Music Activities by Oliver Hamilton

Oliver Hamilton is an Actor and Musician and one of the Resident Artists at GOSH. Oliver will be putting together a variety of different exercises designed to introduce basic musical ideas to young people in a fun and creative way. There will be regular uploads of different exercises so stay tuned!

Here is Oliver’s introduction to the Paper Music Game.

“I am interested in what ‘reading music’ actually is. It is often associated with musical notes but, in its essence, it is simply a way of communicating sound.

All that is needed for this exercise is a plain piece of paper, coloured crayons and yourselves. In the exercise, the paper is divided into 16 squares in lines of 4. This replicates musical bars which are commonly divided into groups of 4. You then draw a coloured symbol into each square. Each symbol refers to a particular sound that you can make using your body.

You can now read the music from left to right making the sound that corresponds to each symbol as you go. This is the essence of reading music as you are making a specific sound in response to a written symbol and these symbols are organised to be played through time.”

Download the activity instructions:

Oliver has created these fun resources so you can have a go at making your own instruments. Have a go at playing the spoons, make your own balloon drums and create a symphony with glasses and water.