Here is my want to know presentation about global warming from humanities.

This is my speech about global warming!

Global warming

This is a video made by my friend Aruna and myself! This is what life is like in Grade 7.

On Thursday this week, a visitor who plays the japanese flute called the shakuhachi came,as well as a Koto teacher and a student who can play Koto. When they came we had to think about the question ”What makes music sound like it belongs to a particular part of the world?”

The student played the Koto,the Koto teacher played the shamisen and the Koto,and the visitor played the flute. All together they played so many different songs,which were very long but interesting. The music sounded japanese because it made me think of sakura,the japanese samurai,the japanese temples and a lot more about Japan. The tone and the pitch of the Koto makes it sound Japanese,and when you can hear both Koto and Shamisen kind of echo or vibrate.

I think my favorite instrument is the japanese flute because it is very different,and it sounds great! The visitor showed different sizes of the flute,and the bigger it is the deeper it sounds. The sound of the Flute made me think of peace. I don’t really remember what all the songs they played sounded like but, the one I remember is the last one called Deep Forest. This was played by the Koto and the shakuhachi. This was a nice song because it was very calm and slow at first,and then it got into fast rhythm at different parts which sounded awesome!

Overall I think that was a great experience listening to some japanese music I really don’t hear much in LIVE!

In Humanities Class Alina and myself made a wordle about Child Labour

The bigger words are things that we thought of with child labour, such as ‘industrial revolution’ and ‘dangerous.’ The smaller words that are harder to read are all the products made from Child Labour nowadays,the bigger of those in the top 25 products. Also if you noticed the continents,the size of the words depended on how many countries of that continent have child labour. We got this from a website called product of slavery,created by the human rights organisation, anti-slavery international. They are a charity to working to end all forms of modern slavery around the world,including child labour. We made this Wordle to try to make people aware of modern Child Labour and how its affecting the world.

In 7th grade art class for 10 weeks we have been looking at line drawings. We learned the different line techniques and looked at artists such as Vincent Van gough and Albrecht Dürer. In our final line drawing we had to draw a landscape. We had to choose pictures we like and combine them together to make a landscape. I chose to combine the pictures of a hot air ballon,river and mountains. Our unit question is, “How can we communicate visually?” and our significant concept is “Line can be convey shape, texture and tone.”

This is the landscape picture I made to draw for the final piece.
I had to make little changes to draw my final piece to make it easier to draw.

This is my final drawing

Comparing my first line drawings and my final is a huge difference! I can see how much I have learned during this unit. I had to do a lot of practice of drawing the grass and the techniques for the mountains because once I do a mistake with marker,there is no going back. I love the tones of my mountains,especially the one in the middle, but I might have made some parts of the mountain too dark. I also like the tone of my stippling on my hot air balloon. When I first drew my hot air ballon I wanted to start all over again,but I decided to continue drawing it and I think it turned out great! There are still things I need to improve on like,I made the shadows on some parts of my hot air ballon too dark, and I could have done the hot air balloon more accurately.

The one on the left is my first line drawing
The one on the right is my second line drawing

My first and second drawing is by Van gough. This was basically my first line drawing. If you see the one on the left,it dosen’t have much texture,tone or value. What I really did wrong was the sky. For the sky I smuged the pencil instead of drawing lines! I didn’t know that much about line drawings so that was the first thing I learned. I also colored in the tree branches instead of using line techniques. For the second one there is a lot to improve on,the sky,the trees in the background. The middle tree looks like scribbles! But comparing these two to my final,I am very happy with my final!

It took a long time for me to think of what to do for the sky. I didn’t research a lot about how to do the sky so when I came to that part ,I had to do some research. I looked at some drawings by Van gough and I asked some of my friends. In the end,I ended up just drawing some straight lines.

I think I could have done better. The lines look like they have all the same lengths! I could have been more accurate by making it darker around the mountains,then it will look like it is far away. I also think that the clouds could have a better shape.

Overall I am impressed with how much I improved! With just one black marker I made a great art piece,I am so happy. There are still things I need to improve on but its better than I imagined. I love my middle mountain! It looks like it is popping out. I love the various lines I put in their! This was a fun unit!

BLUES

This is the Blues Scale

My blues song

This is my Blues Song

Lyrics

There is no Chocolate in the cupboard x2

My brain is turning,stomach’s screaming

My life is not full without a chocolate bar

I run up and down the staircase x2

I run to my room, think to myself

My stomach is screaming all over again

Hope you enjoy!

Blues Essay

In Music class we have been looking at different kind of blues. As a class we have learned how to play the blues scale on the piano. After we research about the blues we have to make our own blues song using the blues scale on the piano.  The blues I will be talking about is the memphis blues,chicago blues and the delta blues.

The Memphis Blues. The memphis blues is a style of blues music that was made in the 1910s to 1930s,by memphis-area like Frank Stokes,sleepy John Furry Lewis and memphis minnie. Memphis blues is played on simple instruments such as harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, guimbarde and jugs blown to supply the bass. The style was popular in vaudeville and medicine shows, and was associated with Memphis’ main entertainment area, Beale Street.

The Chicago blues. The chicago blues is a form of blues music which was developed in chicago. Chicago blues was street corner-based music. But after the music quickly got popularity, it became a giant commercial enterprise. Soon the new style of music reached out and touched Europe, which led many famous English rock n’ roll bands to get their inspiration from the Chicago blues. First, the blues clubs in Chicago were filled with black performers, and the music itself was for black audiences. Most of the blues clubs were on the far south side of Chicago, so white people did not visit them. But later on, however, more and more white audiences visited the clubs and listened to the music. This caused clubs to open up on the north side. And later more white men started playing the blues after it became popular.

The delta blues. The delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The Mississippi Delta area is famous both for its fertile soil and its poverty. Guitar, harmonica and cigar box guitar are the dominant instruments used, with slide guitar (usually on the steel guitar) being a hallmark of the style.

Overall I think it was great learning the style of blues,the delta,the chicago and the memphis blues. When Steve Gardner a blues music singer who came to Yokohama International school,he sang a few blues songs and showed a lot of instruments that could be used when you sing a blues song. We were able to touch the instruments and play them. I learned a lot from him so I won’t forget! Before starting the blues unit I have never played the piano so this unit is very challenging for me. Reading this I hope you learned a lot. I hope I succeed in making my blues song and I hope I learn more in my next unit!

Layna

Steve Gardner

In Yokohama International School, a blues player called Steve Gardner came to visit us.

Steve Gardner talked about folk songs,and he sang a song called Going down the road feeling bad. The song told us how your feet hurt if you walk for a long time,you get hungry,thirsty,you have no money and you don’t have any shoes. I learned that music is someones story,dosen’t need a beginning or an end.

Steve gardner showed us so many instruments thats we got to use! He showed us something called the diddly bow,the harmonica,an instrument that looks like a washing machine,drums,and best of all we saw a golden guitar!

We also made a blues song as a group!

The song was:

AAA-like what x3

AAB-like what x2 carrots

AABC-like what x2 carrots happy pigeons

This song was not really good but I got an idea of what I could do for my blues song.

Overall I have learned a lot about the blues, and I hope when I finish my own blues song it will be fantastic!

In Drama our unit is about Speech making. Our first speech was about what we love,and our second speech was a given topic.

The choices were Holidays,Fashion,Neighbors and the best day of my life.

7C Drama: Given Topic Speech from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

This is my second speech and I think I did better than my first speech. The six modulation devices are, volume, projection, pitch, pace, pause, emphasis and inflection. I think I did well on my volume because everyone was able to here me. I had pauses at the right time,my pace wasn’t too fast and wasn’t too slow so I am proud of that. I could work a little more on my pitch because I think I stayed on the same level the whole time.  I think I was well prepared because I practiced a lot at my house,and I didn’t need to look at my note cards a lot.

7C Drama: 1 Min Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

The reason why I don’t think this is my best one is because it dosen’t look like I am concentrated at the beginning. As the speech goes on I get more serious,but I think I could have worked on my pauses and my pitch.

7C Drama: 1 Min Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

I think my friend Alina did a great job on her 1 minute speech! She had great tone and she was clear and loud. She had good structure and she was not too fast, and not too slow.

Overall I can’t wait for my next unit and I hope I learn new things!