This year Beethoven was the subject of music day.
In 4 weeks we set KS3 classes on a challenge to find out more about this composer. We focused on one performance piece and 2 installations in the school displaying one of his letters to his Immortal Beloved and a bridge decorated with excerpts of written music copied by the students of his piano piece Moonlight Sonata.
For final outcomes we made an Exhibition consisting of:
- “Moonlight Bridge”. We used a bridge in the school and we decorated it with A3 copies of each bar of music from moonlight copied by the students. This was a great way to talk about “Music Grammar” and why stems point up/down, how to join groups of 3 notes and how the written connects to the sound. As people walked through the bridge Moonlight was playing in the background.
- We used a stair case and students copied out words from the letter Beethoven wrote to his then lover. Students had to solve math problems to ensure that every step had words.
- We put an opened piano (to see all the moving parts inside) and we let students play freely during break. A pop performance happened at lunch and many students from both primary and secondary enjoyed some music.
- Finally, a video of all the students playing moonlight Sonata bar by bar. This was a challenge to put together and i thought there was going to be a lot of problems with tempo but I was pretty amazed at how students (most of them) played right (ish)! Piano suffered a bit because of the heat and humidity in Vietnam…