Music
Objectives
Music was a healing and integral part of the Maori culture.
Sounds turned words into songs or chant, aiding memory and the retention of vital tribal history.
The Music workshop teaches how the early Maori found music in the instruments of nature - the wooden flute, the trumpet shell.
As well, musical instruments like the spinning top produced sound waves that could loosen a child’s phlegm. Thus, music was used to heal body and soul.
In our music workshop, you can listen to and explore the sounds of our environment then create your own sounds.
Nature has it’s own orchestra. All you need is a couple of shells and you have a band!
Learning activities
Students investigate the origins and meaning of a song from a previous era.
They can design and make their own wind instrument from wood, clay or flax and learn the methods that can produce different tones.
Even in the simplest instrument, for example, simple sanding of the wood or the insertion of holes can manipulate notes.
Students study the history of music, compare past performances to modern day before presenting their own natural concerto.
“We can all have arias,” says Poihaere. “With nature you can’t go wrong.”