Westben Kids - Flight of the Bumblebee!
At Westben we think a lot about how music can relate to nature. Have you ever wondered how the two are connected? It is a very big question because there are MANY connections to explore! Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on our friends - bumblebees.
LISTEN to the video of Flight of the Bumblebees performed by the Canadian Brass. Rebecca Baptista, the amazing business manager and resident dancer at Westben recommended we listen to Flight of the Bumblebees this week.
“This is one of the songs that play in my head when I feel busy!” said Rebecca, “How does it make you feel?”.
Did you HEAR the bees?
Brass instruments and bees actually have something in common, they both BUZZ!
Buzzing your lips together is the first step to playing the trumpet. While practising to become a great trumpet player like Chris Coletti & Brandon Ridenour from the Canadian Brass, most horn players begin by learning how to buzz on the mouthpiece separated from the instrument. To do this a musician places their embouchure (lips, teeth & tongue) to the mouthpiece and blows through their lips in a precise way to create vibrations and a fun buzzzzzz.
Bumblebees (genus Bombus) create a buzzzz sound by ((vibrating)) their wings and body when they are visiting flowers. These vibrations shake pollen from the flowers onto the bee’s body. The bumblebee carries this pollen with them when they fly to a new plant. When the bee shakes again the pollen on their back floats to the new plant, resulting in pollination! (Scientific American)
Did you know that bees particularly love to buzz around Campbellford? Campbellford is among the first 50 Bee Cities across Canada! The city was awarded this title back in the fall of 2019.
Next week we will explore what it means to be a Bee City and how we can celebrate pollinators like bees with music!
In the meantime, try to BEE positive. Thank you for reading!
Samantha Clark
For a bit of extra fun!
Print off this colouring page and trace the bee’s trails to draw musical notes & clefs. Colour in the flower & label each note/clef then e-mail us a picture of your results to westben@westben.ca!
