Lesson #3: Egyptian Storybook Soundtrack

November 17th: Hearing the Different Timbres of Musical Instruments

Opening Listening Activity:

This day marks the first day that I brought in a large, over-stuffed backpack full of instruments for the students to play! But for the start of the lesson, we all sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as a class. The students identified that the main focus of the song is a star and what a star looks like. Then I played two recordings of different instruments playing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," asking the students to listen for which instrument they thought sounded more like a star. The recording was a trumpet. The second recording was an xylophone. Afterwards, all but one of the twenty-four students that were present said that the xylophone best matched their idea of how a star would sound. Several students explained that the smallness, the lightness, and the ping-y-ness of the xylophone seemed to represent a small, twinkling star more so than the blaring and more harsh-sounding trumpet. 

Listen & Match--Based on Timbre:

After this listening activity I pulled out the instruments from my enormous backpack--rain sticks, finger cymbals, triangles, hand drums, sand blocks, Chinese balls, and recorders. A small group of students came up to the front and played each of the instruments for the rest of the class to hear. Then I put up a list of several important Egyptian gods and goddesses that they have been learning about. Next the class voted, based on the god's or goddesses description, which instrument they thought sounded most like that individual. The students came up with the following:

• Atum--Creator, God of the sun: sand block
• Shu--God of air: recorder
• Tefnut--Goddess of dew/rain: rain stick
• Geb--God of the earth: hand drum
• Nut--Goddess of the stars: Chinese ball
• Thoth--God of Wisdom: finger cymbals
• Khonsu--God of the moon: triangle

As the class voted on instruments for each god/goddess, several students made great comments about why the timbre of a specific instrument influenced them to make a decision. The votes for each character were close to unanimous every time.

                                                                      

                                                                        Storybook Time:

After the voting, the class moved to the back of the room on the carpet where each of them was given an instrument (one of the seven instruments above) to play. I then pulled out an Egyptian storybook--"The Star Bearer: A Creation Myth from Ancient Egypt" by Dianne Hofmeyr and Jude Daly. The seven gods and goddesses previously mentioned are the main characters in this story. I explained to the class how I would read this story and every time one of the gods or goddesses was mentioned, the instruments who were assigned to that god/goddess would play their instrument once. We did a practice-round with this: I made up a line in the story with one of the names and then the kids would look at me and I would conduct them to play their instruments once. Then we would continue the story. So this is what we did! We all had a fun time. 

Wrap-up:

After the story was over we talked as a class about what the main message of the story was (how the world was created and why it looks like it does today). We again briefly talked about timbre and I challenged the students to listen more closely to the instruments being used (and to think about why they are being used) in the music they regularly listen to.

Music Standards Met:

6.M.P.2
6.M.R.2
6.M.P.11