Overview

This lesson introduces students to easily accessible and informal styles of music composition and performance. Stomp is a percussion group that uses the body and ordinary objects to create a physical theatre performance. Their appeal lies in their primitive yet highly effective musical performances that do not require students to be able to read or write music in order for them to appreciate, understand or emulate the style. The fact that the Stomp crew is seriously cool also helps with learner engagement.

Description

Begin by playing a short recording of a stomp performance. We use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu15Ou-jKM0 but, at first, we play the audio only as this helps students focus their attention on the music. Following this, discuss with students what effect the music had on them, the imagery it evoked etc. Ask them to detail the musical elements they heard in the composition and ask them HOW they think the sounds were created.

Now play the piece again, this time, allow them to watch the video too. As it plays, point out the innovative and effective techniques and ‘instruments’ e.g. sliding on dustbin lids, using dance moves (and stomping!) to time the beats.

Introduce students to https://mural.ly by letting them click on SEE HOW IT WORKS. Discuss with them how they think they could use the tool to collate and express everything they have learnt about Stomp. It’s a good idea to have them work in groups and to then share their ideas with the class. Ideas could include adding a YouTube video of a Stomp performance and presenting “10 Things we’ve Learnt About Stomp” on sticky notes. To finish, ask them to write about how Stomp makes effective use of the musical elements in their performances.

Time needed 2 hours.

Resources

• Mural.ly is a great environment in which to collaborate visually and present information in an easy and effective way. Mural.ly provides a large workspace where students can design and create using traditional documents like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint or use media like YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Twitter. In addition to a flexible workspace, they have the ability to invite collaborators to their project. A collaborative workspace allows others to add content, chat, comment, and edit the same work.

Hints and tips

• You may know of other groups like Stomp that you’d prefer to use – go for it! We use Stomp because there is so much material relating to them on the web.

• You should be assessing students’ grasp of what Stomp performances are all about as you teach the lesson. Keep notes – they can be used to tailor the following lesson(s) to suit your students’ level of understanding.

–> Music Maestros

This post is also available in: Dutch