Introduction

Seeing and hearing are two of our most powerful senses. Pairing the right music with the right images can make both things more powerful. Explain that in this lesson we are going to be thinking about how sounds and pictures can go together, and how different sounds can change the atmosphere and how we feel.

 

Kandinsky - Chrome Music Lab Experiments

musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Kandinsky/

This program is another really unique music making tool from the Chrome Music Lab exeriments. It is inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, an artist who compared painting to making music. It turns anything you draw – lines, circles, triangles, or scribbles – into sound. Search ‘chrome kandinsky’ in your search engine. 

This video from Creative Mentoring Rotherham explains it all beautifully and gives you some simple ideas to try.

 

 

Ask the children to experiment with shapes and drawings and the sounds it creates. Try the colour button at the bottom to alter the sounds.

 

Pairing sounds and pictures

Next, we're going to try and create pictures that match certain atmospheric sounds effects.

Open Purple Mash, go into the Tools section and show the children 2Create a story. You can find it in both the English, and Music and Sounds sections.

 

 

 

Then choose the My Story option.

 

 

Explain that you're going to ask the class to close their eyes while you play some sound effects to the children.

To find the sounds, click the microphone icon at the top of the page.

 

 

Then select 'scenes' from the dropdown menu.

 

 

Play each sound a few times and discuss why each piece is different and how each creates different moods.

For each one, you'd like them to consider:

• What words do the sounds make you think of?
• What noises can you hear?
• Can you separate the different noises?
• How does it make you feel? 
• Which sort of place does it make you think of?
• Imagine you're in the place for each sound effect, what could you see?

 

Ask them to open their eyes.

Show them how to get to the sounds and choose one of the sounds they like best and draw the scene it makes them think of. Try and add details for any particular noises they can hear in the sound effect clip, for example drills drilling, frogs croaking, cars passing by.

The children can then make their own pictures that fits with each sound, importing the sound effects onto each page (you can only have one sound on a page). Ask them to add a sentence or two to describe the sounds they can hear or how it makes them feel, and the place it makes them think of.

 

Ask the children to save their work at the end by clicking the three lines in the top left and saving to their My Work area in Purple Mash, or Export it as an image to their computer or device.

 

 

Plenary

Who has added a sound successfully to their page?

Ask the children to close their eyes (if they are comfortable to do so). Play some of the sound effects again, ask them to share about their work; who recognised these sounds? Who created a picture for this one? Can you describe your picture? How did it make you feel? 

If possible show a few on your large screen and ask for feedback: what did they include in their image that matched the sound? Is there anything they could have improved? Who had different pictures for the same sound clip?