• Log into Charanga here: https://hounslow.charanga.com/yumu using the log in information you have been sent.

• Click on your learning/activity

• Check what ‘Step’ you are learning

• Now find the correct slides to match your learning

• Enjoy learning about the artists/groups

Year 3

The Dragon Song

Useful musical vocabulary for this unit:

• Pulse - a steady beat that carries on through the music

• Pitch - high sounds and low sounds

• Rhythm - patterns of sounds that you could clap or tap,

• Melody - the tune of a song

• Improvisation – making up music of your own, with your voice, with your body, or using an instrument.

• Composing – making up your own music and changing it until it sounds the way you want it to.

Listening activities

• Listen carefully to each song, and tell someone:

• How does it make you feel?

• What does it make you think about?

• What pictures do you get in your head when you listen to this song?

• What instruments can you hear?

• Is it loud or quiet? Fast or slow?

• Can you move in time with the pulse – try out some dance moves!

Warm-up games

• There are Bronze, Silver and Gold warm up challenges. Try one each one and move on when you are ready.

• Hit play and follow the instructions to help you move in time with the pulse, copy and create rhythms, and warm up your singing voice.

Being the leader – clap your own rhythms for someone in your house to clap back. Try to stay in time with the music!

Part of the warm up includes using glockenspiels. Don’t worry if you don’t have one! Find something that you can shake, rattle or bang, and practise copying the rhythm of the patterns back.

Flexible games track:Start with Bronze first, then work through Silver and Gold as you become more confident.

Click here and practise finding the pulse.Move with the characters!

Click here to follow the different actions, in time with the pulse of the music.

Click here for lots of other suggestions of games that you can play to help you keep a steady pulse.

Learning to sing the songs:

Stand up straight - with a happy not grumpy face - when you sing. Add some dancing or movement too. Open your mouth wide and make sure that

everybody can understand all the words you are singing.

Maybe you could practise the song and perform it for someone at home.

They might like to sing with you, too!

Year 3

Step 1

The Dragon Song

The Dragon Song

• This is a song written especially for Charanga, by Joanna Mangona and Pete Readman.

• It tells the story of Lesley the Dragon who flies around the world in search of friendship.

• The song was written to make you think about kindness, respect, friendship, acceptance and happiness.

• As Lesley flies around the world, she encounters music from many different countries. You will explore these in Steps 2-6.

Year 3

Step 2

The Dragon Song

Birdsong – Chinese Folk Music

• Close your eyes as you listen. What can you hear? What does it make you think of?

This Chinese Folk music is played on a dizi (a bamboo flute) and a yangqin (a stringed instrument). Listen out for the chirpy tunes and different birdsongs the dizi plays as it imitates birds.

Folk songs/music (sometimes referred to as Traditional songs) are songs that were created to describe people, places and events of the country they are from. They can be as old as time and have often been orally passed from generation to generation. The music can be of many different styles, in fact any style depending on the country the song is from. Folk music belongs to the people who want to perform it. Before the days of audio recording, Folk musicians’ performances (singing and playing to and with other people) were often remembered orally and passed to others so they would not be lost forever.

dizi (a bamboo flute) Yangqin (a stringed instrument)

Play your instruments

• Some lessons include a section where you can play your instruments.

• If you have a recorder, glockenspiel or xylophone or any other tuned instrument at home, fantastic! Here is your chance to make use of it.

• If you haven’t, please don’t worry! Here are some suggestions:

• You could try using an online virtual instrument, like these Boomwackers: https://www.musick8.com/boomwhackers/playboomwhackers.php?bwswitch=TRUE Open it in a new tab so you can play along with the music.

• Otherwise, have a look around and find something that can be used as a musical instrument –maybe something that you can shake or bang. Don’t worry if it can’t play different notes, you can still play along with the music, creating rhythms of your own or keeping to the pulse. Maybe you could make a musical instrument of your own!

Year 3

Step 3

The Dragon Song

Vaishnava Jana – A traditional bhajan

• This song is a Hindu devotional (religious) song, a bhajan. There are hundreds of these songs, mostly taken from Bhakti poetry. They bring together the important Hindu worlds of poetry and music.

• The song uses a harmonium, and a tabla. Can you hear them in the music?

harmonium tabla

• The harmonium is a very important instrument in India. It is a small, portable instrument with a keyboard and bellows that push in air.

• The table is a South Asian percussion instrument. The player sits cross-legged in front of the drums.

Improvising

• This lesson ask you to improvise. This means making up rhythms and patterns of your own.

• Follow the instructions on the activity to help you to practise this skill.

• If you don’t have a tuned instrument, you can still try the activities by singing the notes G, A and B instead, or use your home-made untuned instrument to focus on the rhythms.

Year 3

Step 4

The Dragon Song

Turkish Traditional Tune

• In this Turkish Traditional melody, you will hear an ancestor of the oboe called the zurna.

oboe zurna • It has a small double reed that vibrates in the mouth to produce a piercing sound.

• It was a great instrument to play outside, especially if you were in the army, leading troops to battle.

• To play this instrument, you would have to use circular breathing – that means breathing in through the nose, and storing air in your cheeks so that the air keeps flowing through the instrument without stopping. It is a difficult technique to master!

Composing

• This lesson ask you to compose. This means making up melodies of your own, and changing them around until you are happy with how they sound.

• Drag the notes into the spaces to make a melody. Listen to it, and edit it until it sounds the way you want it to. Have fun!

Year 3

Step 5

The Dragon Song

Aitutaki Drum Dance

• Polynesia is made up over 1000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Aitutaki is in the Cook Islands which are situated near New Zealand, with whom they have close political, cultural and musical links.

• A feature of traditional Polynesian music is exciting, energetic drumming!

• Listen to the music. Can you hear any other instruments apart from drums?

• Try moving to the music. Is it fast or slow? How do you know when to stop and start?

A Pa’u drum

Year 3

Step 6

The Dragon Song

Zebaidir Song

• This song is from Sudan, one of Africa’s largest countries. Sudan is a country that embraces people from all different races and religions. It therefore has a huge variety of musical styles and traditions.

• This is a gentle, reflective, Traditional song. The singer accompanies himself on the rebabah. This instrument is related to the oldest know Arabic bowed instrument.

• It is often used to accompany songs that tell a story. The instrument is

held downwards on the lap, and the bow is held with the thumb facing

upwards.

This performer is from the Zebaidir people. It has six verses, but sadly we

have no translation.

Can you use your imagination to guess what the song might be about?

Quiz

1 – The harmonium has a keyboard – does the instrument need to be plugged in?

2 – What kind of instrument is a Chinese dizi?

3 – Where in the world is Polynesia?

4 – What instrument of the orchestra is the zurna similar to?

Quiz Answers

1 –No, it has bellows that push air through the instrument.

2 – A woodwind instrument, made of bamboo.

3 – A group of islands in the Pacific Islands, not far from New Zealand.

4 – An oboe