One of my favorite lessons of the year centres around exploring places and music. The photograph above was put on Twitter yesterday and I asked for suggestions of music that would match the photograph. Suggestions were:
- Green green grass of home. Tom Jones. @dawnhallybone
- I can see for miles. The Who. @ebd35
- On the road again. Willy Nelson. @ebd35
- Homeward Bound. Simon and Garfunkel. @jackieonions
- Big Country. Big Country. @psbenson
- It's a wonderful life. Black. @psbenson
- A horse with no name. America. @psbenson
So what's the point? How we feel about places can be expressed in the soundtrack that we imagine about that place. Show students a selection of photographs on your local area and play different music over the top. How does that make them feel? Which soundtrack is most suitable to that place? Try walking around your local area while listening to different music - how do you feel? Try it with the A-Team soundtrack and you'll soon be jumping into bushes and making a plan come together ;-)
An example of how you could start to get the concepts of 'sense of place' and the work of psychogeography across to pupils, and a great way to get out and about in your local area or school grounds. For example, play music in different locations that match that place. What would you place outside the Head's office? Canteen? Geography room? Sports pitch?
What a cool idea! I've often thought it would be good to team up books with a soundtrack too - what would you listen to whilst reading Dracula for example?
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Rogers,
ReplyDeleteyou have a wonderful blogspotS!
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Don't know how I missed the mention! Glad you liked it, and I enjoyed the accompanying video! Interesting activity, will explore a micro version of this in the various different settings in my wood, with smaller children and nursery rhymes/ songs.
ReplyDeleteAlex