My students love making things spooky and scary as best they can. They get a kick out of it, actually. So, why not put their skills to the test.
Making something that isn't supposed to be spooky and make it scary is a challenge and takes a lot to understand the intricacies of thriller music and sound effects. So, set them up for success!
How to Introduce Foley Process
For this project, I have a slideshow that introduces the kids to oldie radio shows in the
1930's that focuses on the music and foley aspect of this concept. We discuss:
how entertainment back then could be costly, but radio shows were a way for almost all family to enjoy something outside of reality.
how radio shows were live back then with audiences and even live sound effects and music while stories were being told and narrative with voice actors.
I give examples of foley through youtube videos and have them get creative in the class with giving them short activities to have them explore different sounds.
Use a Book to Inspire
Once the instruction part is done, I read "Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors" by Drew Daywalt (an amazing and cute book). It's about how the characters of Rock, Paper, and Scissors seek out their worthy opponents, and they end up finding each other - thus begins the legend that everyone knows and loves. What's great about this particular book is that it lends itself greatly for foley and music background. I have the students do sections of this Youtube video reading this particular book.
Foley Process in the Classroom
This lesson definitely lends itself to a fun group project too:
I break up my class into groups of two students each and they work together in Band Lab to create their music and record their foley sounds to the Youtube video.
I break up the youtube video into 1 minute sections so the students don't get overwhelmed and each group gets a different section of the book.
They go back and forth between Band Lab and the video to match up the sounds how they want.
After that is all done, they present their works to the class and we enjoy a good laugh! If you want to add a spooky side to it, have them try to change the feel of the story by making it scary sounding and then turn off the lights when the book is being read and the music and sound effects play. SO MUCH FUN!
If you are looking for this lesson already made and trying to save your precious teacher time, feel free to look it up in my lesson plans that I have on the site.
If you are looking for more resources for your music classroom or band classroom, please feel free to visit my other blog posts below!
