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Music and mood

Subject area: Writing, Composition

Lesson number: 1 of 3

Suitable age range: 6–11 years

Resources needed: Film soundtracks, Oktapodi short film (www.youtube.com/watch?v=badHUNl2HXU), story board (1 per child)

Expected timings: 1 hour

Expected outcomes of the activity: Pupils: a) explore the effect of sound/music on mood; and b) begin to explore composition through mood.

Details of the activity:

Introduction: (maximum 15 minutes) Children listen to various pieces of music. Ask children to comment on the mood created. Play two contrasting well-known pieces (e.g. Belle Notte from Lady and the Tramp and Imperial March from Star Wars) and ask children to make comments on the mood created. Ask children to move around the classroom in romantic mood and in military mood depending on the song played. Then challenge children to do the opposite and see the effect.

Task 1: (10–15 minutes)Children then listen to the soundtrack to Oktapodi. Individually, then in pairs, children speculate about the story and give justifications for their ideas based on the mood created by the soundtrack. Share ideas and listen again in light of the ideas put forward.

Task 2: (20 minutes) Watch the short film up to 30 seconds then pause the film. Children will write or draw the first three sections of the storyboard based on the events so far.

Task 3: (10 minutes) Ask children to predict what might happen in the next three sections of the storyboard. Finish by showing children the short film in its entirety and tell children that they will complete the storyboard with their own ideas or with the ideas of the original in the next lesson.