ELement of music: Tempo

In week 8, all of MPPS focused on the music element of TEMPO using the theme R U OK Day - such as the importance of speaking up when you are feeling down, encouraging others to seek help from adults, friends, and services, and asking and listening to others about their emotions with empathy.

To highlight these key points, CLC explored the song featured in Toy Story 'You've Got a Friend in Me," whilst YYLC explored the song featured in The Greatest Showman "This is Me." The Year 3-6 students discussed how there are different tempos in music, including "largo" (very slow), "adagio" (slow), "moderato" (medium), "allegro" (fast), and "presto" (very fast). These different tempos were then connected to its impact on emotions, such as slow tempo causing a reflective, sad or calm feeling. These rich discussions came about as they listened to 2 different versions of the same song.

With our F-2 year levels, we linked fast and slow tempo with movement and games. For example, the teacher played a nursery rhyme on the xylophone. Students had time to choose if it was played at a slow tempo or a fast tempo. When the teacher said "go," students would pick up a mystery card. This mystery card could be an image of a fast object (train, rocket, race horse), or a slow object (snail, turtle, sloth). If students picked up a card that matched the tempo, they would win the round. We highlighted the idea that R U OK Day is about treating others with kindness and empathy when they are upset (for example, not having the right mystery card), and about encouraging others to try again or express their feelings to a trusted person around them.