Lesson 2

Flexing with Girl Zone: Lesson 2 Represent! Components

Learning Area: The Arts, English
Strands: Music
Year Level: 5-8

Content Descriptors (5-6):

• Rehearse and perform devised and scripted drama that develops narrative, drives dramatic tension, and uses dramatic symbol, performance styles and design elements to share community and cultural stories and engage an audience (ACADRM037).
• Develop technical and expressive skills in singing and playing instruments with understanding of rhythm, pitch and form in a range of pieces, including in music from the community (ACAMUM089).

   

  Content Descriptors (7-8):

• Plan, structure and rehearse drama, exploring ways to communicate and refine dramatic meaning for theatrical effect (ACADRM042).
• Develop musical ideas, such as mood, by improvising, combining and manipulating the elements of music (ACAMUM093).

   

  Learning Focus:

• Students explore improvisation and rehearsal strategies
• Students discuss and explore local musicians.

In the Girl Zone video two, The Girl Zone team and their mentor Christobel reflect on their performance skills and their musical inspirations. Watch the video with the class and discuss any of the following questions about performance skills:

• Have students ever done a musical performance?
• How did they prepare?
• What did they learn from the video about performance?
• Which performers have they enjoyed watching?
• What do great (musical) performers do?

Imaginary gift;

• Everyone stands in a circle.
• Players start passing an imaginary tennis ball across the circle. Emphasise eye contact and making a clear ‘offer’ or pass.
• After a few passes change this ‘offer’ to an imaginary basketball and encourage students to demonstrate how their movements might change to demonstrate this.
• Change the offer to a heavy stone and then an imaginary feather and discuss what makes their movements convincing.
• Once students understand the game concept they can start introducing their own imaginary objects ideas. The way an object is thrown and caught should be consistent so students need to watch and respond appropriately.

  Shared Story;

• Organise students in a circle.
• Set the challenge to create a story as a group, one word at a time. Discuss what makes a basic narrative structure (such as an introduction - where settings or characters are introduced, a complication – where a problem is introduced and a conclusion – where the problem is resolved in some way. The most important element of this game is flow, it is okay if students say more than one word or if the story is grammatically strange, momentum is key.
• Get students playing the game and once they become confident a rhythm can be introduced into the game structure (see the example below).

   

  Rhythm (everyone)

  Knee pat

   

  Knee pat

  clap

  clap

  Spoken (player one)

   

   

  I -

  went

   

  Rhythm (everyone)

  Knee pat

   

  Knee pat

  clap

  clap

  Spoken (player two)

   

   

  to

  the

   

  Rhythm (everyone)

  Knee pat

   

  Knee pat

  clap

  clap

  Spoken (player one)

   

   

  swimming

   

  pool

  Rhythm (everyone)

  Knee pat

   

  Knee pat

  clap

  clap

  Spoken (player two)

   

   

  For a

  swim

   

   

   

  Shared story in pairs:

  Once students understand the Shared Story game it can be played as a competitive performance game.

   

• Ask two volunteers to come to the front of the class
• Have the two students face each other.
• Get the whole class clapping a slow beat pattern.
• Set the pair the challenge to make a story word by word, in time with the beat.
• The pair keeps going until one of them stumbles on a word or misses the beat and then a new pair to have a turn.

  Sharing music:

  The Girl Zone team talks about getting inspired by listening to and sharing music. They are part of a musical community. Discuss what students know about local performers and performance community:

   

  • Have they seen local musical performers?
  • Have the seen young musical performers?
  • Where can student watch or find music from local musical performers?
  • Why might it be worthwhile to investigate local performers? What did Girl Zone and Christobel say about this in the video?

     

    Ask students what they know about Australian Hip Hop artists. Consider sharing one of these age appropriate non-explicit examples:

• L-Fresh the Lion – Survive 
• Sampa the Great – OMG 
• Mojo Juju – Native Tongue 
• Hilltop Hoods – I Love It feat. Sia 
• Tkay Maidza – White Rose 

  Discuss the track. Here are some questions to frame the discussion:
  
  

• What students like about the music or the lyrics?
• What is the song about?
• Can they identify any of the instruments that are being played?
• What is their favourite part of the lyrics?
• What is the mood of the song?

As an extension students can find a song that they would like to share with the class or try creating a rap inspired by a song that they like.