Jacob's Ladder Productions
  • Home
    • About us
  • Makaton Training
    • What is Makaton?
  • Hummingbirds Music
    • Coventry Cultural Cantata
    • Creature Cantata >
      • Back on track
      • Butterflies and ladybirds
      • Gorillas and monkeys
      • Rattlesnake rumba!
      • Crocs basking
      • Flambo of flamingos
      • Giraffes and lions
      • Iguanas in a mess
      • Hummingbirds and parrots
      • Spiders!
      • Shiver of Sharks!
    • Creature Sonata
    • Piano Tuition >
      • Piano Tuition Pieces
      • Piano music composers A-Z
    • Music Theory >
      • Theory Grade 1
      • Theory Grade 2
      • Theory Grade 3
      • Theory Grade 4
      • Theory Grade 5
      • Theory composers A-Z
  • Publications & Resources
    • Nativity Musicals with Makaton Signing
    • Junior Voiceworks Songbooks
    • Songs
    • Hymns & Prayers
    • World Down Syndrome Day
    • Coming soon....
  • Shop
  • Gallery
9. Spiders!
Nest of vipers creeping
​
Spider clusters creeping
Listen to a sample of the track.
click here to download music score
Picture
Fascinations
Although spiders don’t have ears or eardrums they can still ‘hear’ you talking, singing or clapping from several metres away.  Spiders use the tiny, sensitive hairs on their legs to detect noises through airborne vibrations known as sound waves.  Current research indicates that spiders are interpreting these vibrations into neural activity - indeed the male jumping spider’s courtship routine involves the arachnid equivalent of a song and a dance (although unimpressed females sometimes eat their suitors).  The question is, are you confident enough to sing to a spider?
Musicking 
Modern composers favour chord clusters, typically of three notes or more, to blur the sound and make their music more intriguing.  Messiaen, a French composer, said he perceived colours when he heard certain chords.  Can you imagine a spider advancing towards you?  How would you set that to music? Listen out for our sequence of spider clusters from bars 9-16 and spot the syncopated rhythms in bars 10 and 14 to suggest unexpected darting spider movements.  Explore tapping and clapping tarantella rhythms from the song to improve coordination.  Research informs us that tarantulas have a preference for right-handedness so please clap left-handed*. Why so? To avoid the unwanted attention of any passing tarantulas. 
* Left-handed Clapping: right-handed clappers must clap left-handed - and vice versa for left-handers. This is where your dominant hand stays still, cupped with palm facing up, and your generally less coordinated hand does all the work: an instant way to develop better manual coordination and something you get to practise regularly. 
Learning moves
What is it about spiders that we don’t like?  Is it the way they move and scuttle about?  Which words (like scuttle) can you think of to describe spiders? When you have learned the song and are feeling confident, devise a dance using the following moves to help you spin a web, starting in a circle:
Spiders live in clusters                                      Lean in to form small group clusters
And they really don’t like dusters                   Use hands to push away imaginary dusters
As they spin their silky web all day                 Spin in a circle arms held high
Spiders have such hairy legs                            Stroke legs proudly
They like to hide beneath your bed                Duck down as if trying to squeeze under a bed 
Then creep out  as you go to sleep                 Creep out and step forward on the stresses
If you close your eyes they’ll go away             Stand back-to-back with partner/elbows interlocked 
If you close your eyes to God and pray          Wheel around the space from side to side
SPIDERS!                                                               Stop abruptly looking as if you’ve spotted a spider!

Website by Gabriel Media Limited