Music - Class Seven

This semester in Music, Class 7 students established their first music bands. Term 1 saw the students creating smaller band groups and recreating a performance of Bruno Mars’ ‘Count on Me’. At the beginning of the process the students were encouraged to use voice and ukulele, however, by the end of the term the performances ranged from ukulele and voice to piano, guitar and percussion. In Music lessons the students began to explore the start of music notation, looking at how and why music began to be written down during the Medieval era. This led to the class having some fun trying to decipher centuries-old music, where they saw just how tricky it is for music to endure the ages without notation.  

In Term 2 the students transferred their knowledge of Medieval music to their understanding of instruments and the influence of technology in developing them. This term’s band performance piece is ’Round and Round’ for which the students were given the opportunity to decide their own level of difficulty for the performance. It is heartening to hear that all groups have chosen to extend themselves and are working towards the highest level of difficulty.  

The onset of their Music studies at Parkerville Steiner College also saw students begin an exciting progression from classical to contemporary music instrument lessons, which the children have taken to with enthusiasm.  

Kirsten Greenshaw 
Music Teacher 

Platonic Solids - Class Eight

Class 8 has just finished their Geometry Main Lesson of Platonic Solids, scrambling to finish their work to the exacting standards that Plato would expect. To work out of geometric relationships without relying upon measurement is to immerse oneself into the true nature of the forms according to Plato. It is an ancient way that retains the soul and spirit of our relationship with the world around us.  

Instead of giving the students a photocopy of a net of one of the five solids, to simply cut out and assemble, the students had to grapple with experimenting, designing and creating their own net from scratch. In this process, the form comes alive from within their own beings. They learn to have confidence in their own capacity to think and create.  

The class started with simple 2D forms within a circle and finished with 3D complex interrelated duals. Along the way, they designed their own tessellation posters, inspired by M.C. Escher. The students also brought their will into making and transforming clay models into their related dual shapes. They also did this with their own bodies in activities and games.  

The hands-on focus of this Main Lesson met the class well. They mostly strived to do their best and often challenged one another in this regard. Yet it was their responsiveness to historical stories and the natural properties of the solids that impressed me the most.  

It was a privilege to bring this to questioning and open minds. 

John Bluntschli 
Geometry Teacher PWS