Piano 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

# It could be as loud as a storm

# Or quiet as a sigh

# As dainty as a dance step

# Or soaring high in the sky

# Melody, Melody

# Listen to the music, let your mind run free

# Melody, Melody

# The musical imaginings of Melody... #

And friends!

We are in a college in the grounds of an old castle.

Can you imagine what this place must have been like in the olden days?

We love the olden times, don't we, Fudge?

"Oh, yes, we simply adore the olden times."

-Sir Fudge and Lady Melody, we've got a friend to meet.

-Yippee!

My friend enjoys learning about music here

and we really love to visit.

She plays a piano.

GENTLE PIANO MUSIC

My friend's name is Rachel.

She will be playing a piece of music all on her own.

Ah! Can you hear something?

Piano!

-Shall we go and listen to Rachel?

-Yes, please.

-Brilliant.

GENTLE MELODY CONTINUES

I'm so excited to learn all about the piano.

-Hi, Rachel.

-Hello!

-Hi, Rachel.

Hello, Laura. Hello, Melody.

-So this is your beautiful piano?

-Yes, it is.

Rachel tells us all about the different parts of the piano.

You've got all these keys.

Yes, the piano, you play it by using a keyboard,

-so it typically has 88 keys.

-88?

They are all made up of different registers

to create different characters and different moods.

The first one is the far right, which is the high-sounding register.

It sounds like crystal, as it's very clear-sounding

and very cheery.

SHE PLAYS HIGH NOTES

-It's lovely.

-Then the middle register

sounds very smooth and warm.

SHE PLAYS MID-RANGE NOTES

And then the bass register sounds gruff,

scary and like a bear.

SHE PLAYS LOW NOTES

It does sound like a bear.

Better watch out, Fudge! He-he-he!

-It's brilliant.

-Thank you.

Essentially, the white keys make up the alphabet.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

SHE PLAYS MAJOR NOTES

And it carries on back to A.

-It goes up from...

-I didn't know musicians played with letters.

I noticed your feet were moving up and down

-when you were playing.

-Oh, yes.

-What about the pedals?

-On the right,

we have the sustaining pedal, which makes every note you play longer.

SHE PLAYS PROLONGED NOTES

-Hear the difference?

-It's amazing.

Really different.

The one on the left is a soft pedal, which changes the sound.

SHE PLAYS RAPID SERIES OF NOTES

Oh!

I love the piano pedals.

Such a different tone and atmosphere created by that.

-Yeah.

-Also, we've got these amazing, long strings.

-Yes.

This is how the piano works inside. When you press a key,

a hammer hits a string in the frame.

SHE PLAYS SOME NOTES

They're starting to move up and down.

We heard you playing a lovely piece of music on the way in.

-Could you play a bit more?

-Yes.

Thank you.

SHE PLAYS GENTLE MELODY

It sounds so relaxing.

-Wake up, Fudge! He-he-he-he!

-We've got to go and watch the recital

and Rachel's got to get ready for the performance.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

-We'll find our friends. See you!

-Thank you. Good luck!

-Bye!

Hello, everybody! My friends are here to listen to the music with us

and to use our imaginations.

I wonder what it'll make you think of.

The show's about to begin. I'm so excited.

And my friends are too!

Hello, everyone.

Today I'm going to play for you the March Of The Trolls by Edvard Grieg.

RAPID, URGENT TEMPO

I start to use my imagination.

POPPING

RUMBLING, GRUNTING

Trolls!

They're trying to catch the fireflies.

They want them for their dinner.

TROLL GRUNTS

The grass troll is really happy. He caught some in his net.

Look, there's a water fairy.

SLOWER, GENTLER TEMPO

Oh, no, the rock troll has seen her.

TROLL GRUMBLES

He wants to catch her in his net. POPPING

The water fairy is playing with bubbles on the water.

Aw, the bubbles are from a friendly fish.

Hello, Mr Fish.

FASTER, MORE URGENT TEMPO

Oh, no, the rock troll's going to catch the fairy.

Phew! He missed.

Quick, fly away, water fairy.

TROLL GRUNTS

The rock troll has caught the fairy

with a lasso.

LASSO STRAINS

TROLL CHORTLES

TROLL SPLUTTERS Yay!

The fish has saved the water fairy.

He-he-he! So long, rock troll.

The music was so good.

After the performance, we go to meet up with our friends again.

I can't wait to find out what the music made them think of.

-Hello!

-ALL:

-Hello!

Oh, good to see you.

So, did you enjoy listening to Rachel playing the piano?

-ALL:

-Yes!

It made me think of trolls

and a water fairy.

We were wondering what the music made you think of.

Mummy plays the music back so we can all listen to it again.

I can't wait to hear my friend's ideas.

FAST-PACED TEMPO

It made me think of when the trolls were marching in the forest.

It was like a monster was chasing me.

MONSTER SCREECHES

Better keep running, Will.

Melissa, what did that make you think of?

-Someone running in a race.

-Oh, they were running in a race?

-Were they running really fast?

-Yeah.

Leila, what did you see in your mind when you listened to the music?

Being in a house.

Wow! Bats flying!

And a spider walking.

What a great imagination!

Wow, I could definitely see all of your wonderful imaginations.

Shall we listen to the next part?

GENTLE MELODY

This part of the music is very different.

I wonder what my friends will imagine this time.

Lemonade coming down from off the big bubbles.

Mmm! Lemonade!

And then you could hear the bubbling noise.

Racing cars are racing around a racing track.

Wow! Racing cars!

What a great idea!

I could definitely see your lemonade pouring.

Maybe your cars were going in slow motion. Brilliant.

Shall we listen to the next part?

RAPID, URGENT TEMPO

This part is very fast.

Some of my friends close their eyes to help them imagine.

I do too.

I love using my imagination.

MUSIC ENDS

Right, so, Isla, what did that part of the music make you think of?

I think it made me think of a dog chasing a cat

or something like that.

It's definitely lots of chasing. It's so quick, the music.

-Yeah.

-Tell me about this dog - what was the dog like?

It was big, rough and scary and all sorts.

Was it quite angry, or was it just playing?

-It was just playing.

-Just playing.

Eva, what did the music make you think of?

Trolls racing to the supermarket trying to put food in their trolley.

So tell me about these trolls. What did they look like?

-They're mean and angry.

-Mean and angry?

Shall we have a listen again?

RAPID, URGENT TEMPO

DOG BARKS

Aww, Fudge is playing with the dog. FUDGE MEOWS

The trolls are busy today, he-he-he-he!

Just look at all that shopping.

You greedy trolls! He-he-he!

What a lot of lovely ideas.

You're so creative.

We loved listening to all your wonderful ideas, didn't we, Fudge?

We have got to go now, but thank you,

we loved listening to the music with you. We'll see you soon.

-See you soon, bye! ALL:

-Bye!

-Don't forget to keep using your imagination.

-Bye.

Everybody has different ideas, but it's all for the same music.

It's fun to use our imaginations.

-Did you like the ideas the other children had?

-I did!

Eva thought of trolls too!

Remember, the same piece of music

can mean lots of different things to different people.

-Can I listen to it again, please?

-Of course you can.

There we are.

That music made me think of trolls and a fairy.

What did it make you think of?