Music focus: Korea

Finding music and the instruments used for Korea have been new to all of us. I've never studied this before, so had to rely solely on the internet to source materials.

picture from here

A quick look in wikipedia lists quite a variety of traditional instruments of the string, woodwind and percussion varieties.  There are even a couple of horns.  It is evident that there is a strong influence from the Chinese.  Silk strings were traditionally used, with steel being implemented later.

I found it fascinating reading the pages I found on Korean instruments.  Ranging from 'primitive' to contemporary.  You may like to read this page from People's Korea.  I particular like this page, as it let's you hear a few samples of the instruments being played.

As I've already said, there is a great influence from China, and yet I read that Korean music is still quite distinctive.  Their music can be clearly categorised into that for the ruling class (chong-ak) and that for the common people (sog-ak).  Chong-ak is the more elegant and proper style of music, sometimes with lyrics or ensembles.  Sog-ak include the farmer's music, folk songs and Buddhist music. There is a fabulous article with lots of details here.  

Here's an example of Korean court ensemble music:



Using our western instruments, here's a very interesting variation on a Korean folk piece:



Finally, I'll be showing this to the children too. It's a three drum dance, so called because each lady plays three drums.



There's plenty more to explore, but I'm not going to make this too long.
To finish up, here's an interesting site with lots of audio examples of traditional music: Music from Korea. The few I've already listened to a most beautiful and peaceful (eg: Flower Story Two). It's worth downloading them onto the pc and playing them through your media player.

Beautiful music inspired by Karitoke, NZ

I was just listening to ABC Classic FM radio and heard a beautiful piece called "The Hills of Karitoke".  It was written and perfomed by Catherine Fraser who won the Scotts Golden Fiddler of the Year award this year, for best soloist.

It's just lovely! Go to her recordings page here to hear a sample.  It's on her new album: Rhymes and Reasons.

Picture of Karitoke from here.

Music focus: New Zealand

Our studies with Sonlight's Core 5 is now taking us to New Zealand, so I'm writing up a short summary of music to add to what's already happening here.
There is a lovely site on the history of Maori music from An Encyclopedia of New Zealand 1966.  It's worth reading this to learn more of the collection of musical and non-musical instruments.

image from here

Maestro has chosen to focus on learning the Haka for his New Zealand project.  We've managed to find a few web pages giving details, but so far the best found has been this page. (Click on the "Launch the Haka Feature" button to see it performed, and see English translation).

The origin of the haka was very interesting to read about, with many overtones of Egyptian gods and their stories.  You can read more here.

The haka isn't the only traditional dance done, though.  The women also do their dances, often with pois.  Pois accentuate the graceful dancing and help develop strength, flexibility and co-ordination.




Pois are traditionally made from flax, with either long or short cords.  We'll be having a go at a dance, having made our own with old socks (I actually did this in primary school, which was a lot of fun ... nice to be able to share information from your youth with your own children).  Here's some instruction via video:




Some more information about pois and traditional games can be found on this site:  Home of Poi.

For more information on how to do the Haka or twirl poi balls, head on over to Maori music. Put on the music, get moving and make some noise; that's what we're going to do!!

Music focus: Australiana

We're still slowly moving through our Sonlight curriculum, but this will be our last week of schooling before taking a break.

Our studies in Core 5 are taking us from the Pacific Islands to Australia.

We begin our focus with the Aboriginals, a people who have a way of telling their stories through dance, often mimicking animal antics, acting out a hunting story, or retelling ancient stories from their dreamtime. It is very much a part of their social life. Some more lovely photos can be seen here.

For a more contemporary feel, we will be listening to Yothu Yindi (an Aboriginal band). The lyrics are of a political nature, but it's worth discussing some of these issues with the children, as well as how song can be a way of putting your voice out to the public.







I've grown up with lots of Rolf Harris, who is now very popular in England, although I do think the younger generation have missed out on hearing many of his songs.  Thankfully some of them are still pretty well known.

This is a lovely video, showing some beautiful photography, with an easy song for the children to learn: Sun Arise (lyrics can be found here).







Now, you can't listen to Rolf Harris without listening to his famous "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", with his fabulous wobble-board.  I can see this integrating with some art work onto some thin plyboard for our own wobble-boards.

I've written about some of the bush dances we've learnt in the past, and we really like Australian folk music here. Here's another great webpage with lots of interesting information on bush songs.  My children still don't know enough bush songs by my reckoning, so we'll be learning a few more.

If you're keen, you can google to find some of these songs with video clips:

- Waltzing Matilda

- Road to Gundagai

- Botany Bay

- Old Man Emu
- Clancy of the Overflow
and others can be found here, with music (midi files) and words.

Music inspired by the sea

I'm changing the way we study our music themes each month.
Now that we're following Sonlight, I've decided we'll look for music that is inspired by the subject matter at hand.

We've had a long break from the books, so I think we'll start with a re-cap of the "Ships of the Sea" theme, especially as so many lovely pieces have been written around the subject.

First on my list is Richard Wagner's Overture to "The Flying Dutchman". Wagner's inspiration comes first hand after a narrowly escaping shipwreck. What a way to capture your experiences of the tumultous seas upon reflection of the ordeal! The theme swirls in and out of quieter moments, giving images of a raging sea, then calmer moments and a snatch at a sailor's song. You can listen to this work for free here. There are also some program notes here.

We also have Spartacus's "Adagio" by Aram Khachaturian. This was made famous by the BBC tv series The Onedin Line (which, yes, I've seen thanks to our library. Personally, I'd vet this first to see if you're happy with family viewing.) A very majestic, beautiful piece.



Hector Berlioz's "Le Corsaire" Overture will stir up some excitment.
"Corsair" means pirate, or pirate ship. This is a swashbuckling work:

"Giddy, scurrying violins, thundering brass, booming kettle drums, jaunty rhythms and flowing melodies start for pulse racing. A slow, soulful passage lingers for a while, but excitement is never far off, and a mounting, crashing storm soon whips up, to lift the spirits and stir the blood."

You can listen for free here.


So many works to choose from, but I'll leave it at four.
We have to have a sailor's hornpipe!!
There are quite a few online to see, but this was a favourite. (The embedding is disabled, so you'll have to use the link).

OR, view this from the 2005 Edinburgh Tattoo:

This easily leads us to Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance, but I won't be able to fit all that in with the children. We'll have to come back to all of that another time.