instruments of the orchestra

Tools Used: Vyond, Canva, Googledrive, Epidemic Sound

Having previously worked as an online teacher I found it can, at times, be very dry delivering teaching and learning over Zoom or Teams.  Short information videos are a great addition to an online learning experience, giving the teacher a pause from speaking and the learner a chance to experience different formats.  These are also good for flipped learning or home learning tasks. 

Problem: No quick explainer videos available on this topic for online learning experiences.  

Solution: Create an audio visual explainer for Instruments of the Orchestra. 

1: Identify the goal:

Enable online learners to learn about the four main families of instruments so they can use more variety in composition and performance work, and understand different cultural experiences. 

LO 1: Know the four families.

LO2: Understand the way they are categorised.

LO3: Reflect on sounds they may be unfamiliar with. 

With over 17 years of teaching experience I consider myself an SME in this topic.  I have reviewed teaching resources to confirm that the biggest gaps in knowledge around this topic are the names of the four families and how to categorise the instruments.  Learners also find aural recognition skills difficult.  

3: Graphic Design:

Images created in Canva as I was not satisfied with the accuracy of Vyond's AI image generator.

Consistent design across the slides in terms of font, image size and movement.

Idea of the stage curtains to echo the topic of 'orchestra'. 

I felt the video serves well as an introduction to the subject.  In the next stage of development I would add:

1: Prompt questions about the audio to encourage reflection rather than passive listening. 

2: Home learning sheet for additional resources.