Pitch Activity Book - See Saw

The 'See-saw' activity book presents a delightful and interactive way to engage children with music through the traditional "See-saw" song. The book outlines a series of 12 engaging activities, as demonstrated on an accompanying DVD, designed to enhance children's understanding of musical concepts such as pulse, rhythm, and pitch. The activities range from simple singing to more complex tasks like playing the melody on tuned instruments and performing in a canon. For example, children can sing while tapping the pulse, clap the rhythm, incorporate body actions, and even play the melody on instruments like the G and E notes, which correspond to 'So' and 'Mi' in sol-fa notation.

As part of the learning process, the characters Sophie (So) and Mikhail (Mi) are introduced to personify the musical notes G (So) and E (Mi). Sophie is depicted as a girl who enjoys looking at herself in the mirror, which helps children remember the hand sign for 'So' by holding their palm at eye level. Mikhail, on the other hand, is a boy who is less concerned with his appearance and is always ready to play, symbolised by the hand sign for 'Mi' placed flat at chest height, as if resting on a table. The book suggests creating and repeating four-beat patterns using 'So' and 'Mi' to familiarise children with these notes, eventually progressing to silent patterns where children listen and then match the pitch, reinforcing their listening and pitch-matching skills in a fun and imaginative way.