From Taarab to Bongo Flava, Tanzania has a big range of music and the STA students love dancing and singing. In Term 3, our Prep and Standard 1 students enjoyed learning about classical music.

The Prep/1 students are a musical bunch and so they were very excited this term to learn more about musical instruments. We read some stories about music and bands and watched some Play School episodes and other videos. The students became very good at listening to music and guessing which instrument they could hear.

Each student had the chance to make their own musical instrument. First they drew a plan and wrote the name of the instrument they would make. They were able to use toilet rolls, cardboard, straws, string and all sorts of materials we have collected over the year.

After they had finished, each student presented their instrument to the class. They enjoyed hearing the high and low sounds of the instruments they had made. They learned about the different sections of the orchestra such as woodwind and strings.

Shadia with her violin

Celestian and his guitar, Sheila and Lawrence with their clarinets

Clara and her harp

The students then paraded around the school with their instruments. They were very proud to show off their instruments and managed to make a lot of noise!

 https://vimeo.com/107792260

The students also listened to the story of Peter and the Wolf. They were very scared of the wolf. They were each given a character and then we acted out the story while we listened to it. Shadia was a very cunning wolf and was not too happy when Milan, who played Peter, caught her.

Sheila as the bird with Mwajuma on the flute

Loleni and Amina playing the horns for the wolf

Nyamizi on the bassoon and Lawrence on the oboe

Global Classroom Questions

1. List the different musical instruments that you know. Which ones can you spot in this video?

2. What are the different sections of the orchestra?

3. Make a musical instrument from materials you have in your classroom.

4. Watch Peter and the Wolf with your class. Act out the story with your own musical instruments.