Camera Obscura

Brass has arrived at Te Pahu School!

Thanks to an exceedingly kind donation from the Tosse family, the music room now has a lovely red trumpet and trombone. 
Room 4 had a great time playing them today. 

 Here's Lucy demonstrating the first steps:

 


1. Go red in the face

2. Make a farting noise with the mouthpiece.

When you've got this down, it's time to graduate to the trumpet.

Casey-Lee has done this before. Her Dad is a brass player from way back.

Max had it down in no time.

Not just younguns learn things in the Music Room!

Ruma Kereru play guitar

The girls showed the boys how it was done today!

I Lived (Ruma Kokako)

It's all about that noise!

Ruma Tui played the drums:

Kirra shows us the traditional crossed hands
 - right hand over the top for the hihat

- left hand underneath for the snare

Ivy not only had a great left/right combination - check out that colour combination!

Then Ruma Kokako were re-acquainted with their long lost friends. Last seen some 4 or so years ago, the box of recorders was found in the resource room and they were warmly welcomed back into the fold.

I suspect Sophie would rather have been playing that bass guitar behind her...

Hayze does Row Your Boat in a somewhat sonically challenging environment.

Play that Record

Back in about 1863, Thomas Edison invented a clever contraption a bit like this one.
He recorded acoustic sound for the first time.

Of course, recording multiple copies involved multiple takes...









We had a go at playing a 'modern' vinyl record with a rudimentary version of Edison's phonograph technique. Don't try this at home! (because you'll wreck your parents' records)

The Mighty Double Bass

This 3/4 size Czechoslovakian double bass was a bit of a wreck, and was given to Bevan to fix up (thanks Brydon family!). It sounds beautiful, thanks to it's carved, solid top. 

 





As we learned today, your eyes should be level with the top of the fingerboard (chairs were useful) and your right hand needs to play the strings by supporting the first finger as it plays a 'rest stroke' along the string, demonstrating well by Jay right here....








 
 

 That's it! Hana looks like a pro. 

A recent addition - The Cajon

SummerSouls cleaned up at Bandquest last year, winning three awards. Consequently, they had some vouchers to spend. This excellent Peruvian Cajon was bought and donated to the music room.

The sides are made from solid wood, laminated in a funky pattern.
The front is thin plywood, with small snare wires in the top corners (reverse side of the front)

Here's Emily from Ruma Piwakwaka trying it out.






Thanks SummerSouls!