Waiata the Taniwha
Effortlessly enhance your Te Reo, singing, music and values education
over ten video lessons:
A beautiful and powerful story with short whakataukī songs in Māori and English
Teachers' time is scarce and precious.
You want easy to use, effective, age appropriate and fun resources.
You know that children flourish when education balances hand, head and heart. It leads to knowledge, practicality and love to navigate the world, succeed in it and give to it.
You want to immerse children in rich educational activity that speaks to their hearts and engages their bodies and minds.
And yet you can't do it all. Many teachers' own education was not filled with regular, beautiful artistic activity that built skills they can easily pass on to their students. Many teachers are not confident with singing, playing instruments or speaking Māori, or in dramatizing a story in a way that fully engages children.
AND as a conscientious educator you are aware of the context of your education, the trends and big issues of the time: social justice, environmental crises, personal and social resilience.
Waiata the Taniwha gives busy teachers a way to teach valuable music, Te Reo Māori, social skills and values in one easy to use package that will appeal to children's imagination and align with your and your school's values and the needs of the times.
HOW IT WORKS
Synopsis: Waiata the Taniwha must heal his sick father. On his journey he meets creatures who teach him magical and powerful songs that help him meet many challenges, discover his power and bring healing to the land.
TEN Lessons of 20 Minutes each:
Each lesson contains:
1. A chapter of the story
2. A short song (one or two lines) in Māori /English. Most of the songs are whakataukī.
3. Song learning section
4. Song practice section
Lesson One
Waiata's father is sick and Waiata must seek Wairua, a wise old taniwha, for help.
Song: Te Wairua o Te Ao.
Lesson Two
Waiata meets a grub, Te Mokoroa, who teaches him to tackle a big task - the rapids - one bit at a time.
Whakataukī / Song: Te Mokoroa
Lesson Three
Tuna, the eel, gives Waiata a whakatauki of vision and determination to help him ascend the waterfall!
Whakataukī / song: Whāia!
Lesson Four
Waiata meets Wairua who teaches him a healing song and calls him to a great challenge.
Whakataukī / Song: Waiata Mai
Lesson Five
Waiata and Mokoroa are threatened by malevolent taniwha.
Song: Nga taniwha
Lesson Six
Tūī helps Waiata and teaches him a song to remind him of the value and power of his and others' voices.
Song: E Koekoe
Lesson Seven:
Waiata is lost. The night creatures teach him a song to guide the way.
Song: Mo Tātou
Lesson Eight
Waiata, exhausted and desperate, saves his friend's life.
Song reprises: Whāia! Waiata Mai, Te Mokoroa
Lesson Nine
His friends save his life and he arrives at his destination and his greatest test
Song reprises: E Koekoe, Wairua O Te Ao.
Lesson Ten
Waiata descends the mountain, returns home to his family, bringing his gifts and his new friends.
Song: Nāu te Rourou.
The music education facet ranges from simple singing to body percussion and movement, then into round singing. The songs are carefully crafted for chidren's voices of all ages, with beautiful melodies in a range of rhythms and scales. They are achievable and rewarding in their own right yet can be sung as rounds, creating rich rhythmic and harmonic interaction and deep musical learning.
The Te Reo Māori facet focuses on the six whakatauki (Māori proverbs) as song lyrics, Notes on the translations and usage are given.. Songs are bilingual and structured to support students to learn the meaning of the Māori words. The languages are interwoven and overlapping when sung in round songs.
The values component is implicit in the story and made explicit through the whakataukī.
The social skills are practiced through group singing and music making, with round singing in particular requiring both strong leadership and strong teamwork.
METHOD:
Teachers can use the video resources. Some may like to read the story or lead the songs themselves.
STRUCTURE:
Ten episodes, x 1 per week. 20 min per episode and song learning time.
BACKGROUND
I am part Māori from Ngati Porou. I started writing these songs during teacher training and developed them for the story of Waiata the Taniwha recently. I wrot them as I saw a gap in simple, beautiful yet mature song repertoire for all ages, and I created the musical story out the of pedagogical value I saw in both story and group singing through my own upbringing, teacher training, parenting and experience as a composer, performer and educator.
I have been testing this story and songs with music students and in performances at schools and festivals and it is loved by children,
SUMMARY:
Ten audio/video/pdf story chapters for use in the classroom,
Six whakataukī round songs in Māori and English. plus the theme song Te Wairua o Te Ao / The Spirit of Our Land.
For each song:
Lyric PDFs
Music PDFs
- video lessons for learning and practicing the songs
- audio recordings for listening pleasure, learning and sing-along
- video lessons for action song / movements
You want easy to use, effective, age appropriate and fun resources.
You know that children flourish when education balances hand, head and heart. It leads to knowledge, practicality and love to navigate the world, succeed in it and give to it.
You want to immerse children in rich educational activity that speaks to their hearts and engages their bodies and minds.
And yet you can't do it all. Many teachers' own education was not filled with regular, beautiful artistic activity that built skills they can easily pass on to their students. Many teachers are not confident with singing, playing instruments or speaking Māori, or in dramatizing a story in a way that fully engages children.
AND as a conscientious educator you are aware of the context of your education, the trends and big issues of the time: social justice, environmental crises, personal and social resilience.
Waiata the Taniwha gives busy teachers a way to teach valuable music, Te Reo Māori, social skills and values in one easy to use package that will appeal to children's imagination and align with your and your school's values and the needs of the times.
HOW IT WORKS
Synopsis: Waiata the Taniwha must heal his sick father. On his journey he meets creatures who teach him magical and powerful songs that help him meet many challenges, discover his power and bring healing to the land.
TEN Lessons of 20 Minutes each:
Each lesson contains:
1. A chapter of the story
2. A short song (one or two lines) in Māori /English. Most of the songs are whakataukī.
3. Song learning section
4. Song practice section
Lesson One
Waiata's father is sick and Waiata must seek Wairua, a wise old taniwha, for help.
Song: Te Wairua o Te Ao.
Lesson Two
Waiata meets a grub, Te Mokoroa, who teaches him to tackle a big task - the rapids - one bit at a time.
Whakataukī / Song: Te Mokoroa
Lesson Three
Tuna, the eel, gives Waiata a whakatauki of vision and determination to help him ascend the waterfall!
Whakataukī / song: Whāia!
Lesson Four
Waiata meets Wairua who teaches him a healing song and calls him to a great challenge.
Whakataukī / Song: Waiata Mai
Lesson Five
Waiata and Mokoroa are threatened by malevolent taniwha.
Song: Nga taniwha
Lesson Six
Tūī helps Waiata and teaches him a song to remind him of the value and power of his and others' voices.
Song: E Koekoe
Lesson Seven:
Waiata is lost. The night creatures teach him a song to guide the way.
Song: Mo Tātou
Lesson Eight
Waiata, exhausted and desperate, saves his friend's life.
Song reprises: Whāia! Waiata Mai, Te Mokoroa
Lesson Nine
His friends save his life and he arrives at his destination and his greatest test
Song reprises: E Koekoe, Wairua O Te Ao.
Lesson Ten
Waiata descends the mountain, returns home to his family, bringing his gifts and his new friends.
Song: Nāu te Rourou.
The music education facet ranges from simple singing to body percussion and movement, then into round singing. The songs are carefully crafted for chidren's voices of all ages, with beautiful melodies in a range of rhythms and scales. They are achievable and rewarding in their own right yet can be sung as rounds, creating rich rhythmic and harmonic interaction and deep musical learning.
The Te Reo Māori facet focuses on the six whakatauki (Māori proverbs) as song lyrics, Notes on the translations and usage are given.. Songs are bilingual and structured to support students to learn the meaning of the Māori words. The languages are interwoven and overlapping when sung in round songs.
The values component is implicit in the story and made explicit through the whakataukī.
The social skills are practiced through group singing and music making, with round singing in particular requiring both strong leadership and strong teamwork.
METHOD:
Teachers can use the video resources. Some may like to read the story or lead the songs themselves.
STRUCTURE:
Ten episodes, x 1 per week. 20 min per episode and song learning time.
BACKGROUND
I am part Māori from Ngati Porou. I started writing these songs during teacher training and developed them for the story of Waiata the Taniwha recently. I wrot them as I saw a gap in simple, beautiful yet mature song repertoire for all ages, and I created the musical story out the of pedagogical value I saw in both story and group singing through my own upbringing, teacher training, parenting and experience as a composer, performer and educator.
I have been testing this story and songs with music students and in performances at schools and festivals and it is loved by children,
SUMMARY:
Ten audio/video/pdf story chapters for use in the classroom,
Six whakataukī round songs in Māori and English. plus the theme song Te Wairua o Te Ao / The Spirit of Our Land.
For each song:
Lyric PDFs
Music PDFs
- video lessons for learning and practicing the songs
- audio recordings for listening pleasure, learning and sing-along
- video lessons for action song / movements
Introductory pre-order price only $149
Product release Term 3, 2020. Email me below to pre-order.
