Education Resources Inspiring Creativity in the Classroom · Inspiring Creativity in the Classroom....

by Genevieve Raghu and the Into Opera team

Education Resources

Inspiring Creativity in the Classroom

Written by Genevieve Raghu

Developed with Andrew Hawes and Tom Floyd

Illustrated by Paul Harpin

Education Resources

A King’s Ransom 3

Hello,

I would like to welcome you to A King’s Ransom, Into Opera’s children’s opera

and education project. I’m Genevieve, the Artistic Director of Into Opera and I’ve

collaborated with my team to develop these education resources to accompany

this exciting project. We have filled this book to the brim with creative ways in

which you might bring A King’s Ransom into your classroom across a wide range

of subjects. It has been especially designed with Key Stage Two pupils in mind. We

hope that our project, combined with these resources will result in an exhilarating

and transformative, creative experience for your school.

At Into Opera, we believe that creativity has the power to drive high performance across the whole

of the academic curriculum. We believe creativity should lie at the heart of education. After all, if we are

going to develop the next generation of politicians, scientists, entrepreneurs and artists - who will discover,

imagine and lead – then surely it is imperative for creativity to thrive in schools? Creativity is integral in

everything we do and essential in developing greater skills in numeracy and literacy.

A lot is expected of schools. We expect schools to teach children all sorts of skills. We want teachers

to help children learn to listen with understanding, to work with others and experience what it means to

take the lead. By going to school, we want children to learn to express themselves thoughtfully, critically

and confidently. We want their individual talents to be developed and their personalities and sensibilities

nurtured. We want them to gain the skills, which will help them to become independent adults, to earn a

living and be able to communicate with a wide range of people across different generations, cultures and

backgrounds. A good creative and cultural education will help young people achieve all of these things and

crucially, it will help a child gain a greater understanding of how to interact with the world around them, to

become an ‘all round complete person’ (UNESCO). This project has been designed with these ideas in the

forefront of our minds.

Opera is a multidisciplinary art form bringing a range of artistic disciplines together to produce

something creatively unique. In developing these teaching resources we wanted to highlight ways in which A

King’s Ransom could be imaginatively explored across the whole academic curriculum and across multiple

subjects simultaneously. Please feel free to adapt or re-imagine any of these activities to best suit your

school, as fundamentally, this book is here to prompt your imagination and creativity about ways in which

you could link A King’s Ransom to different subjects throughout your school. We hope you will embrace

A King’s Ransom and use it as a force to bring all of your school together, united in a special project which

champions creative learning.

I look forward to sharing your A King’s Ransom journey with you.

Genevieve

4 A King’s Ransom

Inspiring Creativity in the Classroom

Into Opera is an Arts Award

Supporter so schools are very

welcome and encouraged to use A King’s Ransom

to enable a child to gain their Arts Award.

ARTS AWARD

A King’s Ransom is particularly suitable for children

wanting to complete their Arts Award Explore.

Below we’ve included some suggestions as to how

you could help them complete their award and

questions you could ask them to help structure,

trace and personalise their journey.

1. TAKE PART IN THE ARTS…

What arts activity are you taking part in with A

King’s Ransom?

● A performance (opera, carol service…)

● A workshop (music, design, dance, drama…)

What did you do in the session?

What did you find inspiring?

2. EXPLORE THE WORK OF ARTISTS AND ARTS

ORGANISATIONS

What do you want to know about…

● Opera

● Classical Music

● Composing

● Directing and putting on shows

● Designing

● Writing

● Choreographing

● Technical Theatre

● Running a venue

● Running an arts organisation

HOW WILL YOU FIND OUT ABOUT IT?

● Participate in a workshop

● Watch a performance

● Arrange a Q&A with an individual artist

● Arrange a visit to a venue

● Internet research

● Listen to music

● Watch a video

● Write an email or letter to someone who could

answer your questions

WHAT MIGHT YOU THEN FIND OUT ABOUT?

● An artist’s background and what they do

● Different jobs in the arts

● An art-form

● Running an arts organisation

● Creating shows

● Running a professional venue

CREATE AN ARTWORK

What can you do to demonstrate your skills and

creativity?

● Perform (Act, Sing, Dance, Recite)

● Write (Story, Poem, Song, Play inspired by A

King’s Ransom)

● Design (Costume, Set, a themed art display, or

create illustrations inspired by the A King’s Ransom

story book)

● Film (Make a film about A King’s Ransom and

our work with your school)

Suggested Whole School Topics

Suggested Arts Award Activities

If you’re looking to theme activities around A King’s Ransom why not try one of these:

● The Forest World: Turn your school into a forest… create an immersive experience from the

moment anyone steps foot into the school…

OR

● Robin Hood ● Losing and Finding ● What do we value most? ● Bullying

● Our relationship with the environment ● Myths and Legends ● Discovering treasure

● The Crusades ● Communities: shared rituals and experiences ● Opera

A King’s Ransom 5

WHAT WAS THE CREATION PROCESS LIKE?

● Did you learn music?

● Did you learn lines?

● Did you develop an idea?

● Did you have to do any research?

● Did you work in a team?

PRESENT YOUR EXPLORATION

How are you going to share your creative

experiences with others?

● Write a blog post about it for the A King’s

Ransom schools blog or your own social media

platforms.

● Make a video and share it online and in school.

● Talk about it in assembly.

● Create a scrapbook to contain all your

memories about this experience.

● Display an artistic sharing of your experience:

perhaps you could design a treasure chest with

photos, props and text arranged within it to help

reflect and evoke the journey you went on.

● Create a collage of photos to storyboard your

experience

● Write a poem about it!

Is there anything you could do to share your

experience further?

Opera

6 A King’s Ransom

AN IMPORTANT VALUE IN SOCIETY IS EMPATHY. In life, people aren’t always straightforward, honest or

rational. In life, people can often be fearful, illogical, irresponsible, impulsive and passionate. How do these

big, complex emotions influence how we make decisions in life?

Opera helps us to reflect on our lives and to explore what some of the consequences of these

emotions could be. Opera helps us to make sense of the world around us by expressing more than what

words could do alone.

In Opera, music and drama combine to tell a story. One of the first creative activities shared by

a parent and their child is storytelling, it is a fundamental human need. If all the ingredients are right,

we believe that Opera can be the most vivid, compelling, moving, exhilarating and powerful form of

storytelling.

Opera is renowned for tackling big emotions: love, death, ambition, failure, loss, heartache, joy… by

exploring these themes musically and dramatically we are offered a window into how these themes can

affect the human condition. No matter when the opera is set… in a mythological time…. 100 years ago… or

even today in the 21st Century, these emotions are universal and these emotions remain constant.

When you go to the opera you become a part of a new community, gathered there to be part of a

one off experience. Sitting there, watching a production, whilst you may sit with some friends or family you

will also be sitting amongst strangers. Together you are collectively engaging in a cultural experience as a

community, acknowledging and exploring these fundamental human emotions and complexities together

in that moment in time.

It’s difficult to get the work-life balance right. We are under pressure of an increasingly demanding

work culture. “More than 40% of employees are neglecting other aspects of their life because of work,

which may increase their vulnerability to mental health problems” (Mental Health Foundation). We are

SOPRANO – The highest female voice

Danielle de Niese

Jessye Norman

MEZZO SOPRANO – The middle female voice

Yvonne Howard - Find out how Yvonne got into

opera by reading this interview: https://into-opera.

org.uk/interview-yvonne-howard/

Joyce DiDonato

COUNTERTENOR – The highest male voice

Iestyn Davies

Philippe Jaroussky

TENOR – A high male voice

Jonas Kaufmann

Juan Diego Flórez

BARITONE – The middle male voice

Gerald Finley

Roderick Williams

BASS-BARITONE – A male voice higher than a

bass... lower than a baritone

Willard White

Bryn Terfel

BASS – The lowest…deepest male voice

John Tomlinson

René Pape

Find some recordings or videos online of these artists performing and share them with your pupils. Help them

to identify the different voice types and think about words to describe their voice and the sound of the music

they are singing.

A King’s Ransom 9

always keeping track: grades, achievements, calories, friends, likes… But at what point do we stop number-

crunching and measuring ourselves by some facts and figures? We are not static. We are creative, emotional,

leaders, learners, flawed and flamboyant. We deserve to be moved, enlightened and entertained. We deserve

more drama, more music, more love, more risks, more laughter, more tears, more encores. It’s time we made

space to let it all in. It’s time more of us got into opera.

The more you immerse yourself in opera the more enjoyable and rewarding you’ll find it – that’s something

we have experienced ourselves, so it’s something we can promise you!

Activity

What do we need to make an opera?

● A good story, driven by human emotions, which is then created into a libretto.

● These emotions are put to music and this makes people sing… sing. So, we need singers who play characters

in the story.

● A composer to write the music… possibly even some catchy tunes! (Arias, Duets, Choruses, Overture)

● An orchestra that accompanies the singers

● Costumes for the singers to wear

● A set to help create the world in which this story is being told

● Lighting to help create the atmosphere for the world of the story and to make sure we can see the singers

clearly. (Is it night or day? Is it winter or summer? Is a character scared or happy?)

● A theatre (a venue to put the opera on!)

● An audience (storytelling can only happen if there’s an audience!)

VOICES

From oral tradition to television script to operatic score… the legend of Robin Hood has persistently

engaged, enthralled and entertained audiences for centuries. Was Robin Hood real? No one really knows.

The legend began around 700 years ago but the actual man, if he ever existed, might have lived even

earlier than that! Despite so much uncertainty about who this man actually was, the legend of Robin Hood

has survived and it has been adapted, over time for different audiences and with each generation that

have told this story, the tale has taken on new twists…

QUESTIONS

Why is Robin Hood so famous?

What is your picture of Robin Hood?

What is a legend?

ROBIN HOOD TIME LINE

1190 – King Richard 1 left for the crusades

1220 – An outlaw named Hobbehod or Robert Hood is recorded in parish registers and court rolls.

1377 – The poet, William Langland, mentions the rhymes of Robin Hood in his poem ‘Piers Plowman’. This

is the earliest literary reference to Robin Hood.

I can noght parfitly my Paternoster as the preest is syngeth

But I kan rymes of Robyn Hood and Randolf, Erl of Chestre.

I do not know my paternoster perfectly as the priest sings it.

But I know rhymes of Robin Hood and Randolph, Earl of Chester.

1400 (or there abouts!) – A long poem called ‘A Gest of Robin Hood’ is written.

1400s – May Day celebrations featured people dressing up as Robin Hood and by the end of the century

plays about Robin began to be performed. May 1st was traditionally a day when the social order was

turned on its head. Gender roles and the social structure was reversed to celebrate and mark the formal

start of summer.

1440s – Historian, Robert Bower wrote about ‘the murderer’ Robin Hood living in 1266.

1450 – The ‘Robin Hood and the Monk’ ballad is written and presented alongside a prayer against thieves

and robbers.

Late 1400s – The ‘Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne’ ballad was written

1506-1507 – Costume Records for Robin Hood plays showed the introduction of new characters ‘The Lady’

and ‘The Friar’.

Early 1500s – Maid Marian was named for the first time via the May games

1510 – King Henry VIII dresses up as Robin Hood!

Robin Hood

10 A King’s Ransom

1632 – Poet, Martin Parker, wrote ‘The True Tale of Robin Hood’. He clearly describes how Robin stood up

for the oppressed and robbed from the rich to give to the poor.

Poore men might safely passe by him,

And some that way would chuse,

For well they knew that to helpe them

He everymore did use.

But where he knew a miser rich,

That did the poore oppresse,

To feele his coyne his hand did itch;

Hee’de have it, more or lesse.

And sometimes, when the high-way fayld,

Then he his courage rouses;

He and his men have oft assayld

Such rich men in their houses.

Martin Parker also states that Robin died on 4th December 1198 and composed the following epitaph:

Robert Earle of Huntington

Lies under this little stone.

No archer was like him so good:

His wildness named him Robbin Hood.

Full thirteen years, and something more,

These northerne parts he vexed sore.

Such out-lawes as he and his men

May England never know again.

1818 – Poet, John Keats, wrote the lyrical poem ‘Robin Hood: To a Friend”.

1883 – The first Robin Hood children’s book by Howard Pyle was published.

1903 – The first British Robin Hood film was produced. This was a silent, black and white film, directed by

Percy Stow.

1938 – Errol Flynn played Robin Hood in ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’.

1973 – Walt Disney Studios produced ‘Robin Hood’.

2006 – 2009 – The BBC aired a three part series called ‘Robin Hood’.

2010 – Russell Crowe played Robin Hood in a film directed by Ridley Scott.

2018 – The premiere of A King’s Ransom an opera by the composer Patrick Hawes and produced by Into

Opera, based on the legend of Robin Hood. This opera was premiered in Norfolk by four schools: Avenue

Junior School, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School, Sprowston Junior School and St. George’s Primary

School.

A King’s Ransom 11

A KING’S RANSOM STORY BOOK

Activity 1

Draw a house from the village or the special tree.

Activity 2

In the wordsearch below, find and circle these different tree names. (HINT: They may be written forwards,

backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.)

APPLE

ASH

BEECH

CEDAR

EUCALYPTUS

HORSE CHESTNUT

OAK

PINE

ROWAN

SPRUCE

SYCAMORE

WELLINGTONIA

These activities are to be completed in conjunction with reading the A King’s Ransom

story book by Andrew Hawes.

Chapter 1The Forest World

H N M M A D Y K S B W U D H Y

O A E S M T E L O E I X J A W

F W H W Y C V G L E Y W X U S

H O R S E C H E S T N U T Y R

E R A P P L E E F A P T C A T

U X O D C R L B N S U A D H M

C E C U R P S I Z T M E D T Q

A I A P F R I Z N O C W Y W K

L Z X R M O O N R G C P H R J

Y H C Y G A Z E E F T C T V C

P Q C X P K H M Z P X O C D K

T A R E C X O X Y V J A N L E

U H W F E Z V N M O Y V B I U

S W L G O B Q Y M V K M U L A

G G U Q G Q U P S F D H S M Z


✔

Chapter 2The Forest School

Chapter 3The Bagmen to the

Rescue

Activity 1

Draw a picture of a soldier.

Activity 2

Find out about the following and write down what you discover:

1. What were the crusades?

2. What is a ransom?

3. Who were the Norman Kings?

Activity 1

Design a Bagman’s costume and equipment.

Activity 2

Write the words to the song the Bagmen were singing when they came to the village.


Chapter 4The Soldiers’ Return

Chapter 5Where is Robin?

Activity 1

Draw the Mason’s tools and equipment.

Activity 2

Design the City Hall for Nottingham.

Activity 3

Find out what measurements the Masons would have used in England in the year 1190.

Activity 1

Draw a map of the forest to help someone find Robin’s secret hideouts.

Activity 2

Describe in words or draw a picture of ONE of the following:

i. the Golden Treehouse

ii. the Shimmering House

iii. the Tree Tunnel


Chapter 6The Felling of the Tree


Complete the crossword using the clues

ACROSS

1. Type of tree in the middle of the village

2. Name of the City where the City Hall is being built

3. She teaches the children about the forest

4. The name of the forest

5. They bully the people of the forest

DOWN

1. They are building the City Hall

2. They live in houses in the forest

3. The money needed to free King Richard

4. They carry heavy loads and help the people of the forest

5. He can’t be found anywhere!

4

4

3

3

1

1

2

2

5

5

Chapter 7A Time of Surprises

Activity 1

Draw pictures of some of the treasure.

Activity 2

Describe who you think the treasure might have belonged to and who buried it.

Activity 3

Find out about three famous ‘treasure hoards’. Describe what was found and who they had belonged to.

Chapter 8Happily Ever After

Activity 1

Write the next chapter of the story – What happens next? What happens to Robin, the Bagmen and King

Richard?

Activity 2

In the Wordsearch below, find and circle these different words and characters that have featured in the

story. (HINT: They may be written forwards, backwards, horizontally, vertically or diagonally)

Z G F L W R F E R F D M N U Y

V N H X A U R O R R O A O D G

M I P N I U B I I W O V R J N

T S S M S I G C Q K W I M C I

S O S A N H H O D L R S A A C

M L E U T A S E R G E A N T N

S R T E R D L G R T H W S H A

T R N D E P J S N O S A M Q D

R E E L Y B R E D N E G A B F

D I I G C K I I H I D D E N O

E A A B A C A V S H T E A F R

F Q W P N L N O K E I D S X E

V A E A S K L G N I D N I F S

Y U R U I E K I W O K J T W T

B A G M E N D T V E P O H R V

ANCIENT

BAG ENDERBY

BAGMEN

DANCING

DESPAIR

FAILED

FINDING

FOREST

FRIGHTENED

HIDDEN

HOPE

LOSING MASONS

MAVIS

NORMANS

OAK

RANSOM

RICHARD

ROBIN

SERGEANT

SHERWOOD

SURPRISE

TREASURE

VILLAGERS


✔

CREATE A TREASURE CHEST FOR YOUR SCHOOL

1. As a group, decide on the shape and size of your treasure chest

2. You can start from scratch using cardboard, plastic or other materials you might find. OR you may

already have a box or object that you can adapt.

3. Your Treasure Chest should be decorated and personalised to your school and should also contain the

words A King’s Ransom.

4. Next make some coins. If 50 children participate in this activity they could make 10 coins each! You might

want to cut out circles and cover with silver foil, use metallic paper, paint circles of card…or your own ideas.

5. Keep your Treasure Chest and Coins very safe.

A fundraiser….

Whether this be a fundraiser for Into Opera or a cause of your choice this task is perfect to develop into a

fundraising activity. How? It’s very easy…

Set your target amount. What about… £500

Number of coins needed: 500

1 coin = £1

Organise one or a couple events at your school such as:

● Everyone dressing up as their favourite storybook character (£1 per person)

● Design competition: What would Nottingham City Hall look like if you were in charge? Submit a design

of how you would have built the City Hall if you were enlisted instead of the Masons. (£1 to enter)

● Poetry competition: Write a poem inspired by the Forest World (£1 to enter)

● A non school uniform day (£1 per person)

What ideas do you have?

Each time £1 is handed over to a teacher a special hand-made coin is given to the pupil in exchange. When

all of the coins have been used up you know you’ve reached £500 and the ransom has been raised! Now,

the lid of the chest can be closed and the chest filled with coins can be hidden in a very safe place…

If you were hiding treasure in your school, where might you keep it? This task could be the prize for any

competition winners. Or, of course some chocolate coins might be a nice treat!

Art and Design Challenge!


A King’s Ransom takes the legend of Robin Hood but gives it a bit of a twist… Robin never turns up! Think

about the stories and fairy tales we all know and love. What would have happened if Cinderella hadn’t lost

her shoe? If Captain Hook had defeated Peter Pan? Or if Goldilocks turned up at the three bears’ house

to find the door was locked…

Ask the children in your class to take a story they know and find a way of changing one essential

ingredient of that story. Perhaps a character is missing, the story is set in a different location, or someone

doesn’t achieve their goal. What impact does this change have on the rest of the story? How do their

characters react when they find themselves in a completely new scenario?

Encourage them to find a way of making the unexpected, a reality. Invite them to show you just

how creative they can be by changing expectations and perceptions of a well-known story, which we all

think we know so well.

SUGGESTED PROJECT:

Stage 1:

An individual creative writing exercise - ask every child to produce their own version of a well known short

story… with a twist.

Stage 2:

Turn that short story into… a play! Think about how you could turn that story into a script to be performed

on stage. What elements are different and what elements are similar? What would you write as stage

directions and what would you make characters say? Look at how plays are laid out on the page. Support

them in turning their short stories into short plays.

Stage 3:

Pick 5 of the best plays and take them from page to stage! This is now a chance to develop the activity

further through working in groups and supporting the individual children who had their work selected for

this final stage. This is a chance to think about how text sounds and changes when it is spoken, and how

the meaning of lines changes depending on how someone reacts to the text being spoken to them. If

some lines from the original play script don’t work, that’s fine, that is exactly what can happen with new

writing in professional theatre. If anything about the first script doesn’t quite seem to work, change them!

This is a collaborative, group activity so ideas and suggestions should be taken on board from each person

in each group.

Stage 4:

When lines are learnt, the play feels ready and costumes have been found, select a week at school where

each of these plays can be performed to the rest of the school – one in each assembly over the course of

one week. This way it will feel like your school’s very own new writing festival!

Story Telling


THERE ARE NUMEROUS WAYS IN WHICH A

KING’S RANSOM CAN FORM THE STIMULUS

FOR YOUR MATHS CLASSES. WE’VE GOT LOTS

OF IDEAS…

Activity I

Add and subtract amounts of money to give

change, using both £ and p in practical contexts.

Why not link this to the treasure found in the oak

tree?

Activity 2

Draw 2-D shapes and make 3-D shapes using

modelling materials; recognise 3-D shapes in

different orientations and describe them. Try

making 3D shapes using artstraws / matchsticks

/ lollipop sticks / playdough or plasticine. Then

work together as a class or in groups to use these

3D shapes to create Nottingham’s City Hall.

Activity 3

Measure and calculate the perimeter of a

rectilinear figure (including squares) in centimetres

and metres. In chapter 4 of the A King’s Ransom

story book, the soldiers find the ‘perfect tree’.

Within the outline of a tree draw several rectilinear

shapes. Enter enough information for children to

be able to work out the perimeter of the ‘whole

tree’ using the rectilinear shapes and the area of

each rectilinear shape and therefore the area of

the ‘whole tree’

● Why not take this activity further with older

age groups and discuss how you could use this

information to estimate the actual size of the tree.

● Reverse the problem so children have to create

a ‘tree’ which has rectilinear shapes of certain

measurements.

● If you want to really up-scale this activity

why not get some chalk out and head to the

playground!

Activity 4

Solve problems involving converting hours to

minutes; minutes to seconds; years to months;

weeks to days. In chapter 8 of the A King’s Ransom

Story Book, the Bagmen have offered to take

the ransom to King Richard. He was being held

in Durnstein on the river Danube. Research how

far Durnstein is from Nottingham. Discuss how

long it would take to get there. D = S x T could be

introduced.

Activity 5

Complete a simple symmetric figure with respect

to a specific line of symmetry. The soldiers take

great pride in their perfect weaponry. Create

a symmetric figure of a shield made up of 2D

shapes. Different mirror lines can be used.

Activity 6

Describe positions on a 2D grid as coordinates

in the first quadrant. In Chapter 4 of the A King’s

Ransom Story Book, the Bagmen go off in search

of Robin. Create a map which includes Robin’s

hideout and other features from the story.

● Grid and axis on acetate.

● Children write questions for a partner to answer

involving the position of a landmark.

Develop this exercise further by incorporating the

use of angles.

● Grid on acetate over the top of the map -

children to follow instructions which include

measuring angles (using degrees) to find the

hidden treasure. EG; 3 squares North. Turn 45

degrees clockwise…

Maths



One of the biggest problems the villagers face in the story of A King’s Ransom is paying their taxes. Tax is

money that people pay to their leaders to pay for anything from building roads to the cost of war. One of

the types of money, or currency, used in A King’s Ransom is the florin.

We’re going to explore how different fractions of florins add up to make whole florins, and also look how

music also uses fractions.

Question 1:

A group of 4 village men and 2 village women are talking in the forest. Suddenly the soldiers appear,

demanding the villagers pay their taxes. They demand the following:

● All village men pay a half florin each

● All village women pay a quarter florin each

Use your knowledge of adding fractions to work out how many florins the villagers pay in tax to the soldiers.

Question two:

The soldiers carry on into the forest and see a bigger group of village men, women and children. They will

charge the men a half florin each, the women a quarter florin each and the children an eighth of a florin

each.

Decide how many men, women and children are in the group. Then, work out… how much does this group

of villagers pay?

Taxes and Fractions in A King’s Ransom

Maths and Music


Musical Fractions

W Q E

E E E E Q Q

¼ + ¼ = Q + Q = ½

Q + Q = W

Music is made up of two basic elements: Pitch (how high or low a note is) and Rhythm (how long or short a

note is).

Musical rhythm is written with symbols, where the different shapes show how long a note lasts for. As you go

down the chart, each note lasts for half the amount of time as the one above it.

Just as equations can be made out of comparing different fractions, you can also make musical equations

using rhythm symbols above. For example:

Can you make some musical equations using the rhythm symbols above?

TRY CREATING MUSICAL RHYTHMS THAT ADD UP TO 1:

Example:

So that means

What other nomination of rhythm symbols add up to 1?

1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 + ¼ + ¼ = ½ + ½ = 1 ✔


How sound is made

In A Kings Ransom all the groups of characters (the villagers, bagmen, soldiers and masons) each have their

own type of music, meaning each of the groups has their own sound. Often, we hear characters coming

towards us from far away, such as when we hear soldiers marching in the distance. Let’s think about how

sound is made, and how it changes depending on how near or far away it is.

Sound is made whenever something causes an object or material to vibrate. When things vibrate

they move very slight backwards and forwards, and this pushes and pulls the air around them. This sends

a wave of energy through the air, a sound-wave. When sound-waves reach our ears they hit our eardrums

and we hear sound.

EXPERIMENT 1

Try making different types of sound using objects, your voice, your body, whatever you can find around

you!

WHAT IS VIBRATING WHEN YOU MAKE THE SOUND?

EXPERIMENT 2

Get everyone to stand in a circle. One person stands in the centre of the circle clapping/singing/talking.

The rest of the group slowly walks towards them, then away from them.

HOW DOES THE SOUND CHANGE WHEN THE DISTANCE BETWEEN YOURSELF AND THE SOURCE OF

THE SOUND CHANGES?

The sound things make

The world is full of sounds. Loud, soft, sharp, dull, ringing, banging, long, short, high, low… all the sounds we

hear sound the way they do because of the nature of the objects that makes them. Generally speaking,

metal objects ring whereas wooden objects make softer sounds. The shape matters too, hollow objects

make longer lasting, “boomy” sounds, whereas dense objects make shorter, sharper sounds.

Think about a bell. They are made of metal, hollow, and they make sound when the metal stick

inside them strikes the inside of the bell. Metal hitting metal makes a loud, ringing sound. How should the

sound change if the metal stick was replaced with a wooden one?

Think about tapping a table with your hand. The table is made of wood, it’s hard, but not as hard

as metal. Your hand is soft, so when you tap the wooden table it makes a soft, dull sound.

Experiment: Think about objects in your classroom and decide what sound they would make if you

Science and Music


tapped them with your hand, with a pencil, or with a rubber? Once you’ve written down your predictions try

tapping the object and see if it makes the sound you expected.

Activity:

Patrick Hawes, the composer of A King’s Ransom had to consider very carefully about how his characters

should sound. Let’s think about the four groups of characters and decide what sort of sounds we connect

with them:

THE VILLAGERS: they are playful, they live in the forest and love nature.

How should the Villagers’ music sound?

THE BAGMEN: they help transport the gold and jewels which Robin Hood has stolen, to the villagers and

those who are in need. They do good deeds and travel great distances.

How should the Bagmen’s music sound?

THE MASONS: they build buildings. They work hard and pride themselves in being experts in their craft. They

want to cut down the villagers’ favourite tree to build a brand new City Hall.

How should the Masons’ music sound?

THE SOLDIERS: they are the bad guys of the opera, they are strong, they bully the villagers and they help cut

down the villagers tree.

How should the Soldiers’ music sound?

High or Low?

Any sound, whether it’s a trumpet playing, or door slamming, is made up of four things:

DURATION — how long or short the sound lasts

TONE — the character of the sound, harsh

VOLUME — how loud or quiet the sound is

PITCH — how high to low the sound is

Using high sounds or low sounds has a big effect on the way music makes us feel. In A King’s Ransom, the

composer has had to think about whether to use high, middle or low notes (pitch) to make the music fit with

what is happening in the story.

Question:

WHEN THE VILLAGERS DISCOVER THE HIDDEN GOLD AND TREASURE, ONLY VERY HIGH NOTES ARE USED

IN THE MUSIC. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?

When the soldiers are heard far away marching towards the villagers, only very low notes are used? Why do

you think that is?

Experiment:

Thinking about pitch, try experimenting with making high sounds and low sounds.

You could use an elastic band or even a piece of string. Try holding it at a certain length, twang it with

your free hand and listen to the sound. Then try making it longer or shorter, what happens to the pitch of the

sound?

Questions:

What musical instruments can you name?

Can you spot any pattern between the size of instruments and the type of sounds and the pitch of sounds

they make?

Percussion Composing Task

The soldiers are the main ‘bad guys’ in the story of A King’s Ransom and their music is easy to identify as it

often uses the sound of drums.

Question:

WHY ARE DRUMS A GOOD INSTRUMENT TO USE WHEN WRITING MUSIC FOR THE SOLDIERS?

Drums are part of the family of musical instruments known as percussion. A percussion instrument is

anything that you hit in order to get a sound. Drums, xylophones, cymbals, tambourines are all examples of

percussion instruments. But you can turn pretty much any object into a percussion instrument by tapping,

slapping or hitting it with your hand, or with a beater, pencil, ruler, stick, anything you have to hand.

Gather a range of objects which you think might be suitable to be used as alternative percussion

instruments (i.e. nothing that will easily break!). Try and get a mixture of high and low sounding objects, and

use them to make your own piece of percussion music.

Be creative, anything can be used, crumpling paper, running a comb along the edge of a table, see

what you can find!


Woodland Adventures


Outdoor LearningThese next activities have been developed for Into Opera by Children’s Woodland Adventures. This

organisation is an Outdoor Education Company based in rural Lincolnshire. They specialise in Forest Schools;

Forest School is the name for an approach to educating children in the outdoors environment on a regular

basis. Their work supports the main curriculum (particularly, literacy, science, maths and the arts) and has a

strong emphasis on raising all children’s self-esteem and independence. Their ethos is based on a fundamental

respect for children and young people and for their capacity to instigate, test and maintain curiosity in the

world around them. They believe in children’s right to play; the right to access the outdoors (and in particular

a woodland environment); the right to access risk and the vibrant reality of the natural world; and the right to

experience a healthy range of emotions, through all the challenges of social interaction, to build a resilience

that will enable continued and creative engagement with their peers and their potential.

Research now backs up what forest school practitioners have known all along – that children and

young people are stimulated by the outdoors and typically experience, over time, an increase in their self-

belief, confidence, learning capacity, enthusiasm, communication and problem-solving skills and emotional

well-being.

A King’s Ransom lends itself to so many outdoor activities. Here are few ideas to inspire you…. These

activities also touch on art, design, geography and literacy.

Maps and Orienteering

WHERE’S ROBIN? – LINK TO CHAPTER 5 OF A KING’S RANSOM

Stage One

Map Race! The aim of this activity is to introduce the children to the sport of orienteering and to develop

associated skills using simple, pictorial maps and large scale plans. Where better to start than your school!

● Produce a map for your pupils which is simplistic in design but to a large scale. A simple plan of the

school can be converted quite easily into a 3D map with a little imagination. A 3D map is a transitional step

for the pupils to grasp the concept before moving onto aerial plans and ordinance survey maps.

The map should show features the children recognise such as:

● Buildings

● Entrances

● Trees

● Anything, which could be conceived as a recognisable marker.

When you have drawn your map choose different areas to lay markers. For instance, number 1 to 5 and


put them in various locations and then put the numbers on the map in the correct places. You could even

bury some treasure at each of these markers! Or alternatively, instead of traditional treasure… you could bury

a piece of paper at each marker which contains a word from the A King’s Ransom libretto. When all of the

pieces of paper have been found they create one complete sentence. Colour co-ordinate markers if you

have several groups of children participating in this activity.

The aim of the game is for each child to be in mixed groups of ability and to use the maps to find their

specific numbers in the order of 1 to 5. When they find the number, they dig up the treasure and/or move

on to the next number. If you incorporate a line from the libretto then extra points could be gained if a team

guesses their line correctly before finding all the pieces of paper!!

At the end of this activity, the teams then come together to discuss the similarities and any differences

they can find.

Telling Stories in the ForestStory Sticks

● Prepare sticks with sticky back plastic wrapped around them.

● Put a box of different fabrics etc. in the woodland area.

● Explain to the children that they are going to develop a story based around a family during the time of A

King’s Ransom.

● Then, with a pre-made stick, complete with markers to signify key moments or characters, tell them your

A King’s Ransom story.

● The markers are there to help you or someone else re-tell the story. For instance, at the top of the stick

you could have a black leaf that could be there to indicate the role of a rat in the story.

● Pass this stick on and ask for someone else to re-tell your story, using the markers to help them remember

it accurately.

● Invite the children to have a go themselves, to create their own story stick so that they can each tell their

own A King’s Ransom story.

Resources

● Sticks

● Double sided sticky tape

● Fabrics

● Natural materials the children find in the outside area

Some more outdoor learning ideas...

Read chapter one of A King’s Ransom, to stimulate ideas and gather materials to make either:

1. Your own forest world including houses, furniture and anything else people of all ages would need – this

could be a model village or real life size.

2. Make toys the forest children might have made.

3. Make decorations for a forest house.

4. Invent games children could play in their forest world.

5. Find a hiding place for treasure and a make something to hide it in.

6. How would the roof beams the Masons made from the Oak Tree hold a roof up? Try out different ways

of making a roof.


Notes

Further Resources available from www.hawesmusic.com include:

● A KING’S RANSOM Story Book

● ● A KING’S RANSOM Vocal Score

● ● A KING’S RANSOM Full Score (and Orchestral Parts)

● ● A KING’S RANSOM Libretto Booklet

“Teachers throughout the UK are constantly on the lookout for the ‘magic project’, which will excite and inspire their pupils, help them to aim higher and serve as a showcase for what they’re capable of. This is it.”

Jeremy Newton (Chief Executive, Children and the Arts).

Inspiring Creativity in the Classroom is an education resource book developed to accompany Into Opera’s children’s opera and education project, A King’s Ransom.

This book is filled to the brim with ideas to inspire primary school teachers to imaginatively explore A King’s Ransom across the whole academic curriculum.

Education Resources

www.into-opera.org.uk © Into Opera 2017

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