Patterns in Music - Activity Instructions

Tune In

Invite children to sit quietly together in a circle. Read aloud an Acknowledgement of Country. Explain to the children that, ‘We do this to say thank you to Country. It is important to look after Country because Country looks after us.’

Explain to the children that they will listen to a group of children singing a song. Play ABC’s version of the Gondwana Indigenous Children’s Choir performing ‘Naba Guatarè’ to the children. (abc.net.au/education/collections/lets-sing/naba-guatare-audio/105435750)

Explain to the children that this song is sung in Meriam Mir, a language from the Eastern Torres Strait Islands. Ask the children if they can hear the beat in the background. Play the song again and ask the children to clap along with the beat.

Ask the children what their favourite songs are and why we have songs. Identify that some songs teach us things, like the ‘ABC’ song teaches us the alphabet, and ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ teaches us parts of the body. Explain that for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, song has been an important way of sharing knowledge and keeping history alive for tens of thousands of years.

For more on the importance of song in First Nations Culture, see Journey Steps.

Find Out

Ask the children, if you could draw the sound of a clap, what would it look like? Maybe a star or an asterisk shape? Choose one and draw 4 of this symbol in a line. (Or introduce the Sound Strips here and display the first strip.)

Ask the children, ‘If we were to think of each one of these symbols as a clap, what would this sound like?’ Work with the children to demonstrate clapping 4 times on a steady beat.

Now ask, ‘What other noises can we make with our bodies?’

Rude noises like blowing raspberries can make for fun and funny music, but can be hard to repeat. Try and steer children towards sounds they can easily repeat, like clicks, pops, stomps and mouth noises.

Choose one of these sounds (for example, a stomp) and ask the children what this sound would look like if it were drawn as a symbol. Draw this one down and practice doing 4 in a row.

Tell the children, ‘Let’s see if we can change it up! Let’s try a different pattern. Draw out an ‘A, B, A, B’ pattern using your symbols’.

See if the children can ‘play’ this pattern with their bodies. Using the example sounds it would sound like ‘ Clap, Stomp, Clap, Stomp’

Work through the different sound strips and see how many different patterns the children can master.

Learning extension: Explore more songs in First Nations Languages at Yarrabil Bula (abc.net.au/education/digibooks/yarrabil-bula-first-nations-songs/104810588). With the children, find the rhythm to clap along to the song and then identify other noises they can add to the pattern so they can ‘play’ along.

Take Action

Set up a music corner for the children with a range of different instruments and things that make noise. This could include:

Musical instruments (cymbals, clapsticks, drums, bells)
Home-made music makers (bottles full of beans, crinkly sheets of plastic, tin can drums)
Other things that make noise (toys, buzzers, clickers, squeekers, fidget toys)

Put the music strips where the children can access them, either up on an easel or in a box in the music corner. Encourage them to experiment with the different sounds they can make and to try and follow along with the patterns on the sound strips.

For something a bit different, you could record the children playing different patterns with different instruments. You could then use an app like Audacity to layer the sound files and create a remix or backing track for a song sung by the children.

Patterns in Music

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