Violin 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

# 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

# Musical imaginings of Melody. #

And friends!

We're coming to meet a great friend today

who can play a really cool instrument.

It's made of wood, and it's played with something called a bow.

Sometimes it's called a fiddle, just like in Hey Diddle Diddle.

Can you guess what it is?

When we arrive, we can hear people practising.

HARP PLAYS

Ooh, Melody, I can hear the harp.

-Can you?

-Yes!

-Let's have a listen.

MARIMBA PLAYS

-And what else can we hear?

-I can hear the marimba!

-Yeah!

-VIOLIN PLAYS

And, ooh! I can hear a violin.

It's this way, Mummy, let's go!

-Hello!

-Hi!

-Hi.

-Hello, Eugenie.

-Hi.

Thank you for letting us come and see your beautiful violin.

Could you tell us a bit about the different parts of the violin?

This is the main body of the violin. It's made out of wood.

These are the four strings.

They're different thicknesses?

-It goes from low to high, G, D, A, E.

-Yep.

The higher strings are here, you can play really high.

These pegs are to tune the strings.

-That feels like a snail!

-It does, it's like a shell shape.

-What's that part called?

-It's the scroll.

-Ah, right.

-It's the squirrel!

-Scroll!

Can you feel down there, Melody?

There's a hole! Like a wiggly hole.

-What holes are they?

-They're for the sound to come out.

Without them, you wouldn't hear any sound.

-Do they have a name?

-Yeah, they're the F-holes.

They're like a curly F shape.

And at the bottom, there seems to be quite a hard bit.

-Can you feel that, at the bottom?

-Yeah.

This is the chin rest, to rest your chin.

So you have a bit of a cushion.

So it's more comfortable to play.

And how do you make the sound?

You use the bow, which is also made out of wood.

And these are horse hairs.

And to change the tightness of the hairs,

you twist this thing down here.

This is not just one horse hair, but lots of horse hairs.

-There'll be hundreds of little hairs.

-Sometimes they snap.

Have you been in the middle of something and it breaks?

-Yeah, some of the strings pop.

-Gosh!

How can you use the bow?

You put the bow on the string, and you just pull.

Good!

If you pulled it really fast and slow, does that change the sound?

Yeah. Like...

QUICK NOTES

You can also pluck...

SHORT NOTES

And you use your fingers to press the notes down.

-That's what changes the notes, when you press down?

-Yeah.

You'd go from one...

Fingers moving up and down.

And with the bow, can you do different effects?

Yeah, you can make it staccato, like...

-VERY SHORT NOTES

-Ooh.

And you can also do this...

LOTS OF OVERLAPPING NOTES

-Could I have a go?

-Would it be OK if Melody had a go?

-Yeah.

-Brilliant. I'll take Fudge.

So hold it really carefully.

Want help?

Do you want to...?

-Remember, putting your fingers on there will change the notes.

-Yeah.

-What do we say, Melody?

-Thank you!

-Brilliant, thank you, Eugenie, lovely.

-That's so cool.

-Was that fun?

-Yeah!

-Could we hear you playing, would that be OK?

-Yeah.

(Aw, thank you.)

Wow! Thank you so much!

-That was brilliant, wasn't it?

-Thank you!

But we're going to have to go, the recital starts soon.

-Eugenie's got to get ready.

-Good luck!

-Thank you.

-We've got to find our friends. See you!

-Bye, thanks, Eugenie.

-Bye!

I'm really looking forward to this!

We go into the concert hall

and meet a few friends who've come to listen too.

-Are you excited to listen to some lovely music?

-ALL:

-Yes!

As you listen, see what pictures come into your mind.

Fudge and I wonder what the music will make you think of.

We sit, and the lights go down.

Then Eugenie comes in with Debbie, who's going to play the piano.

Hi, I'm going to play

the first movement from Barber's Violin Concerto.

Oh, a penguin!

I don't know why I thought of that.

A baby penguin too!

Aw, I think he's nervous.

Go on, little one!

Ooh, look, they're not nervous.

I think he wants to follow them.

They've gone into the sea.

Ooh, gosh!

That looks high!

The penguins are dancing.

He dived into the sea.

Penguins swim so gracefully.

They're all dancing now.

He did it!

That was wonderful!

After the recital,

Mum and I talk with our friends about what they thought.

Hi!

So, did you enjoy listening to Eugenie play the violin?

Yes!

It made me think of a baby penguin.

Great! Let's listen and see what the music makes you think of?

And when you listen, let your imaginations run free.

THE CONCERTO PLAYS

Everybody listens really hard.

Lydia had an idea first.

It made me think of musicals,

when people sing and dance.

I saw lots of people at a ball dancing,

and the men were wearing a suit,

and the ladies were wearing really poufy dresses.

And there was a disco ball.

Stella, what did you see in your imagination?

People at the ball, and one person was late, like the Cinderella story.

TICK, TICK, TICK...

BONG! BONG! BONG!

Then Otis has an idea.

It made me think of animation,

like you see the animation being drawn,

and the animation's being drawn, and the animation is

a person jumping over flowers in a massive field.

They've got a really white dress, and they've got really long hair.

Mummy, what does the music make you think of?

-Oh, well, do you want to know what I thought of?

-Yes!

-Good question.

Well, I thought of a spider, spinning an amazing web.

But a giant web. The spider was really happy.

There was lots of raindrops glistening on the web.

And the faster the music went, the faster it spun.

Well done, everyone. What fabulous ideas.

I love listening to all your stories.

And don't forget to keep using your imagination.

-Bye!

-Bye!

I hope they never forget to use their imaginations.

Eugenie's violin made us think of all sorts of different ideas.

So, did you like the ideas the other children had, Melody?

Yes, I loved then!

The same music can mean different things to different people.

-Mummy, can I listen to it again, please?

-Course you can.

That music made me think of a young penguin.

What did it make you think of?