Sound Explorers

Curriculum Links

The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC):
Learning Area: The Arts – Music
Level: Level 3 (Typically aligned with Year 5 students)

Achievement Objectives – Music - Sound arts:
Students will:

• Explore and express sound and musical ideas in response to a variety of stimuli
• Share music-making with others
• Explore and identify how sound arts are used for different purposes and contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand, including within mātauranga Māori

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Learning Intention

Students will explore the concept of timbre (sound quality) by using body percussion, voice, and classroom instruments to create expressive soundscapes that respond to a short narrative stimulus.

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Success Criteria

By the end of the session, students will be able to:
✅ Identify and describe at least three different sound qualities (e.g., rough, smooth, bright, dark)
✅ Use body percussion and/or instruments to represent these sound qualities
✅ Collaborate in small groups to create a short soundscape and perform it to the class
✅ Describe how their use of sound represents the feeling or images in the narrative

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Duration

⏱️ 30 minutes total
Class size: 28 students
Space: Music room or classroom with open floor area

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Materials Needed

• A selection of classroom instruments (e.g., tambourines, sticks, maracas, boomwhackers, glockenspiels)
• Voice and body percussion (no equipment required)
• Printed sound word bank (e.g., rustling, booming, splashing, tapping)
• A short Aotearoa-themed narrative (provided by teacher or adapted from a local pūrākau)
• 4–5 Māori kupu (words) for timbre or feelings (e.g., mārie – peaceful, ngangare – noisy, hāneanea – calm)

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Lesson Outline

🧠 1. Introduction & Warm-Up (5 mins)

Teacher Talk:

• "Today we’re going to become sound explorers. We’ll use our voices, bodies, and instruments to create sounds that show different feelings or images – just like composers do for movies and stories."

Warm-up: ‘Copy the Explorer’

• Teacher claps/stomps/clicks in a short rhythm, students echo
• Progressively make the sounds more expressive or unusual (e.g., “climb like a tui!” or “stomp like taniwha!”)
• Include voice – e.g., long whooshing wind, short popping water

🧠 NZC Competency: Thinking / Using language, symbols and texts

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✨ 2. Learning: Exploring Timbre (8 mins)

Explore Sound Words

• Present 3–4 sound words and model each with:
  • Voice (e.g., ‘rustling leaves’ = soft whisper)
  • Body percussion (e.g., ‘raindrops’ = tapping fingers)
  • Instrument (select student volunteers to experiment)

Mātauranga Māori Integration:

• Introduce 1–2 kupu from sound or emotion (e.g., mārie – peaceful, ngangare – noisy)
• Discuss how sounds can carry meaning or reflect the environment/hapori

👂 Encourage tamariki to describe what the sounds remind them of, connecting to te taiao (natural environment)

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🎭 3. Group Task: Create a Soundscape (12 mins)

Narrative Prompt:
Read a short Aotearoa-themed narrative (e.g., a journey along a river, or through a ngahere).
Example: “He walked beside the river, where tūī called from the trees, and the wind whispered through the tall toetoe…”

Group Instructions (6 kids per group):

• Choose 3 moments from the story (e.g., trees, river, rain)
• Assign sounds using body percussion, voice, or instrument
• Practise a short sequence (15–30 seconds) telling the story through sound
• One group member introduces their sequence with 1 kupu Māori describing the mood (e.g., "Our soundscape is hāneanea – calm.")

🎯 Reinforce collaboration, negotiation, and decision-making

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🎶 4. Perform & Reflect (5 mins)

• 2 groups perform their soundscape
• Whole class gives 1 piece of positive feedback and 1 ‘wondering’ (e.g., “I liked the soft sound of the tōtara trees – I wonder how you made that?”)
• Optional: Record performances for later reflection or sharing with whānau

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🏁 5. Wrap-Up & Reflection (1–2 mins)

Quick Round: "One sound I loved today was…"

• Go around the circle (or popcorn style) with students naming their favourite sound or feeling they experienced

🧠 Link back to learning intention – “How did we use timbre to tell our story?”

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Differentiation & Extensions

• Support: Mixed grouping, guided sound matching for students needing support (matching images to sounds)
• Extension: Challenge confident students to add volume dynamics or consider layering sounds
• Whānau Connection: Invite tamariki to bring in sound-making taonga or instruments from home next week

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Teacher Reflection Prompts

• How confidently are students using sound to express mood and setting?
• Are students incorporating kupu Māori and cultural understandings meaningfully?
• Did all students have equitable opportunity to contribute to the performance task?

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Next Steps

In the next session, students will:
🎼 Begin composing a short soundtrack to a short Aotearoa-based animated clip or pūrākau
💬 Begin using simple graphic scores (drawing to notate sounds)
🔁 Reflect on how different instruments and textures affect emotional impact

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Ngā mihi!
Let's keep igniting curiosity and creativity through sound.