With years 4 and 5 we played some warm up games that got our bodies moving - 'Yes Let's!' and 'The Magic Finger'. This helped us to get into the right mood for acting, and to start to connect music with movement and drama, which is what The Soldier's Tale is all about.
We worked on some mood freezes on our own and in groups, and then told the story of The Soldier's Tale as a class, with different people playing the roles of the Soldier, Devil and Princess, as well as depicting objects like the Red Book and the Violin. Olivia narrated the drama while Raph accompanied it with some music on the piano and percussion - in the year 5 session he had some marvellous musicians providing a tiny orchestra soundtrack to the action!
Here is what we'd like you to do before next Friday's session:
-Draw a storyboard to the story of the Soldier's Tale, following the 12-step synopsis in your booklet.
Your teachers can send us the results of the work, and we can post that here on the blog!
-Have a think about and discuss the following questions:
What is the moral of the story?
Think about the Soldier's backstory - where did he come from? Who is he?
What is the importance of the Violin in the story, and what do you think about the idea that it represents the Soldier's soul?
Also keep checking the blog for musical examples that help you to understand the Listen Up! pages, as well as other pictures, ideas and thoughts.
All Saints Session 2
Well done for the marvellous storyboards you created - you can see a selection of them on the main part of the blog!
This week we explored the story of The Soldier's Tale in more depth. We started by playing Olivia's rhythm change game, where somebody had to lead the rest of the group in changing their body percussion (clapping, stomping, clicking), and somebody had to leave the room and then guess who the leader was. We then told the story by narrating it 'in rhythm', almost as a chant, around the circle.
Olivia then worked with some of the class on small group scenes (or 'tableaux'), each one telling part of the overall story. Raph took some musicians to their classrooms and together they created some quickfire dramatic music - some marching music, devil music, 'shocked' music, and much, much more!
We then all came together, Olivia's groups telling the story through movement and drama as she narrated, and Raph leading his group of musicians in providing a soundtrack and sound effects to the story. The results were absolutely brilliant!
Here's what we'd like you to do for next week:
-We'd like yr 4 to continue to create some exciting props for their Soldier's Tale performance!
-We'd like yr 5 musicians to develop their musical ideas further ready for the next session.
-We'd like both groups to explore the backstory of the Soldier, Joseph himself. As a starting point you can take the description of what is in Joseph's bag near the beginning of the piece (below). Who is he? Where did he come from? How did he collect all of his bag possessions - in particular, how did he come by his treasured violin? You might come up with a poem, a description of Joseph, a diary that he kept long ago, maybe a letter he sent to his girlfriend, or mother, maybe even some script ideas!
'He looks in his pack,
For a lucky medallion he has with his namesake, St Joseph, engraved on the back.
Good, there we are! He starts rummaging,
Brings up cartridges - rummages on -
Here's a mirror with most of the silvering gone,
Where's her picture? That musn't be missed -
The picture his girlfriend gave him the day he went off to enlist,
Ah here it is! And right in the middle -
He brings out - an old brown fiddle.'
All Saints Session 3
This week we again started with some warm-ups, including ‘Gimme 1’, a body percussion game where we had to swap places after ‘break it down’ was called. This warmed up our bodies , brains and our voices! Later on we also played ‘Eyes Up - Eyes Down’, which helped us to think about the importance of eye contact.
We then proceeded to all work in the same room - musicians alongside the actors - to put together our own version of The Soldier’s Tale.
Developing the work we did the previous week, we once again had a huge amount of wonderful creative ideas from everyone about how we could use music to enhance and provide a backdrop to the drama.
Year 5’s session saw two excellent narrators describing the story and the action as their equally capable fellow students responded, acting out the scenes.
With the musicians, Raph wrote down exactly who would play, and what they would play, on an enlarged version of the narrator’s script, to produce a kind of musical ‘score’. For our final session, we’ll be finishing off this work and will present our version of The Soldier’s Tale to a small school audience.
So, this week, in preparation for that final performance, we would like you to:
-Add any script, drama or musical ideas to the enlarged script/musical score that your teachers have in your classrooms (one for year 4, one for year 5).
-Have a listen to the introduction of The Soldier’s Tale, to hear how the narration can work alongside the music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJF0nydHerU
-Practise any and as much of your acting, narrating and musical accompaniment as you can!
All Saints Session 4
WELL DONE EVERYONE!
This week we did a final practice of the music in our classrooms, and the drama scenes in the hall, and then came together to perform YOUR version of The Soldier's Tale to an audience. Year 4 performed their version to year 3, and year 5 performed to year 2.
Both performances were absolutely brilliant - some wonderful acting and narrating, and some really creative, thoughtful music making. Pictures from the day will follow and we'll post them up here. We'll miss working with such a lovely team of students and staff - but do remember that you can post comments and questions on this blog, and continue to use the blog and your booklets to explore this amazing piece of music and drama.
Well done again!
Wishing you all the very best,
Raph and Olivia
All Saints Session 4
WELL DONE EVERYONE!
This week we did a final practice of the music in our classrooms, and the drama scenes in the hall, and then came together to perform YOUR version of The Soldier's Tale to an audience. Year 4 performed their version to year 3, and year 5 performed to year 2.
Both performances were absolutely brilliant - some wonderful acting and narrating, and some really creative, thoughtful music making. Pictures from the day will follow and we'll post them up here. We'll miss working with such a lovely team of students and staff - but do remember that you can post comments and questions on this blog, and continue to use the blog and your booklets to explore this amazing piece of music and drama.
Well done again!
Wishing you all the very best,
Raph and Olivia
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