombone STRINGS:

Violin Cello PERCUSSION: There are many percussion instruments joining us on our intergalactic journey … some are traditional orchestral instruments, and some are space junk! However! They are all TOP SECRET so you’ll have to wait to see them on the day!

WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR ME TO KNOW

before I come on board World Seeker I Can we dress up in a costume to come along?

Yes! We love it when we have an audience filled with astronaunts, aliens, rockets, planets or anything space related! Do we need to bring anything?

We don’t need you to bring anything special – but hope you come along ready to have some fun! If you want to bring something, please make sure you have someone to look after it for you, and that it is safe for all of us in the room. Can I take photos or video? Can we sound record the performance?

We’ll be very busy during the show so you might not have time – and it gets a little bumpy up in space! You are however welcome to take photos of your own children (please be mindful of others in your photos, particularly if posting to social media), but ask that you don’t use a flash. We also ask that you don’t video or sound record any part of the performances. Will it be noisy? Will there be any flashing lights?

Yes – at times it will be quite loud. You are welcome to bring ear coverings/plugs. There won’t be any flashing lights. If you have any specific questions, please just give WASO a call on 9326 0022. When I meet the musicians, can I play their instruments? Some of the instruments are fine for you to play and we will have wipes and hand sanitiser that the musicians will give you to use (this helps to protect the instruments as much as the people!) Some of our instruments will be played by the musicians, but you will be able to press the keys or move the slide while they blow into them to create the sound.

Commander Kate and the WASO Council of Earth love it when …

�! You listen to the story and to our music! �! You use your imagination! �! You share your ideas when it’s time to make decisions about our journey! �! Are thoughtful and considerate of other people who are around you and

allow them to enjoy our performance as well. �! You are quiet when we are giving instructions or playing very softly! �! You don’t shout too loudly when we ask you to join in! �! Are very gentle with our instruments – they are very special!

(And – we’d really love a big round of applause at the end please!)

WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE KNOW BEFORE WE TAKE OFF ... As Astronauts, we will be travelling very quickly throughout space, so it might help you to know these terms before we blast off: SPACE-RELATED WORDS: Astronomy The branch of science which deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole. Atmosphere The gaseous envelope surrounding the earth; the air. Black Hole A place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying. Because no light can get out, people can't see black holes. They are invisible. Celestial Body Natural objects visible in the sky (e.g. moons, stars, satellites, planets) Galaxy A system of millions or billions of stars, together with gas and dust, held together by gravitational attraction. Gravity The force that attracts a body towards the centre of the earth, or towards any other physical body having mass. Hypersleep A term from Science Fiction. A form of suspended animation in which the body's functions are not merely slowed down but halted entirely. Orbit The curved path, usually elliptical (oval or egg-shaped), described by a planet, satellite, spaceship, around a celestial body, such as the sun. Planet A celestial body moving in orbit round a star. Satellite Either a celestial body orbiting the earth or another planet, or an artificial body placed in orbit round the earth or another planet in order to collect information or for communication. Solar System The collection of planets and their moons in orbit round the sun, together with smaller bodies in the form of asteroids, meteoroids, and comets. Space Suit A garment designed to allow an astronaut to survive in space. Space Ship A vehicle used for space travel and exploration

MUSICAL TERMS: Beat The basic unit of time and is also known as the pulse (regularly repeating event). Beat is the foundation of rhythm.

Rhythm The arrangement of sounds as they move through time. The patterning of musical sound, as created by differences in consecutive notes

Pitch How high or low a note sounds. The pitch of a note can be measured in a unit called Hertz. A note that is vibrating at 256 Hz will be caused by sound waves that vibrate at 256 times a second. Each note vibrates at a different speed. The higher the note – the more vibrations, and the lower the note the less vibrations. Pitch can be seen and measured using an oscilloscope. In music, pitches are identified using note names from A through to G.

Melody A rhythmical succession of single tones producing a distinct musical phrase or idea.

Harmony The simultaneous combination of tones, especially when blended into chords

Tempo The speed of the beat. Usually written in Italian, and with an indication of how many beats per minute, it indicates the speed at which a passage of music should be played.

Dynamics The volume (loud or soft) of the music. In written music, dynamics are shown by letters which stand for Italian words for the dynamic levels. Some of the most common are:

ABBREVIATION ITALIAN TERM ENGLISH MEANING pp pianissimo very soft p piano soft

mp mezzo piano medium soft mf mezzo forte medium loud f forte loud ff fortissimo very loud

cresc crescendo gradually getting louder dim diminuendo gradually getting softer

Timbre The character of a sound or voice. Timbre is also referred to as tone colour.

Texture How the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition. The most common textures are: Monophony: a single melodic line with no accompaniment Polyphony: two or more simultaneous lines which are rhythmically and melodically independent Homophony: Multiple voices of which one, the melody, stands out prominently and the others form a background of harmonic accompaniment.

Form The overall structure or plan of a piece of music.

A NEW WORLD Based on Jupiter from The Planets (Holst)

Commander Kate will be asking all of the Astronauts to help come up with words for this song when we reach the end of our journey. Once it is written, we

will sing it while WASO Council of Earth play their instruments.

Can you think of some words before you come along to the performance

that might help us to write this song?

(If you’d like to know how the melody will sound, you can listen to ‘Jupiter’ from The Planets from around 2’ 55!)

This new home with colours That smells of We can hear

and/the we feel!

This new home is all we’ve hoped for, This new home makes our hearts soar, And we’ll

(words here can include how we might feel and/or what we might do!)