Marimba Melody and Friends

# Melody, Melody

# Listen to the music

# Let your mind run free

# Melody, Melody

# From a castle or the jungle

# To the Arctic Sea... #

WHALE SINGS

# To be as loud as a storm

# Quiet as a sigh

# As dainty as a dance step

# We're soaring high in the sky

# Melody, Melody

# The musical imaginings of Melody. #

And friends!

Look at that cloud, Melody, it's going to rain soon.

-I love playing in the rain, Mummy.

-Well, maybe not today.

-We've got a friend to meet. Come on.

-OK, let's go!

'My friend studies at this school! It's a great place to visit.'

MARIMBA MUSIC PLAYS

-Oh, Melody. What can you hear? It's a marimba.

-Marimba! Let's go!

MARIMBA MUSIC PLAYS

-Hey, hello, Joe.

-Hello.

-Hi, Joe.

-That was amazing, we could hear you outside.

-Thank you very much.

'My friend's name is Joe. He plays a marimba.

'It's a funny word - ma-rim-ba!

MELODY LAUGHS

'I can't wait to learn all about it!'

You play it with these, one of these, which is a mallet.

'I feel one of the mallets. It has soft hair on the top of it.'

..kind of woolly, isn't it?

Depending on what the head is wrapped in,

it makes a softer or louder sound.

So, this one is actually quite a soft mallet. So, when you play it...

-Quite a gentle sound.

-Lovely.

These are wrapped in yarn, so they make a medium sound...

-Very good.

-You can even play it with really harsh, rubber mallets.

And it's best to play it slightly further up the instrument,

-because otherwise it gets a little too harsh...

-Oh, yes.

HE PLAYS NOTES

-Sounds a bit like a xylophone.

-Can you hear the difference?

What have we got down here? Can you feel

-what we've got there?

-These are resonators.

-Yeah.

When you strike the key, these amplify the sound

so it carries across the whole room.

Why do you think there's holes?

-To make the sound come out.

-So the sound can travel through.

-You have to hit in the middle?

-Yes.

-On the end it doesn't sound as good?

-If you hit it on the end...

'It doesn't sound good when you hit like that.'

Hit it in the middle, however...

-Can you hear the difference?

-Yeah. 'That sounds much better, Joe.'

..which is really great.

-Would you like to have a go?

-Yes, please!

-Yes!

-It'll be amazing.

-I'll take Fudge, there we go, thank you.

-Here you go.

'Wow! Joe lets me have a go. This is great fun.

-'I love all the different sounds a marimba can make.'

-Try and hit it...

-In the middle.

-Yeah.

-Whoa!

-There you go.

-Boomy.

Can you make a quiet sound?

Goes all the way down there, right the way up to the top! Whoa!

-MUM LAUGHS

-Joe, could you play something for us?

Yes, of course...

-'Wow! Joe sounds amazing!'

-Aw, Melody, that was brilliant.

We've got to let Joe get ready while we find our friends.

'Mum tells him we have to go, and we will see him soon,

'at the performance.

'My friends are here to listen to the music with me!

'I can't wait to hear what they imagine!'

-ALL:

-Hello, Melody!

Are you excited to listen to the music?

-ALL:

-Yes.

I wonder what it'll make you think of!

'The show is about to begin! Fudge and I are so excited!'

Hello.

I'm going to play Two Movements For Marimba, by Toshimitsu Tanaka.

MUSIC: Two Movements For Marimba by Toshimitsu Tanaka

'Wow! The marimba sounds so cool!

'Joe is playing with two mallets in each hand!

'He must have had lots of practice.

'And practice makes perfect! 'Isn't that right, Fudge?'

Meow.

'I start to use my imagination.'

It's raining.

RAIN PITTER-PATTERS

WATER SPLASHES

-Meow.

-I can see Fudge!

And that's me!

We're in a field, playing in the rain.

It's fun to splash in the puddles.

WATER SPLASHES

Oh, no! Sorry, fudge!

-Meow!

-MELODY LAUGHS

The sky's gone dark!

All this rain is making the puddles get bigger and bigger.

You better let me carry you, Fudge. The valley is filling up fast!

-I know!

-Meow!

-Let's head for the hills, Fudge!

Phew! We made it safely up the hill! Look what the rain water did, Fudge.

It's made a big lake.

Joe has finished the first part. I wonder what I'll imagine next.

This part sounds very different.

We're under the water! It's so blue and clear!

Fudge and I are dressed in diving gear.

WHALE SONG

Look, Fudge, it's a whale. Isn't he beautiful?

WHALE SONG

He wants to give us a ride. Of course, Mr Whale!

We're having a WHALE of a time!

SHE LAUGHS

WHALE SONG

Woohoo!

WATER SPLASHES

MELODY LAUGHS

Thank you for the ride, Mr Whale.

APPLAUSE

The music was so good. Joe played really well.

Take a bow, Joe! You deserve it!

After the performance, Mummy, Fudge and I go to meet our friends.

I can't wait to hear what the music makes them think of.

-Hello.

-ALL:

-Hello.

-How are you?

-Good.

-Did you enjoy listening to Joe play the marimba?

-ALL:

-Yes.

-Would you like to listen again?

-ALL:

-Yes.

This time we'll see what your imagination makes you think of.

MUSIC: Two Movements For Marimba by Toshimitsu Tanaka

It made me think of somebody kicking a log and rolling on it.

MELODY LAUGHS Fun idea, Lilly!

Someone in a laboratory making a robot

but there are loads of buttons,

so he couldn't do it that quickly.

BUTTON BEEPS

I could definitely see those things you saw.

That was brilliant, well done!

Shall we listen to the next piece,

and see if we can see something different?

MUSIC: Two Movements For Marimba by Toshimitsu Tanaka

'Sometimes it's good to close your eyes when you listen to the music.

'It can help you to imagine.'

So this time, Maggie, could you see anything in your imagination?

There were, like, some mice running around on, like, some floor.

Wow! And were they running really quickly?

Well, they went out to go get... To go so they can get some cheese,

-and then they went back to their holes.

-That's brilliant.

'Mice. Oh, good thinking, Maggie!'

That's a really good idea, well done. So what about you, Jack?

Mice sneaking around trying to get the cheese.

What is it about the music that made us all think about mice?

It was because it was like a scampering around.

Shall we listen again and see if we can see what you saw

in your imagination?

MUSIC: Two Movements For Marimba by Toshimitsu Tanaka

MOUSE SQUEAKS

MICE SQUEAK

MICE SQUEAK

-Did you hear the mice? Shall we listen to the next section?

-Yes.

MUSIC: Two Movements For Marimba by Toshimitsu Tanaka

I saw a snorkeler swimming around in the ocean,

seeing lots of different sea creatures.

It made me think of someone going in to a house, and they thought

no-one was there, but there actually was loads of scary creatures hiding.

'Oh, I love those ideas!'

Right, that was wonderful, wasn't it?

-Shall we listen to the last piece?

-Yes.

-OK.

MUSIC: Two Movements For Marimba by Toshimitsu Tanaka

Whoa, that was really different at the end, wasn't it?

So, what did we see this time?

I saw people walking in the spooky wood,

-then suddenly something jumped out on...at them.

-Really?

That's brilliant. What did you see in the spooky wood? What jumped out?

A herd of bats!

Do you think they've come from Harry's house and flown into

your wood? Very spooky, that's a lovely idea.

So, Jack, what did you see in your imagination?

Loads of balloons just flying up and up and up,

and they weren't stopping.

It made me think, like, balloons, too.

And then when it had the big bit at the end,

-they all popped on a cactus in the desert.

-On a cactus, wow.

Just like Jack's, so that's amazing.

Well, shall we have a listen and see if we can hear all your ideas in it?

MUSIC: Two Movements For Marimba by Toshimitsu Tanaka

Mixing all our ideas together is so much fun.

LILLY LAUGHS

POP! POP!

POP-POP-POP-POP!

Wow! What a load of lovely ideas. Thank you, we loved them all.

-We've got to go now, but thank you and bye-bye.

-ALL:

-Bye!

-Don't forget to keep using your imagination.

-Bye!

-ALL:

-Bye!

-Shall we have a little sit down here?

-Yes, please.

There we go. Pop Fudge down.

So, what did you think of the other children's ideas then, Melody?

I liked them all, but I really liked when Harry imagined a robot.

Oh, yeah, do you remember?

THEY MIMIC A ROBOT

The same piece of music can mean lots of

different things to different people.

-Mummy, can we listen to the music again, please?

-Course you can.

-There you go.

-That music made me think of swimming with a whale.

What did it make you think of?