The Great Fire of London a musical diary

Transcription

1 Summary In this activity, children will: Learn about the Great Fire of London (or revise what they already know) Learn (or revise) London s Burning and sing it in a round Invent ostinato patterns to accompany the song Compose short atmospheric pieces using classroom percussion instruments to represent each day of the Great Fire of London Compile and perform a piece that uses London s Burning to link each atmospheric piece Background information The Great Fire of London occurred in early September 1666, when Henry Purcell was nearly seven years old. There is a considerable amount of information about the fire available on the internet. One of the most interesting sites, including excellent teaching resources and an interactive game for children, can be found at Much of what we know about the Great Fire of London comes from entries in diaries such as those of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn. This composition activity works in the form of a musical ; its episodes track the development of the fire over four days. Structuring the piece During this activity, the children will compose a piece of music in the form of a rondo. A rondo has a repeating section, or refrain, which returns after each section of new musical material. In this musical, each section of music represents one day of the fire (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday). The refrain occurs in-between the performance of each section. Setting the scene... Explain to the children that together you are going to compose a musical of the Great Fire of London. You may like to read some of the extracts about the fire from Samuel Pepys, which can be found at Page 1

2 The refrain London s Burning 1. Begin by learning, or revising, London s Burning. Before singing the song, it is a good idea to make sure voices are warmed up. Ideas for entertaining warm-up exercises, together with helpful advice on teaching a song, can be found here: Practise singing the song in unison and then in a round. 2. Explain that it is possible to make up ostinati (repeating melodic patterns) that can accompany London s burning. The song is harmonised by just two chords, D major and G major. Notes from these chords can be used to make up ostinato patterns to accompany 3. Ask the children to choose one note from each of the possible notes boxes to make up their ostinato. Ask them to try out their ostinati on pitched percussion instruments and write them down. Here is one example: the song. Display the table below on the board. Explain which notes can be used to make up the ostinato. Possible notes D F# A G B D G B D Ostinato F# G D Page 2

3 It fits to the melody like this: 4. Listen to a few children s ostinati, then divide the children into two groups. Ask one group to sing London s Burning, while the children in the other group play their ostinati together. Then swap the groups round and sing and play the ostinati again. 5. Now ask the children to invent an ostinato that moves in quavers. To do this, they will have to choose two notes for each box of the table, see the example below: Ostinato A D D B G B It fits to the melody like this: Listen to some of the ostinati that the children have composed. If you wish, you can sing the song and play the ostinati at the same time, as you did for the crotchet ostinati. Page 3

4 6. Appoint a group of approximately 6 children to be responsible for the ostinati. Ask one child to play the bass line on the lowest pitched percussion instrument you have. The bass line is exactly the same as the notes sung to the words London s burning (D D G G, D D G G see notation above). 7. Explain that you would like the children to arrange two different versions of the refrain using some of the ostinati that have already been composed. One version, for example, could use only crotchet ostinati; the other could use a combination of crotchet and quaver ostinati. Ask the children to decide who will play which ostinato. Choose different sizes of pitched percussion instruments so that these ostinati are played at a variety of different octaves. Encourage the children to practise coming in one after another, every two bars (i.e. after one rendition of London s burning, London s burning ), beginning with the bass line, so that the ostinato patterns build up one by one. See the musical example below. 8. Ask the children to practise so that they can play both versions fluently. The musical 9. While the small group of children are working on the ostinato refrain, explain to the rest of the class that they are going to be responsible for the days of the. Divide the children into four groups of approximately 6. Explain that each group is going to be responsible for one of the days of the fire. Display on the board the major events of each day of the fire (see overleaf). Page 4

5 10. Ask each group of children to use classroom percussion instruments to create a short, atmospheric piece (no more than 30 seconds long) that is inspired by the events on their day. The music does not need to use pitched instruments (though it can if the children wish to). Explain that their music does not have to sound like a fire burning, or a building falling down, but that they could try to represent these things in music by, for example, beginning with one quiet sound, such as a shaker, and gradually adding more and more shaking sounds to it to represent the spread of the fire. Encourage the children to layer sounds one on top of the other, rather than taking it in turns to play the instruments. Ask them to practise their piece so that they can remember it. Children may like to make a graphic score of their piece to help them remember it. Ask each group to play their composition to the other groups. Sunday It is a very hot summer. There is a strong wind blowing. Fire breaks out in a baker s shop on Pudding Lane. Church bells start to ring to warn people about the fire. Monday The fire is raging. People begin pulling down houses using fire hooks to stop the progress of the fire. It doesn t work. The river is filled with boats of people trying to escape with their possessions. Tuesday The wind is getting stronger and the fire is spreading. Houses are blown up with dynamite to try to stop the fire from spreading any further. Wednesday The wind dies down and the fires gradually go out. Much of London is left in ruins. Putting the piece together You can decide exactly how you would like to arrange your final piece. Here is one suggestion: When you have perfected it, perform your piece to another class, or make a recording of it. Sunday group The ostinato group plays version 1 (no singing) Monday group The ostinato group plays version 2 (no singing) Tuesday group The ostinato group plays version 1. Once all ostinati have entered, the other children sing London s Burning once, in unison. Wednesday group The ostinato group play version 2. Once all ostinati have entered, the other children sing London s Burning twice, in a round. When the round has finished, each ostinato player stops, one by one, until just the bass line is left. This stops after 2 bars. Page 5