Stuart started today’s lesson by telling the children they were going to be appraising some music. The song played was ‘Jump in the line’ by Lord Kitchener, which had people using steel pans from Trinidad, which are made out of old oil barrels. The music is known as ‘Calypso’, which is associated with tropical beaches. Some comments from listening to the song included:
“It sounds beach themed, with ocean vibes”
“Hawaiian vibes”
“Ive heard it on an advert”
“It’s music that I’ve heard when I’ve been on holiday”
“I could hear drums”
“I could hear the bass guitar”
Stuart then played the original song by Harry Belafonte. He then said that this half term we would be focussing on ‘Music from the Caribbean’. But before looking at this, the children had to complete a knowledge quiz from last term. We remembered so much!
Stuart then showed the children a PowerPoint about the Caribbean, where he taught the children where the Caribbean is in the world and how there are European and African influences there. He then showed the children what types of percussion instruments are used, such as; maracas, bongos and claves. We also found out that some of the percussion instruments were made out of animal bones. We then watched a video of how steel pans are made.
To end the lesson, Stuart played ‘Rivers of Babylon’ by Boney M, which is a well known hit not just in the Caribbean, but in the United Kingdom too. The children also identified steel pans in the music video.
