Ethnomusicology Project-Recording and cataloguing the sounds that define our communities.

Follow this link to visit the completed project.6th grade music classes are starting a new project  in which they will listen to Brazilian folk music and discuss its various sounds and connections to today’s music. They then will record sounds that define and represent the culture of LREI.  Students began the project by reading this article from the NY Times, listening to the attached music samples and answered a series of questions. Working in small groups, students will be acting as ethnomusicologists to preserve the culture of LREI through audio. The collection of sounds will be compiled into a catalogue that can be preserved for use by future generations. Each group will be responsible for recording a series of sound bytes that represent a different part of our community. As a class, we will brainstorm places in the school where students could experience everyday sounds that represent the school’s culture. Students will compose questions to answer while gathering these sound bytes.  Such as:-What is this sound?-How is it made?-What is the volume?-What is the pitch or tone?-What mood does this sound convey? Why?-What aspect of school culture does this sound capture?-Why might this sound be important to the future of this location?-How might this sound change over time? Each group will pick a recording secretary to jot down notes while in the field gathering audio research.  Students will work together to organize their sound bytes by categories. They will then create an organized catalogue of sounds with accompanying commentaries explaining what each sound is and why it is representative of LREI. This catalogue will be shared at a MS meeting.