Lah-Lah's Adventures: Music for Everyone Resource

This resource was developed through a partnership between the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) and Tina Harris and Mark Harris – two of the lead creatives behind the popular children’s series, Lah-Lah’s Adventures. Music for Everyone explores the elements of music as outlined in the Australian Curriculum in a fun and accessible way. The simple lesson plans, music clips and additional videos provided in the resource will support generalist teachers in getting started with F-2 music education. 

Lah-Lah’s Adventures: Music for Everyone provides an introduction to the building blocks of music: rhythm, pitch, expression, form, timbre, and texture. Created for busy classroom teachers who are new to music education, the units in the resource can be undertaken with little prior knowledge or preparation, and won’t require access to a room full of musical instruments.

“It’s really interesting that a lot of generalist teachers are actually using music every day already – in the classroom, in assembly, in the playground – and maybe they don’t actually realise that they’re using it. I think the wonderful thing about this particular program is it’s just building on skills that teachers already have.” – Tina Harris. 

Lah-Lah’s Adventures: Music for Everyone contains:

• 24 video tutorials for teachers by Tina Harris and Mark Harris (a.k.a Lah-Lah and Buzz)
• 18 music clips from the Lah-Lah’s Adventures series that illustrate musical concepts
• 22 Curriculum-mapped lesson plans for the six elements of music (Rhythm, Pitch, Expression, Form, Timbre, and Texture)
• PDF Teachers’ Guide containing curriculum links and practical tips for the classroom.
• Login access to Music for Everyone Online, and download link for Music for Everyone videos and curriculum content.

Sample Lesson Plan

Rhythm – Lesson 1

WALT: Listen for and move to the beat in music.

DISCUSSION STARTER

Have you ever heard your heartbeat through a stethoscope? What does it sound like? It has a regular beat: thump-thump, thump-thump. The beat always stays steady, but it can speed up if you run around, and it slows down when you are calm.

The steady pulse in music is also called the ‘beat’. It’s a regular kind of rhythm that we can hear or feel.

Just like a heartbeat, the beat in music can only be changed by speeding it up or slowing it down. The speed of the beat is called its tempo.

LEARNING TASK

Watch Lah-Lah’s Adventures clip the ‘Woody the Woodwind’ with your class to see Lah-Lah, Buzz and the Big Live Band walking in time with the beat. Can you walk in time with the beat, too? When students are comfortable walking to the beat, they could try marching or jumping to the beat instead. What other ways can you move to the beat?

The beat changes in the second half of the song when the tempo slows for one verse. Can you slow down your movements to match the slower beat? As a fun variation for moving to the beat, students could sit in a circle and pass a ball to the beat.