SYN-Phon

Ages: 5-11

A sound performance based on graphical notation.

Watch this video with your children, and then try some of our teaching and activity ideas below.

Teaching Ideas and Resources:

Think of different words and phrases that could be used to describe the music / sounds that can be heard in the video.

Pause the video at various points and try to find some of the following in the image: shapes, patterns, angles, parallel lines, and perpendicular lines.

Use art software to create your own graphic notation. Could you (or a friend) try to ‘perform’ this using different instruments?
Use music software to create a tune based on the graphic notation in the video.

Think about the instruments that you can hear in the video. How are they made? What materials are they made from?
Could you make your own instruments using different art / craft materials?

What shapes and patterns can you see in the notation? Can you use some of these in your own artwork?

Discuss how you think this video was made. Was the graphic notation created first and the musicians used this when they were performing… or was the notation created after the performance?
What instruments can you hear in this video? How would you describe the music (using musical vocabulary if possible)?
Pause the video at various points and discuss how you think the music will change next. What clues are shown in the graphic notation?
Play the video with the sound muted. Can you use it as the notation for your own music?
Can you create your own form of graphic notation using different symbols?
Listen to a song that you are familiar with and try to create some graphic notation that is based on it.
Listen to some music and draw whatever comes into your head on a blank piece of paper. How do your drawings reflect the music that you heard?