Patterns of sound.

This morning while we were outside, I observed Joyce engaging with our large pieces of bamboo. She was tapping several of them together, and seemed to enjoy listening to the different sounds that she was creating. Noticing that Joyce was having difficulty exploring the bamboo and its sound 'fully' due to the size of it, I made a suggestion. I offered that Joyce might like to go inside and bring some of our wooden sticks from our music box, out into the garden.

Joyce thought that this was a great idea, and together we went and retrieved the wooden sticks.

It wasn't long before our garden was ringing with wonderful music created by Joyce, drumming on the bamboo. Karsimar, Eloise and Isobella also took a keen interest in this experience.

As you can see in the videos, the girls seemed to enjoy the contrast in sounds that they were able to create. They carefully compared the different sounds as they struck different surfaces. Drumming on the bamboo sounded different to drumming on the stones, or on the tree stump.

Eloise pointed out the difference in playing hard which made a loud sound and playing softly, creating a much quieter sound.

The girls were all fantastic at creating and keeping a beat. We talked about how creating music is often about making "patterns of sound" which was an idea that seemed to really resonate with the girls. 

Here are some short videos of the girls busily exploring:

"A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence." 

- Leopold Stokowski