JK Rowlings Reading Activity- Shine by Makerita Urale

School Journal Story Library, Shine by Makerita Urale

WALT: Identify and understand new vocabulary we come across in a text.

Success Criteria: I can research words I am unsure of that I come across while reading the text.

Answer the following questions in red:

Who are the people involved in the group ‘Shine’? What are each of their roles in the group? Lasi Hunt- Drummer

Phillip Sipa- Rapper

Malia Wilson- Singer & Rapper

Matapa Tairea- Guitar Player

Tepa Foua- Bass guitar player

Mana Faraimo- Guitar player

What does Lasi mean when he says ‘I reckon we should go for it’? I think that he means they should try and sing and give it a go, even though they may not win.

What is a record deal? A record deal is where a musician records their music and sells it to a record label.

Define what a competition is? A competition is when you or someone competes in something, you could compete in anything such as an art competition, singing competition or even a dancing competition. Then give an example of a competition? “Come one Milly we got to compete in the dancing competition, we’ve been practising for a long time. We can’t just back out now”, said Zoe

What is a musician? A musician is someone that writes and creates music. Who are famous musicians we know? Beyonce, Nesian Mystik, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Little Mix, Jonas Brothers, Titanium, One Direction

What are the group rehearsing for? They are rehearsing for the Smokefree Pacifica Beats award in the Cokesmokefreerockquest.

Why is it so important that we rehearse if we were in a band or for anything important coming up where we may be presenting in-front of an audience? It’s important to rehearse so that as soon as you get on stage you know exactly what to do and what to play. If you didn’t know any of these things you would stuff up really badly, you’d probably embarrass yourself.

Wednesday:

Define the word region? A business place of a city or country. Then write it into a sentence of your own. The regions are held at Australia.

Would it be difficult for a group of young musical artists to write a song of their own? Yes Why/why not? Because you’ll be so busy doing heaps of other things, probably studying or working for something. You may not have enough time to even write a song.

Research all of the instruments in the band, how do each of them play sound? What vibrates that enables us to hear a noise? How does the pitch of each of these instruments change?

Guitar/ Bass guitar: You play the Guitar/ Bass guitar using your fingers. When you pluck the string it vibrates and it also depends on how you tune the string. If the string is tight then it makes a high pitched sound. If the string is a little bit loose than it makes a low pitched sound.

Drums: Like every other instrument drums are basically the same well... sort of. When you hit the drum head with the stick it pushes the head down and forms energy. The drum head then vibrates back and forth. The vibration of the drum head creates pressure waves. The harder you hit the drum head the more the drum head flexes.

A microphone: Microphones are a type of transducer- a device which converts energy from its normal form into another. Different types of microphones have different ways of producing energy but they all have one thing in common: The diaphragm. When the diaphragm vibrates, everything else in the microphone vibrates. The vibrations are then converted into a electric current, and becomes the audio signal.

Thursday:

Summarise what has happened in the article so far: Lasi and Philip were talking to their friends Malia, Matapa, Mana, and Tepa about entering the Smokefree Pacifica Beats competition, in the Cokesmokefreerockquest. They all make up the Porirua College band Poetic Dynasty. “When are the regional heats?”, asked Malia. “A couple of months away. We’ll have to rehearse a lot if we want to be ready for it”, says Lasi. Most of the band went to watch last years Pacifica Beats at the Wellington Town Hall. They had to write their own song for the competition. Matapa was told to play the bass and Phillip would play the drums. Each person in the band could play all sorts of different musical instruments. They swapped instruments so that it gives everyone a good feel for the new song. The band played the whole song. They were very pleased with it. The bands music teacher reminded them to always practise. They practise up to 3 times a week, but mostly during music time. Malia’s Mum and Dad have their own band, so sometimes Poetic Dynasty goes to Malia’s house to use their gear. They have a drum kit, ukulele, bass, guitar, microphones and everything they need to practise with. They’ve played at a local gig before. “Lets go down to the shops at Cannons Creek and jam for the people walking past”, Tepa suggests. “Great idea”, says Mana. The band is use to playing in front of their community and families. Most of them have grown up playing music in church.  The day of the competition arrives and they were all ready and excited, but before the band even got to the venue, Matapa dislocated his shoulder, while playing a rugby game for the first fifteen. The band rushed to the hospital. Even though they're going to be late for the competition. The doctors strapped up his shoulder with a sling. There is no way Matapa can play the guitar now.  The band then heads off to the school where the heats are being held at. In the hall everyone was waiting for Poetic Dynasty to arrive. The MC fills in and starts to entertain the audience. Then finally the van pulls up and the band members rush back-stage- all except for Matapa. Because of his injury and his sling on his arm, he has to stay in his rugby shirt. They then take their positions on stage. Philip, Malia and Matapa stand at the front of the stage. Lasi’s on drums, with Mana and Tepa on guitars. Lasi starts with the drums, and then the guitars come in. Three strong voices start singing away in harmony. They fill the hall with the words “Shine! Shine!” The crowd dance to the music and clap. When the song finished the band took a bow and walked off stage as the crowd roars and cheers in appreciation. The band gathered in a circle backstage and are relieved that its all over. Sadly they didn’t win this time, but they’re determined to keep trying. They’ve still got their eye on that recording deal.

Matapa dislocates his shoulder, how do you think the other band members are feeling about this? I think they were feeling very sad and a little bit let down because he won’t be able to play the guitar.

The band is scheduled to perform a 5 minute set - what does the word schedule mean? Schedule means what you do at a certain time or date. Also what your going to do after that.

What do we know about Matapa’s attitude after the dislocation of his shoulder? He still wants to play the guitar, but he still doesn’t perform on stage.

How do you think Poetic Dynasty did on stage after reading the text? I think they did very well indeed. They tried their hardest and did the best they could, even with one person in their band not contributing because of his injury.

Why had the group chosen to name their band ‘Poetic Dynasty’? Poetic refers to the lyrics they write, and dynasty refers to their history and culture. Research the word dynasty? What does it mean? A line of a family's heritage and history.

We know the group mainly write sound about their culture, what do you think is their reasoning for this? They probably are really proud of their culture and really love their culture a lot.

State three facts about Malia Wilson:

1. She is quite use to practising and rehearsing. She thinks that practising is very important to get your songs really tight.

2. She likes Soul and R’n’B music, sometimes she listens to heavy metal songs to just let go.

3. She sings and raps. She also helps writing the songs. She can also play guitar, bass, and drums.