Y1. Lesson 30. Timbre - Different sounds
Prior learning: None
Duration: 30 minutes
Materials:
Keywords: Beat, rhythm, singing, chanting, partners, rhymes, circle games.
Difficulty: 
Prepare
Present
Timbre
Practise
Za
Melodic development
Students complete the trilogy of this song by learning the last version.
- Students are seated and attentive.
- Lead the class in singing this third variation of 'I can sing high' with the skip of a third using so and mi.
- Students can be encouraged to use hand signs for so and mi if this works with your teaching style.
Questions
- Which solfa notes are used in 'I can sing high'?
- Which solfa notes are used in 'I can sing low'?
- Who can sing the highest in your class?
- Who can sing the lowest?
Rhythmic development
Students discover where the beat of silence [za] is to be found in a well known song.
- Students are seated and attentive.
- Lead the class in singing the song.
- Repeat, with students singing and clapping the beat.
- To show a beat of silence, students can move their hands apart at their laps.
- Ask the class where there is a beat of silence [at the end of every line].
- Students should then sing the time names of ta, ti-ti and the beat of silence [za].
Creative movement
Students discover call and response in this classic circle game.
- Students are seated on the floor in a circle. This is a call-and-response song and great fun!
- Students should sing the response section of the song while keeping the beat on their knees.
- One student is chosen to walk around the circle singing the call section of the song "Charlie over the Ocean...". Walking with this student and singing along is helpful to give them confidence.
- On the song's last word, the student will tap another student who will chase them around the circle as the children in the circle quickly slap their knees in encouragement.
- The student being chased must find a vacant spot in the circle, and the process begins again.
- This game has many variations, and this is just one example.
The beloved children's game 'Charlie Over the Ocean' was likely developed by African American communities in Alabama during the 1950s, creating an enduring legacy of joy and connectivity that continues to be enjoyed today.
This song contains roots far deeper than anyone may think. Its earliest mention was collected by Harold Courlander from rural Alabama in the 1950s, with its lyrics being adapted over time to reflect an era of civil rights movements and change. Initially including words like “blackfish” or “blackbird," these lines have since been changed to ‘big fish' to reject the negative use of language against African Americans who were so often oppressed during this period in history.
Listening
Students discover the meaning of the word timbre in music by listening to a selection of instruments.
- Students are seated and attentive.
- Have a xylophone and a glockenspiel to hand.
- Explain to students to imagine they have a box of crayons, and each crayon is a different colour. When you draw with these crayons, you can create beautiful pictures with different colours.
- Teach that in music, timbre is like the colour of sound. It's what makes each instrument or voice special and unique, just like each crayon's colour. When you hear a guitar, it sounds different from a piano or a trumpet, just like how the red crayon looks different from the blue one.
- Explain that students will hear some sounds from musical instruments and will discover if the sounds have the same or a different timbre.
- Play the four tracks one by one on the first audio player.
- Ask if anyone can recognise the instruments.
- Ask if the timbres were different.
- Play the four tracks on the second player and repeat the process.
- Discuss if instruments are made from wood or metal and whether that changes the timbre.
- Play a note on the xylophone, then the same note on a glockenspiel.
- Ask the class to describe the difference in timbre.
Visual learning
Students clap the rhythm from flashcards.
- Project the flashcards, or print and distribute them to the class.
- Lead the class in echo clapping, highlighting the rhythmic time names and the crotchet rest, za.
Instruments
Students investigate more techniques with untuned percussion.
- Distribute untuned percussion instruments to the class in your usual fashion.
- Students are tasked with mallet practice for xylophones, glockenspiels and similar tuned barred percussion instruments.
- If students' reading abilities are still formative, then instruct them verbally.
- The patterns described may be freely altered to your method of teaching.
Part work
Students form groups and sing and move their arms to the beat.
- Students divide into groups of four and form a circle.
- In each group, students face opposite each other holding both hands or scarves.
- The class sings the song, and students use a sawing motion to the beat.
- On the words "Let this person pop under", one student from each group pops under the scarves or hands from the pair to their right.
- The game continues until all students are entwined.
- It can be useful to speed up the tempo for each repetition of the song.
Questions
- What do you think the song is about?
- The word 'draw' in this song does not mean using a pencil or crayon. What else could the word mean?
Assess
Suggested lessons
Y1. Beat II
Y1. Beat III
Y1. Beat IV