Expression refers to how music is performed, including changes in speed, volume, and the way notes are played.
Expression helps Lah-Lah’s Big Live Band share their feelings and ideas, and makes their audience feel different emotions.
- Demonstrate the difference between a speaking and singing voice
- Understand that music can be fast or slow, and changes in ‘tempo’ add to the effect of the music
- Understand that music can be loud or soft, and changes in ‘dynamics’ add to the effect of the music
- Understand that notes can be long or short, and changes in ‘articulation’ add to the effect of the music
- Understand that music can express ideas and feelings, and make us feel emotions.
Read aloud a book that your students are very familiar with, but make an effort to read it with poor uency.
Speak without intonation or expression, without pausing for punctuation, without altering your volume or speed – as if you are reading one long, monotonous sentence.
What was missing from my reading today? I didn’t read with expression.
Musicians use expression just like readers do: changes in speed, loudness, and the way we say words make our reading and music more interesting!
Teacher Tutorials
Explainer
Elaboration
Extension
Music Clips
Brush Your Teeth
Little Bee Lullaby
Let's Put on a Show
Lessons
Lesson 1
WALT: Identify and move to fast and slow music.
Discussion starter
Turn to the person next to you and tell them something that moves fast, then something that moves slow. Next can you think of something that sounds fast, or sounds slow?
Music can also be fast or slow, and it can speed up or slow down – either gradually or quickly. Changes in the speed of music can change how it makes us feel. The speed of music is called ‘tempo’.
Learning task
While hitting a hand drum or clapping your hands, ask students to stomp their feet in time with your music. Once you see that students can move to the tempo correctly, you could switch the task to fast or slow brushing of hair or teeth. You can have some fun by going very, very slow, or very, very fast!
Watch Lah-Lah’s Adventures clip ‘Brush Your Teeth’ together, asking students to ‘brush their teeth’ and walk around the room in time with the music. How would you describe the tempo of this music? Did it stay the same throughout the song, or did it change? How did the fast and slow sections of music make you want to move? Do you usually like fast or slow music – or both? Students can explore tempo further by singing familiar songs at different speeds.
Lesson 2
WALT: Identify loud and soft sounds in music.
Discussion starter
Gather students on the mat or in a circle and begin speaking about the day’s lesson – but in a whisper rather than your usual speaking voice. When they inevitably begin exclaiming about your whispering, explain that we all have four different voices: whispering, talking, singing, and yelling.
Which voice is the best volume for us to use in the classroom? What about in the playground, or library? How about in music lessons? Turn to the person next to you and discuss which voice is always loud, which is always soft, and which of these voices can be loud or soft. How is your singing voice different to your speaking voice?
Learning task
Like our own voices, music can be loud or soft. The volume of music is called ‘dynamics’, and changes in the dynamics can change the entire feeling of a piece of music. Ask students to echo sing a familiar song at a different loudness, such as yelling ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’, or whispering an upbeat pop song. You sing the phrase first, and students repeat the phrase. How does a different volume change the feeling of these songs?
Watch the clip ‘Little Bee Lullaby’, a soft and slow song, and ask your students to pay attention to the loudness of the sounds. How would you describe the dynamics of this song? How would a loud drum change the feeling of the song? Does the volume stay the same throughout the whole song, or does it change? Just like when we are speaking or reading aloud, changes in volume can make our words more interesting.
Lesson 3
WALT: Listen for the way that notes are performed in music.
Discussion starter
The way that individual notes are played or sung in music, and how they connect to the notes that come before and after, is another part of expression. This fine-tuning is called 'articulation'.
Notes can be long or short, performed smoothly or suddenly, and they can blend into other notes or be played separately. The way that notes are performed can make the music sound smooth and controlled, or bouncy and energetic, or somewhere in between.
Learning task
Watch the Lah-Lah's Adventures clip 'Brush Your Teeth', asking students to firstly focus on Mister Saxophone's playing of the clarinet. The notes sound long and lazy to begin with; they blend into each other and sound smooth. As the tempo becomes faster, the notes become sharper and bouncy. Did you notice anything else about the ways Mister Saxophone plays the notes?
Replay the clip, this time focussing on Lah-Lah's singing. Does Lah-Lah sing each word in the same way, or are some words long and others short? How does her singing change with the tempo?
Ask students to experiment with articulation by singing a familiar nursery rhyme differently, such as singing more abruptly, or emphasising or dragging out particular words. How did your articulation change the feeling of the song? Can you make the song sound happier or sadder just by changing the way you sing the words?
Lesson 4
WALT: Use expression to show emotions through music.
Discussion starter
The voices and instruments in music can express people's ideas and feelings, and they can also make us feel different emotions. Replay the clip 'Little Bee Lullaby', and have students discuss with a partner how the song made them feel. How did the musicians use their voices and instruments to create this effect?
Repeat this exercise with the upbeat Lah-Lah's Adventures clip 'Let's Put on a Show', prompting students to compare the emotions in the two songs. Students' thoughts could be documented on a T-chart in their workbooks, or an anchor chart for the classroom.
Learning task
Sitting in a circle, have your students brainstorm the different emotions they know. They might suggest feelings including happy, sad, tired, silly, or angry. Choose a familiar nursery rhyme to sing, such as 'If You're Happy and You Know It', and ask one student to name an emotion for the group's performance of the song. How will you use expression to show this emotion?
When they have finished singing, ask students to reflect on what they did differently to express the given emotion. Was your singing faster or slower than usual? Did you use a louder or softer voice? Did you sing long or short notes? Did you use a high or low voice? Did you notice anyone who was particularly good at expressing emotion - what did they do to achieve this? Can you think of any other ways to show emotion when you are performing?
Assessment
What are some of the ways that musicians can change the feel of their music? What are some of the new words you have learnt to describe music?
Can students identify changes in tempo, dynamics and articulation? Do they demonstrate these understandings in their own performances? Can students think about and discuss the ideas and feelings expressed by music, and how music makes them feel?
Assessment strategies include:
- Teacher observations
- Checklists for the target knowledge and skills
- Photograph and annotate student work samples, such as their T-charts.