Kōkiri Learn

Week 1 of 5

What makes a track: layers, mood and the musicians who shaped Aotearoa's sound

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Session 1 · CREATE: Connect

Inside a track

  1. 8 minHook: play 30 seconds of two very different tracks (for example a calm film cue and a fast hip hop beat). Students write three words for how each one makes them feel.
  2. 12 minLayer hunt (see activities): listen to one track three times. First the drums only, then the bass, then the chords and melody. Draw a layer map with one line per instrument, showing when each comes in and drops out.
  3. 10 minMini-lesson: the four jobs in most tracks. Beat (rhythm and drive), bass (the low notes that hold the harmony up), chords (harmony, which sets the mood) and melody or hook (the bit you hum later). Name the word texture: how many layers are playing at once.
  4. 12 minFirst play in Song Maker: in pairs, make any four-bar beat. Change one setting (tempo, drum sound or the number of hits) and describe what changed in the mood.
  5. 8 minChoose a context as a class or in groups: the sound of our place, soundtrack for a story, or a track with a message. Start the producer's sheet with one sentence: 'Our track should make listeners feel…'

Session 2 · CREATE: Respond

Music that spoke for its people

  1. 10 minMini-lesson: 'Poi E' (1984) and 'E Tū' (1988). Who made them, what was happening in Aotearoa at the time, and what new sounds they borrowed (breakdance beats, rap) to carry te reo Māori and Māori stories.
  2. 15 minListen and respond (see activities): play 'Poi E', 'E Tū' and a taonga pūoro piece. Use see–hear–wonder: what instruments and layers do you hear? What feeling? What do you wonder about why it was made?
  3. 10 minMini-lesson: taonga pūoro are instruments with whakapapa and names, grouped in whānau. Listen to a kōauau or pūtōrino. Talk about respect: we learn about them, we do not sample them.
  4. 10 minPairs research one New Zealand musician or group (a card set: Hirini Melbourne, Herbs, OMC, Fat Freddy's Drop, P-Money, Lorde, Te Kaahu or a current artist you choose) using AudioCulture or Te Ara: where are they from, and how does that show in their sound?
  5. 5 minExit card: one way where a musician comes from shows up in their music.

Getting started

Use the layer-map template with four rows (beat, bass, chords, melody) and tick when you hear each one.

Stretch

Find a track where a New Zealand artist blends a traditional sound with a modern beat. Describe the two worlds that meet in it.

Checkpoint

Everyone can name the four jobs of layers in a track and give one example of a New Zealand song shaped by its social or cultural context. Each group has chosen a context and a mood.

Activities for this week

Useful this week