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What is a Symphony Orchestra?

This set of resources introduces students to the instruments in a symphony orchestra and supports development of skills in aural identification of instrumental timbre. Conductor Richard Gill AO and musicians from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra introduce woodwind, brass, string and percussion instruments in a video resource. ...

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Dinosaur dig

Students learn about the world of dinosaurs through creative arts. They explore elements of dance to develop coordination skills through movement and actions, as well as music and drama to create characters. They also create a dinosaur themed artwork.

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Meeting the Sun

An interactive music lesson where students will meet renowned Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin and learn about her inspirations for composing and creating new works. Students will explore various stories and poems written by some of our incredible Anzac heroes and experience a performance of Elena’s Anzac inspired ...

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World rhythms: tabla

This is a teaching and learning activity to construct and play a tabla or tube-la (double drum). The activity provides a brief history of the tabla, information about the materials needed to make it, time required, assessment strategies, the construction process, how to play the instrument and extension ideas. Tabla artefacts ...

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Composing as inspired by Gordon Hamilton SNAP

This set of resources focuses on composition. Students listen to and analyse the orchestral work, SNAP, by Australian composer Gordon Hamilton. They develop their own skills in composition and perform and record their own piece. A video features conductor Richard Gill AO exploring the work SNAP with musicians from the ...

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What is Music?: What are the musical features of a news theme?

Music that introduces the news has to be not only dramatic and exciting but also neutral. It has to introduce war and disasters, as well as weddings and elections. It turns out, the music we associate with the news worldwide often originates from movies! So, what does an effective news theme often include? How would you ...

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Can you clap the cymbal part from Carmen?

Get your clapping hands ready and join the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as they play some music from the opera Carmen, by composer Bizet. Follow along with host Paul Rissmann and see if you can keep up with the orchestra! How does this piece of music make you feel? Why do you think it has that effect?

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What is Music?: What is a musical phrase?

Sometimes we come across musical phrases that catch on like wildfire. With every repetition, these phrases take on more meaning. Listen closely for this jazz lick that has appeared in many forms throughout music history. What other popular musical phrases can you think of? What meanings do they carry, and what could you ...

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What is Music?: What makes the music of Star Wars so iconic?

Star Wars begins with the biggest B-flat chord you’ve ever heard! John Williams’s fanfare is so iconic that people usually recognise what they’re watching without even looking at the screen. So, what informs the music and makes it so powerful? What techniques can you apply in your own compositions?

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What is Music?: What makes an effective AFL club song?

AFL songs are among the most widely recognised and popular pieces of music in Australia, sung proudly year after year. Would it surprise you to find out they’re rarely original? Discover the early 20th-century origins of most of Australia’s football chants and the stylistic features that make them so effective in energising ...

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The Conversation: arts explainers

This is a collection of short articles (explainers) about arts movements (modernism, cubism), visual arts (film lighting), artistic method (Feldenkrais Method), music (classical, indi), institutions (the Oscars) and more. The articles are written in plain language and are authored by experts from universities in Australia ...

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TSO Songbook Part 2: In the garden

In the Garden is a version of a 19th century Russian folk song. The melody is quite well known and has used in compositions by Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. This version was commissioned for the TSO and this resource includes Garden Variety an additional standalone piece inspired melody. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra ...

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TSO Songbook Part 1: Ai Hai Yo

Ai Hai Yo is a traditional song from the Han culture in China that marks the start of a new year. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra have created a range of resources to explore and perform the song (in English and Mandarin) in the classroom. Resources include a teacher's guide with differentiated teaching and learning activities ...

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Firebird Forensics

Firebird Forensics was a unique collaborative cross-curriculum composition and performance project to create a dance work that responds to Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite. 30 music students from government school students were given the opportunity to dissect Stravinsky’s Firebird and expand and explore their own composition ...

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Make it and play it!

Students learn about, make and use percussion instruments.

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Audio fundamentals

Explore the basic principles of an audio system, including the different uses for microphones, speakers and how to use an audio mixing desk and other audio equipment.

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Introduced Species 360

Composer Katy Abbott, uses the true events of a cargo ship in 1992 spilling nearly 29,000 duck bath toys into the North Pacific Ocean as the catalyst for her work: Introduced Species. Six 360 cameras were embedded into the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's performance of Introduced Species to give the viewer a unique and immersive ...

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Autumn leaves

Explore dance, art and music through a song about Autumn leaves. Make some art works, dance like a leaf and learn to play the song on a keyboard instrument.

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The Beauty of 8

The Beauty Of 8 eResource gives insight into a fusion of Australian and Japanese cultures and rhythm. The end product is an exciting and dynamic artform that appeals to all ages. Taikoz is at once meditative and free-spirited, primal and dramatic. This eResource encourages students and teachers to observe, listen, perform ...

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Shake the papaya tree

Find out more about papaya trees and then learn to draw one! Learn a song about climbing a tree and some movements to perform as you sing the song. Explore how to find the beat in the music.