February activity from Music Room Book 6

MUSIC ROOM book 6
(upper primary)

The first of the upper school levels is here! Exciting new features have been added, such as full-length (over 60 min) DVD of musicians from the different musical genres in the book, an exciting music quiz game for the class (MusikWizz) and extended background and links on our website.

The new Music Room has 7 modules, covering reggae, Celtic, Pacific Island, latin, blues, jazz, gospel and MusikWizz to finish the year!

Book 6 is bigger than Ben Hur!

This month’s activity is the from the reggae module, REGGAE RHYTHMS. It features the opening song, GET IT TOGETHER. The song was co-written with the wonderful Jamaican-born musician Paul Jamieson and has great reggae rhythms and vocal parts.

You get a PDF of the song, an MP3 of the audio track AND you get a movie of Paul demonstrating Reggae guitar techniques, wah-wah pedals and even singing the song for you.
You will find the activity by following the links from here

Enjoy!

Know colleagues who may be interested? Tweet this!

Celtic Heartbeat

Some more support material for Music Room Book 6 (out in February).

This time we have some resources and links for your lessons on the Celts. You will find the information here.

Look out for more support material as it gets published. We will shortly be publishing a lesson from Book 6 which includes a music track, lyrics chart and an accompanying video.

Also Coming up -
Additional background for the music styles covered in the first seven modules
Module 1: Reggae Rhythms
Module 2: Celtic Heartbeat
Module 3: Pacific Harmonies
Module 4: Latin Grooves
Module 5: Blues Changes
Module 6: Jazz Colours
Module 7: Gospel Voices

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October Activity: Gamelan Music

This activity is from
Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures Level 3

Gamelan music

The gamelan is the Javanese and Balinese orchestra.
It uses from a few to several dozen musicians, playing different melodic and rhythmic patterns on tuned and untuned percussion.
Find out more using the links at the bottom of this page.

Some examples of patterns can be heard on the audio file Gamelan Music.
Download scores and mp3 track below
The score and music are from
Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures Level 3

Gamelan orchestra
Students in 8 groups
Using the score, students make a gamelan orchestra.
Groups 1 - 4 play tuned percussion instruments
using a 1 bar repeating pattern.
Groups 5 - 8 play untuned percussion instruments
using a 1 bar repeating pattern .

Try bringing the groups in one at a time .
Also - have a conductor bring the different groups in and out (except for groups 3 and 7 who must play ALL the time, to provide the pulse).

Students can invent their own 4 beat patterns.

You will find the mp3 track and the page from the book with the score here
and you can purchase Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures Level 3 here

Know colleagues who may be interested? Tweet this!

September 2009 Free Activity - Water Ballet

The September activity also comes from Dance Room Level 2 lower primary edition, the second book in our New Dance Program by Barbara Snook

Dance Room 2 has now been released and there is still a special offer going with discounts off our Music Room and Dance Room 1 titles.

WATER BALLET

This activity certainly does introduce a differnt Dynamic! Water Ballet!

There is a warmup and a stretching exercise that leads into a water ballet you can do with your class without getting wet. We even help you with some of the splashing sounds to get your class into the mood. This can be quite a calming exercise as the music - and the challenge to be aware of the whole group's movements - can bring about that quiet "Different Dynamic"

When you have done this exercise, send us a video - we'd love to publish it here so that everyone can see how well your class has performed their Water Ballet.

You will find the activity here.

Try it out, and then order a perousal copy of the book!

More about Dance Room
40 LESSON PLANS FOR LOWER PRIMARY!!!
Full colour book and four audio CDs.
Here is your dance and movement course for the year ready made, planned and ready to go!

Know colleagues who may be interested? Tweet this!

August 2009 Free Activity - Marching Soldiers

The August activity comes from

Dance Room Level 2

lower primary edition
the second book in our New Dance Program
by Barbara Snook

Dance Room Level 2 is about to be released! This is your chance to preview this exciting new publication.

Marching Soldiers

This activity focuses on the Dance Element of Space.

In pairs, students make up a march where they pretend to be soldiers and march around the room in time to the music.
They can march on the spot, march forward, turn to face a different direction and march forward again. They are encouraged to make up their own marching dance.

A fun activity that helps your students map out their positions in space while they are moving around the floor.

Try it out, and then order a perousal copy of the book!

40 LESSON PLANS FOR LOWER PRIMARY!!!
Full colour book and four audio CDs.
Here is your dance and movement course for the year ready made, planned and ready to go!
Dance Room Dance program from Bushfire Press.

We have the music with all instructions and a pdf from the book to download. Enjoy!
Download the activity

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July 2009 Free Activity - Making a Robot

The July activity comes from

Dance Room Level 1

beginning primary edition
the first book in our New Dance Program
by Barbara Snook

Making a Robot

This is a great dance and movement activity

Students pretend that they are robots and move around the room to the provided music. They are invited to think and talk about their robot.

Dance Room Dance program from Bushfire Press. We have the music with all instructions and a pdf from the book to download. Enjoy!

40 LESSON PLANS FOR BEGINNING PRIMARY!!!
Full colour book and four audio CDs.
Here is your dance and movement course for the year ready made, planned and ready to go!

Download the activity

April 2009 Activity - Space Boogie

THIS MONTH'S FREE ACTIVITY comes from level 4 (upper primary) of our integrated Arts program: COOL CATS CROSS ARTS ADVENTURES
by Mark Leehy & Kevin O'Mara.


This song & activity is from the Space unit of Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures level 4


We have just re-released the student books for levels 2-4 on CDROM. The CDROMs contain lyrics and student activity pages for music, dance, drama, media and visual art.
They can be used for data projection, enlarging, printing and copying etc. and replace the student books that accompanied the program.

We are giving you part of the level 4 unit 'Space'. We have a CD track and a PDF for a song and dance, 'Space Boogie', great electric guitar, lyrics and movement and dance activities.

This one's great fun and will have the kids really moving!

You will find the activity here

March 2009 Activity - Beautiful Soup

THIS MONTH'S FREE ACTIVITY comes our level 3 (middle primary) of our integrated Arts program: COOL CATS CROSS ARTS ADVENTURES
by Mark Leehy & Kevin O'Mara.


This song & activity is from the Nutrition unit of Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures level 3


We have just re-released the student books for levels 2-4 on CDROM. The CDROMs contain lyrics and student activity pages for music, dance, drama, media and visual art.
They can be used for data projection, enlarging, printing and copying etc. and replace the student books that accompanied the program.

We are giving you part of the level 3 unit 'Nutrition'. We have CD tracks and PDFs for a great song, 'Beautiful Soup', a percussion arrangement, lyrics and movement and dance activities.

Another great activity to have fun with!

You will find the activity here

February 2009 Activity - The Lollipop Lady

THIS MONTH'S FREE ACTIVITY comes our level 2 (lower primary) of our integrated Arts program: COOL CATS CROSS ARTS ADVENTURES
by Mark Leehy & Kevin O'Mara.

AND IT'S A WHOPPER!

This song & activity is from the Our Local Community unit of Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures level 2


We have just re-released the student books for levels 2-4 on CDROM. The CDROMs contain lyrics and student activity pages for music, dance, drama, media and visual art.
They can be used for data projection, enlarging, printing and copying etc. and replace the student books that accompanied the program.

To celebrate, we are giving you part of the level 2 unit 'Our Local Community'.
We have CD tracks and PDFs for a great song, 'The Lollipop Lady', a percussion arrangement and movement & dance activities.

We know your students will have loads of fun with these activities - enjoy!

You will find the activity here

July 2008 Activity - from Music Craft Preliminary Book B

Music Craft
for Cool Cats
by Deana Dodds
illustrated by Jock Macneish
from Bushfire Press
Music Craft For Cool Cats
Deana Dodds
Preliminary Book B

We have two free sample activities available from this book.
You will find them here

Compatible with all major theory syllabuses:

• The AURAL component of the Music Craft Preliminary level; each book contains
  2 audio CDs.
  
• Complements Preliminary Book A
  
• Fun activities that challenge children to think
  
• Whilst being geared towards the AMEB exam, the book is still perfectly
  suitable for general classroom tuition.
  
• Activities are child friendly and fun to do.
  
• Complete FREE teacher notes are available on the website - suggestions for
  getting the most out of this resource; suggestions for exam preparation and
  for how to take students beyond the syllabus.
  
• The Cool Cats series of music books now being utilised by thousands of students across Australia.
  

May 2008 Activity - Meet the Wind Family

The May activity comes from

Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures Level 3

Students meet woodwinds, reeds and brass through some simple hands-on activities involving bottles, straws and hose!.




Download the activity

April 2008 Activity - Dance in the Olden Days - Camelot

The April activity comes from

Dance Room Level 1

beginning primary edition
the first book in our New Dance Program
by Barbara Snook

Camelot

A very simple and fun activity from Unit 3, Lesson 10:
Form - narrative movements.

The students go back to the days of Camelot, performing dance movements that tell a simple story involving Knights, Ladies ... and horses!

Dance Room Dance program from Bushfire Press We have dance instructions, illustrations and 2 CD tracks (an instrumental version and a "guided" voice-over version) for you. Enjoy!

40 LESSON PLANS FOR BEGINNING PRIMARY!!!
Full colour book and four audio CDs.
Here is your dance and movement course for the year ready made, planned and ready to go!

Download the activity

February 2008 Activity - In the Dreaming

The February activity comes from

Dance Room Level 1

beginning primary edition
the first book in our New Dance Program
by Barbara Snook

In the Dreaming

We have the warm-up and stretch from the first lesson of our New Dance Program, Dance Room.

Students create steady rhythmic actions to represent Dreamtime animals in a simple piece with a stunning music track.
It's a great introduction to the "Action" element of dance, the first of 5 dance elements: action, space, time, energy and form.

We are sure you will love doing this activity with your students - and its a great introduction to the new Music Program.

40 LESSON PLANS FOR BEGINNING PRIMARY!!!
Full colour book and four audio CDs.
Here is your dance and movement course for the year ready made, planned and ready to go!

Download the activity

Dance Room - New from Bushfire Press

Dance Room
beginning primary edition by Barbara Snook

We are proud to announce that Dance Room will be available in mid February.

Like Music Room, this fabulous dance program is instant, fun, inviting, inspiring ... and perfect for dance trained and non-trained teachers alike!

Why not order Dance Room now and swing straight into the new year with everything you need to present this exciting course.

Click here for more.

July 2007 Activity

July 2007
The July activity comes from
Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures Level 4.
The activity is called 'Rainforest' and it is from the ENVIRONMENT unit of LEVEL 4 (upper primary).
It is a soundscape exploring random sounds/music and creating a 'sound environment' and includes the lesson, backing track, practice track and and a recorder stylesheet.
You will find the free activity by clicking here.

Enjoy!

April 2007 Free Activity - Mamma Don't Allow

April 2007
The April activity, Mama Don’t Allow, comes from our newest book in the MUSIC ROOM series, MUSIC ROOM BOOK 3 – Middle Primary.
Music Room is our very popular Developmental Classroom Music Program.

It is a 'tone colour' activity and uses a song called Mama Don’t Allow, which the students accompany with either classroom instruments or 'found objects'. Either way, it's really easy and heaps of fun.

Students categorise their instruments into shaking sounds, tapping sounds, scraping sounds, banging sounds and make their own 'instant orchestra'.

You will find the free activity by clicking here.
- and there are other free singing activities if you follow the links to the other
singing resources we have on offer.

February 2007 FREE Activity - drama games

Hello again from Bushfire Press.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, welcome back from the break.

We hope it will be a good year for you – and we also hope we can help you make it great year with the help of the many exciting resources we have on offer for you.

February Activity
The February activities comes from our new publication
The Final 40 Simple Drama Games
"Subtle Differences" and
"Vocal Scene"

You will find the activity by clicking here.

- and there are more activities if you follow the links to the other drama games resources we have on offer.

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