Steemkidsedu || Word Chest: Music || Week 1

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Hello, children!

Welcome to another amazing adventure on Steemkids Island. This is the first series so far and I am grateful to Steemkids Community's Team for allowing me to be a part of the steemkidsedu project which promises to be fun-filled, educating and impacting. We have successfully discovered another Word Chest and I know that you are excited to open the box. If you are seeing this for the first time, here is a quick introduction to help you understand this segment better.

ABOUT WORD CHEST

Word Chest is an innovative program established to enrich the vocabulary of English speakers and learners, most importantly, children of all ages. Building the vocabulary enables speakers or writers to express themselves properly and concisely. In every series, we explore words related to a theme (that is, a particular topic). Do well to check out the last posts on the Name of Baby Animals and Occupations. Before the end of this project, you should observe how impeccable your grammar is. Oops! The word ‘impeccable’ might be too difficult for our little ones. Here is what it means: to be flawless, excellent or perfect. Now your English lesson has begun. (lol)

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A violinist

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The theme for this adventure is Music and this chest contains the following:

• The meaning of the word ‘music’
• Types of music
• Other words related to the theme
• English Grammar Rules

There will also be fun facts and an activity for the kids only at the end of the lesson. All set to explore? Let's look in the chest.

Music refers to sounds that are organized in a way that is pleasant to the ears or exciting to listen to. It is usually produced with the human voice, musical instruments or body parts. For example, clapping hands or doing a tap dance with the feet.

Types of Music

In music, the term 'genre' is used to classify the different forms of music. There are various genres of music. They include vocal music, hip-hop, country, soul music, Afrobeat, reggae, rhythm and blues (R & B), classical, jazz, rock, highlife and others too numerous to mention.

Other Words Related to the Theme

Compose
An act of creating or writing a piece of music. See the sentence The composer composed parts for Cello and Violin.

Lyrics: The words of a song.

Solo: A piece of music that is performed by one singer, musician or soloist.
Duet: Any piece of music that is performed by two singers or musicians.
Trio refers to three singers or musicians who perform together. It can also mean a piece of music performed by this group.

Tempo: It is how fast a beat is going. Let's say you want to suggest that the music has to go a little bit faster, it's more appropriate to say, “@ibtisamwaqas, can you please increase the tempo?”

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Photo credit
Musical notes

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Notes: They are written musical symbols used to indicate tone.

Tone: Simply put, it is the sound that is heard when singing or playing a note. A musical tone is oftentimes characterized by its duration, pitch, intensity (or loudness), and timbre (or quality). Can you say aaaaaaa? Now take it a little higher. Did you observe a difference in your voice's tone?

A cappella: A kind of music that is not accompanied by musical instruments. See the sentence:

• Celine's a cappella group will be presenting at the groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow.

Instruments
They are devices used to produce music such as the human voice, piano etc.

Instrumentalist
A person who has full mastery of one or more musical instruments and is a member of an orchestra, band or any other musical group. Example:

• Joshua plays the trumpet in the Real brass band.

Musician
A person who writes, sings or plays music, especially instrumentalists.

Conductor
Have you ever seen a person direct a group of singers or musicians during a musical performance? That person is a conductor and his/her role is to organize or direct the whole group of musicians.

Maestro: Is a man who is an expert at writing, conducting, or teaching music. As in, Joshua is a maestro of the French Horn. Unlike conductors, a maestro only conducts a specific group of musicians.

Opera: A form of musical drama in which actors sing all or most of the words of a play with music performed by an orchestra.

• I will be going to an opera next week Saturday.

Orchestra

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Before, this meant a semi-circular space in front of the stage where the singers and instruments played in a Greek theatre. Gradually, it was later used to refer to the group of musicians themselves who play usually classical music together and who are led by a conductor. A large orchestra which comprises about 100 players is known as a symphony orchestra while a smaller orchestra is sometimes called a chamber orchestra.

If you are curious and want to know more, search for Yanni on YouTube. His orchestra is a truly unique collection of musicians.

Instruments in an orchestra are divided into these four sections:

• Strings: This family is usually the largest group in an orchestra because they form the basis of the music. They are musical instruments with strings that produce sounds only when played with fingers or a bow. They include viola, violin, harp, double bass and cello. The guitar and other stringed instruments are not a part of this.
• Woodwind: Any one of the groups of musical instruments that are usually made of wood or metal and are played by blowing such as oboe, flutes, bassoon, recorder and so forth.
• Brass: This includes musical instruments like trumpet, trombone, saxophone, french horn and tuba that use vibrations of the player's lips to produce sound when they blow into the mouthpiece.
• Percussion: A musical instrument whose tone is produced by striking, shaking or scraping. Such instruments include drums, xylophone, congas, harmonica, tambourines and maracas (for instance, those instruments that make a rattling sound when they are shaken. They can be seen in churches too). I love the drums most. Which of these percussions do you love or play?

English Grammar Rules

Note 1: When talking about playing musical instruments, "the" is usually used before the name of the instruments as in the sentence:

• Joshua plays the french horn in the Real brass band.

However, it is not applicable when two or more instruments are mentioned as in the sentence:
Ekaette teaches the students how to play oboe, flute and saxophone.

Note 2 The preposition on is used to say who is playing which instruments.
Example: Dorothy sang while her husband accompanied her on the piano.

Note 3 There is a special name for people who play some musical instruments. These names end with -ist or -er. Examples include trumpeter, violinist, drummer, saxophonist, guitarist etc.

Where there is no special name given to an instrumentalist, he/she is called a player.

Fun Facts

An interesting musical sound can be described as melodious, tuneful or mellifluous (if used to depict a pleasant voice).

• I have heard @dreamystar sing. Her voice is so melodious.
• The guitar produced a tuneful sound when @wizzyboy stroked its strings.

Uh oh! We can't go any further. I must say that the chest we found on this Island contains a lot of fortune. You have learnt a lot today and I hope that you apply this when next you are discussing music.

ACTIVITY

1. Tell us about any musical instrument you play or love. There is no word limit. We just want to know about your experience.
2. Mention three genres of music.
3. Use the following words in a sentence:
   a. A cappella
   b. Orchestra
   c. Instrumentalist
   d. Compose
   e. Duet
   f. Melodious
4. Invite 3 friends.
   
   

   

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