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DYNAMICS Activity Guide

DYNAMICS

DYNAMICSOur safe, durable silicone Music-Go-Rounds cling like magnets to your whiteboard, laminate, or any smooth surface. Easy to clean with vinegar or window cleaner so they always cling like new! Durable, flexible, hypoaller-genic food grade silicone. 3¾". Set of 10 28083

DYNAMICS / TEMPO SPINNERDynamics on one side, tempo mark-ings on the other. To reverse the arrow, unsnap it and flip it to the other side. Laminated, 11" 28097

JUMBO CUBE Place Dynamics dots in the 4½" clear plastic pockets of the soft foam cube to play dice games. 28021

mezzo in Italian means "middle,

medium, or half"

piano - soft

forte - loud

pianissimo - very soft

fortissimo - very loud

mezzo piano - moderately soft

mezzo forte - moderately loud

sforzando - a sudden loud sound, a musical surprise

crescendo - get gradually louder

decrescendo - get gradually softer

Our modern piano was first called the “pianoforte”— the “softloud” instrument—because it could play both softly and loudly.

WHAT ARE DYNAMICS?

Dynamics means how loud or quiet the music is. It is like a volume control that adds variety and intensity to musical expression.

In music today we still use Italian terms for musi-cal dynamics, because there were many Italian composers during the periods when these terms became familiar.

Dynamics add variety, contrast and unexpected surprises to music. Without dynamics, music sounds monotonous. Listen to the second movement of Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony, and see how the composer used dynamics to wake up the listeners!

Try speaking or reading aloud a poem in a monotone voice, without changing your volume and see how boring it sounds. Soon everybody would be asleep!

Besides adding variety to music by changing the volume, dynamics help music convey move-ment, expression, and feelings. Dynamic means moving, as opposed to static, which means without motion. Dynamics in music help create and communicate to listeners a sense of move-ment in space, as well as internal movement of moods, feelings, emotions.

WHY ARE DYNAMICS SO IMPORTANT?

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BLIND BAT EXPERIMENTS: Dynamics in Space Dynamics can convey a physical sense of objects in space or movement in space.

Try these experiments to see how sounds communicate the location of objects in space, even if you were blind like a bat.

1. Ask kids to close their eyes. Tap beats on a percussion instru-ment while standing very close to them. Then quietly walk to the furthest corner of the room, or outside the door, and repeat the same beats at the same volume. Ask students which sounded louder? softer? closer? further away?

2. Music creates the same illusion of spatial distance by chang-ing the dynamics (loudness or softness). To prove this, ask the kids to close their eyes again. Standing in one place in the room, play a percussion instrument loudly and then soft-ly. Ask them which one sounded closer? more distant? Ask them to open their eyes as you repeat it, to show that you were actually standing in one place, but sounded closer or further away by changing the dynamics from loud to soft.

3. Walk from the furthest corner of the room or from outside the door moving closer to the students as you play steady beats on an instrument. What happens to the sound now? Can kids hear the beats getting gradually louder as you get nearer? And then do the same thing moving away from the group, and ask what happens to the sounds. Do they get gradually softer as you move further away from them? Dynamics are like a blind bat's radar that signals if an object is close or far away, or if it is moving toward you or away from you.

MOVING DOWN THE TRACKS: Dynamics in Motion

1. Ask students to imitate how a train sounds when it is in the far distance and gradually moves toward you.

2. Then imitate the sounds of the train moving past you and gradually fading into the distance, with the sounds getting softer and softer and the train look-ing smaller and smaller as it gets further away.

DYNAMICS IN MUSIC &PERSPECTIVE IN ART

Dynamics functions in music like perspective does in art. Louds and softs in music are like big and small objects in art. Dynamics can give listeners the illusion of near and faraway sounds, like perspective can convey how distant an object is from the viewer. Hold a book up in front of the class, then place another book of the same size against the wall in the far corner of the room. Which book looks bigger? smaller?

In art, when you want to give the illusion of an object in the distance, would you draw it smaller or bigger? If you want to make the same object appear closer to the view-er, would you draw it smaller or bigger? In music, if you want to convey something far away (either in time, like a distant memory, or space, like a far-away train), would you use a smaller, softer sound? Or a bigger, louder sound?

DYNAMICS: The Emojis of Music

Whether you are a composer, performer, or listener, dynamics are important in creating a "moving" musical experience. Dynamics are like emojis: they help us communicate feelings and emotions. In real life, our feelings can be soft (P), loud (F), very soft (PP), very loud (FF), suddenly surprisingly loud (sFz), or gradually increasing ( ) or decreasing ( ) in intensity.

Can you think of any examples of loud and soft feelings? Surprise feelings? Changing feelings? Put different Dynamics on the board, and discuss various feelings that each might express. For example:

EMOJIS3¾" silicone dots, with Activity Guide download. Set of 9 28029

DYNAMICS & EMOJIS: Active Listening1. Play musical selections for kids that demonstrate different emotions. Have them put an Dynamic on the board, then an Emoji that they feel captures the feeling of the passage, then words they might use to describe it.

NOTE: They will likely hear multiple dynamics and feelings, so let them add as many as they notice.

2. After identifying Dynamics and matching Emojis, ask kids to listen again to the passage and act out the dynamics and/or feelings of the music, in a silent charade.

Soft feelings and things that make you feel quiet (a hug, a smile, a memory, teddy bear, contentment, cozy blanket, shyness, fear, sleepiness, wonder, watching clouds, etc.).

Loud feelings (excitement, fun, jumping, run-ning, scary sounds, anger, etc.)

Feelings that gradually get louder: like growing from anxious to stark terror, or from minor aggravation to raging fury!

EXPLORING DYNAMICS

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have you any wool?

Three bags full.

Yes, sir! Yes, sir!

Baa, baa, black sheep,

TURN IT UP! TURN IT DOWN!1. Write the words of a familiar rhyme or tune on the board.

Then place Dynamics in front of the lines like vol-ume controls, and chant or sing it accordingly.

2. Rhythm Reading - place Rhythms in patterns on the board for kids to clap or play on instruments. Use the

Dynamics in front of the patterns for them to play accordingly.

Optionally, use the Dynamics Spinner or Jumbo Cube (below)to select the dynamics.

DYNAMICS ACTIVITIES & GAMES

RHYTHMS- SIMPLE TIME Beginner SetSilicone dots, 3¾".Set of 36 28051

124

4

2

2 2

8

1 1

DYNAMICS / TEMPO SPINNER

28097 JUMBO CUBE 28021

DYNAMICS GO ROUND: Circle Games1. Place 9 Dynamics in a large circle on the floor,

with 9 children standing outside the circle. Play music and when it stops, kids take turns clapping 8 steady beats according to the dynamics in front of them.

2. Set up the large circle with dots as above, but this time 9 kids holding instruments move to the music outside the circle. When the music stops, they take turns playing 8 steady beats on their instrument according to the dynamics in front of them.

3. If you want to use the Dynamics Spinner or Jumbo Cube, spin or roll to see who starts the activity. Otherwise, start with the person standing next to the pianissimo and move clockwise.

QUICK REACTION GAMES1. Teacher places a Dynamic on the whiteboard, and kids play a steady beat at that dynamic level on percussion

instruments. As the teacher replaces that dot with a new one on the whiteboard, the class must immediately adjust their dynamics accordingly.

2. Same activity as above, but this time the class sings a familiar tune instead of playing percussion, and must make quick changes in their vocal dynamics as the teacher changes the dots.

BLANK WRITE-ON DOTS 6 of ea. color. Set of 36 28032

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DYNAMICS: The Opposite Game The object of the game: match a dynamic symbol with its opposite.

Teacher calls out the definition (soft, loud, etc.) and one child places the Dynamic on the whiteboard and says its name in Italian. A sec-

ond person is called on to choose the opposite symbol and place it next to the other, then give its definition and Italian name.

NOTE: Optionally, kids can use the Dynamics Spinner or Jumbo Cube, then place the matching Dynamic on the board. The same child must select and place the opposite dot next to it, define both terms and say their names in Italian.

If students ask why there isn't an opposite for sFz, thank them for their curiosity and tell them there actually is an opposite: sFz (sforzando)—suddenly loud sub. p (subito piano)—suddenly soft So give an extra point for knowing that term, too, and writing it on the board or a blank .

DYNAMICS SPINNER GAMES Use the Dynamics spinner in music centers or in full class activities at the whiteboard. The spinner adds another level of fun to the activities above with Dynamics. Alternatively, you can use the Jumbo Cube: just slip dots in the plastic pockets to play musical dice games. Here are a few games ideas, which can be played individually or in teams.

SPIN 'n SAY . . . the Italian way!Kids spin, then identify the symbol by its Italian name and meaning.

SPIN 'n PLAY Spin, then clap or play steady beats on rhythm instruments with the appropriate dynamics.

SPIN 'n SING Spin, then sing a simple tune with appropriate dynamics.

SPIN 'n GO Spin, then identify the symbol by its Italian name and meaning. If you answer correctly, advance to the next station in a musical race, relay, or musical baseball game.

Tip: The Dynamics/Tempo Spinner and other Music in Motion spinners work well in music centers. They also offer a great game format to assess basic knowledge of music symbols, terms, rhythms!

DYNAMICS / TEMPO SPINNER

28097

SPINNER CHARADES

Divide into 2 teams. Teams take turns spinning (where the opposing team cannot see what is spun); then the whole team acts out the dynamics WITHOUT SOUND through movement, facial expressions, or gestures for the other team to guess it. (This can be played by individuals, as well as teams, but at first, kids are more comfortable acting it out together.)

JUMBO CUBE 28021

Opposites

RHYTHM BUCKS Pass them out forr correct answers in a a game, then tally the team score. 5½" x 2"Pkg. of 144 23036