Antarctic Treaty Musical Quilt

Today in music, we learned about the Antarctic Treaty. We explored the countries that have signed it and what the laws of the treaty entail. We then compared that to the Artemis Accords, which are a similar agreement to sharing resources and research in space. We compared which countries have signed both (and, even more interestingly, which countries have not along with the implications of why countries may not sign).

Students then had to pick a country from the Antarctic Treaty. They researched instruments that are traditionally used in the country’s music, and composed one measure to represent their country, based off of rhythms they hear in the country’s national anthem (thus testing their aural skills – requiring them to transcribe a rhythm from the national anthem).

After each student was done, I compiled each student’s measure and added them together into one giant composition, much like different quilt squares come together to create a beautiful quilt. This piece of music represents the countries of the Antarctic Treaty!