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Little Bird

by | Nov 30, 2022

9

Category

vocal

Age

10+

Number of participants

12-15

Duration

approx. 20 min.

Working method
  • individual
  • group work
Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2 3 4 5 6

Equipment and instruments
  • roll of paper or pieces of papers (A4)
  • pens
  • envelops
  • music player /app to play the song
Competences
  • cultural/intercultural sensitivity
  • creative writing
  • perception
  • attention
  • text interpretation

Little Bird

Listening and learning a Hungarian song and reading and discussing
the text and practice creative writing inspired by the music.

AIM

The participants get acquainted with a sad Hungarian folk song to widen their horizon in international music. To encourage creativity by writing lyrics for the songs without knowing the original lyrics and with writing a letter they can practise expressing themselves.

Description

Best time to start this session after a tiring task as a relaxing game.
There are a two possible games to play while listening to this song:

1. Before translating the lyrics: participants sit in a circle on the floor, relatively far apart, everyone gets a pen; they write one by one on a cylindrical long roll of paper (and not looking at the text written before) everybody writes in a few words what exactly you think of the song (lyrics, situation, melody); the text should be as short as a twitter message; when you finish writing, pass the roll paper to the next one. They listen to the song until everyone has written something then they read all the text to which they can comment and discuss.

2. After facilitator shares the translation of the lyrics: participants sit in a circle on the ground, relatively far apart; everyone gets a piece of paper and an envelope and writes a short letter based on the mood of the melody (text, story) or they can write a short letter to a person of their choice, to a beloved but distant one (may be a friend, parent, relative or even an unknown) and when they are ready they put their letter to an envelope. They listen to the song so many times while everyone writes their letter. They can hum the melody while writing the letter. The facilitator collects the envelopes, shuffles and distributes them, and then everyone reads the letter they received. All letters can be applaused to encourage the writer.

Lyrics

Madárka, madárka,
Csácsogó madárka,
Vidd el a levelem,
Vidd el a levelem,
Szép magyar hazámba.

Ha kérdi, ki küldte,
Mondjad, hogy az küldte,
Kinek bánatába,
Szíve fájdalmába
Meghasad a szíve.

Translation:
Little bird, little bird,
Chirping liitle bird,
Take my letter, take my letter,
to my beautiful Hungarian homeland.

If he asks who sent it,
Tell him to one sent it,
Whose heart is just ripping because of sedness
and heartache.

comments for facilitators

Listening to and singing (humming) the melody requires a calm, quiet environment without more vigorous movements. It is important that all letters receive praise, applaud each other’s work.

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Shosholoza

by | Nov 30, 2022

12

Category

vocal

Age

10+

Number of participants

8-30

Duration

approx. 35 min.

Working method

group work

Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4  5  6

Equipment and instruments
  • music player / app to play the song
  • optional: percussion instruments
Competences
  • learning and memory skill
  • cultural / intercultural sensitivity
  • improvisation
  • perception
  • attention
  • concentration
  • rhythm recognition

Shosholoza

An easy-to-learn, often-repeated African melody that can be paired well with exercises such as the Storm game (6).

AIM

The melody is extremely simple and can be learned quickly based on the group leader or one of the videos. The melody can be accompanied by a wide variety of rhythms and movements, which encourage the participants to develop creative solutions.

Description

  1. Listening of the song performed by the facilitator or choose from the useful links below
  2. Explanation of the text
  3. Learning melody and lyrics with many repetitions
  4. Applause and drumming of different rhythms associated with the melody
  5. Add movement improvisation in smaller groups

Lyrics

Shosholoza
Kulezontaba
Stimela siphume South Africa.
Wen u ya baleka
Kulezontaba
Stimela siphume South Africa

Translation:

Work, work, working in the rain
Till there’s sun again
Shosholoza
Push, push pushing on and on
There’s much to be done
The steam train to South Africa.

This song meaning: “Shosholoza, this train is gaining speed and steaming for South Africa”.

Comments for facilitators

Shosholoza has become a national traditional song in South Africa for past decade.
“Shoshaloza” has no specific meaning & was derived from the onomatopoeic & repetitive sound of the train wheels transporting the migrant workers back to their families in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).

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Dance with Us

by | Nov 30, 2022

15

Category

vocal
rhythm

Age

8+

Number of participants

6+

Duration

approx. 30 min.

Working method
  • playing in pairs
  • group work
Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4  5  6

Equipment and instruments
  • music player / app to play the videos
Competences
  • cultural / intercultural sensitivity
  • attention
  • movement coordination
  • cooperation
  • concentration
  • perception
  • expression
  • sense of rhythm

Dance with Us

Get to know the culture of other European countries
through music and dance.

AIM

The purpose of the game is to strengthen the unity between the group members and in a cultural sense with the other nations living in Europe.

Description

With the help of the videos below, get to know the specifics of the dances of different nations together with the group, and try to imitate the movements!

Printable version

Sunrise for 7

by | Nov 28, 2022

53

category

instrumental

Age

8+

Number of participants

7

Duration

approx. 20 min.

Working method
  • individual work
  • playing in pairs
  • group work
Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2  3  4  56

Equipment and instruments
  • 7 guitars
Competences
  • concentration
  • attention
  • movement coordination
  • perception
  • cooperation

Sunrise for 7

This activity consists of a conductor-performers activity for 7 guitars. In this activity the facilitator will ask for certain motives (previously assigned) to be done. Each performer has a maximum of 2 notes and the motives are going to be combined to have Bartok’s Sunrise song as a result.

AIM

The aim of the activity is to enable the first approach to the guitar playing. This approach is usually done by doing some technical exercises individually. In our case we are going to do an activity in which a musical piece is divided into simple and feasible motives that can be assigned to different participants. In this way an individual work becomes collective and social, being an activity that goes further than just mechanical practice.

Description

Explanation:

The activity is going to begin with a description of the guitar neck: location of the high and lows etc. and how to perform them.
After that description, the facilitator will explain the activity:
– they will be given a score and they will read it;
– they will put the fingers in the places they are going to use;
– they will practice and ask for help if they need;
– at the end they will do it in order in the big group.

Doubs-Practice:

After the explanation we will give time to clear the doubts and to practise as said before.

Execution:

They will play the piece.

Sharing opinions:

The facilitator will guide a conversation with the participants
about the exercise, found difficulties and the evaluation of the
experience.

COMMENTS FOR FACILITATORS

Convenient to have a good guitar control.
We will observe if any of the participants has difficulties to develop the activity and we will see if the performers play with the correct notes.

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Two Guitarists, One Singer, One Team

by | Nov 28, 2022

54

Category

instrumental

Age

8+

Number of participants

multiples of 3

Duration

approx. 30 min.

Working method
  • group work
Musical abilities of the trainers

1  2 3 4 56

Equipment and instruments
  • 3 guitars
Competences
  • improvisation
  • creativity
  • expression
  • confidence
  • attention
  • perception
  • cooperation
  • team cohesion

Two Guitarists, One Singer, One Team

In this activity, we are going to use a guitar by two people to accompany a singer participant.
The idea is to follow the development of the guitar sharing and in this case train the chords making as well. In addition, the singer will improvise some melodies with the help of the accompaniment.

AIM

The aim is to follow the activities of the shared guitar, but in this case, we are also going to be part of a singer. Therefore, the idea is to mix instruments in a way that they can manage more or less the pairs playing style. In this case, we are going to work on
chords. The left-hand player would have the most demanding part of doing the chords. The other hand is less demanding but not simple. They will do a constant rhythm. The other person is going to improvise singing following the chords.
So with this activity we are going to train guitar in a more complex way and a more attractive one: Accompanying a singer’s improvisation.
Also about the vocal part of the activity, we can say that is an opportunity to explore their improvising skills for the singer participants and of course an expression chance.

Description

1. First of all we will do a guitar and singing warming up.
2. After the warming up the facilitator will give the participants the scores of the chords and the rhythms, and will leave some time to practise them and the singer to acquire the harmonics.
3. The activity will continue with the performing part, they will do the accompanied improvisation. They will change roles on the guitar and the improvisator would have two chances to perform.

Chords progressions:
C-A-C-A-F-G7-C
Am-F-Dm-E7-Am
others

Rhythms:
Regular first
Subdivided after
Mixed
Improvised

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