Art Form: Music

Supplies Needed

-Math Curse book
-Items for sound making (pencil, pot, spoon, etc.)

Vocabulary

Dynamics - loud and soft sounds; volume

Steady Beat - the consistent pulse or "heartbeat" of music

Tempo - the speed of the beat

Found Sound - materials in the environment that make sound, including the body

Timbre - the distinctive quality of sound

Character - a person in a story or play, or an animal or object that has human qualities

Central message - the main point or lesson of the story

Key Details - specific pieces of information that support or add meaning to the story

Instructions

1. Read the book. Notice the many problems the character encounters during his
day! Who is the main character? What is the central message of the story? Think about the events and issues the character experienced. What was the sequence of events. What are the details the author adds to make the book interesting?

2. Using found sound, experiment with different ways of making sound. Notice the distinct sound (timbre) each makes. Some materials may make several different sounds. When sounds are played together it creates texture. Notice the dynamics of each sound. Practice performing the steady beat using several found sounds.

3. Create music to illustrate the events or details in the book. For example, how could the plaid shirt, the blue shirt, and the striped shirt be represented with found sounds? How could you change the found sound to demonstrate the ugly, plaid shirt? What it sound differently? Why did you make those choices? Next, try using your favorite sound at different volumes to represent each type of shirt and show the difference with dynamic changes.

4. Find other events or details in the story and add sounds as you reread the pages. What sounds would the character make when he feels trapped in the math curse? What sounds could you create to demonstrate how the character feels when the curse is broken? How do the sounds compare?

Extensions

Create rhythms using the sounds you created. Combine the sounds to add texture.

What would happen if the math curse wasn't broken? Write a new musical ending
to the story.