Teaching Notes, 20081212

It's week 4! This is going to be the last week of instruction until the holiday break, as I was leaving town the following Monday. Yet again, I found myself planning the night before - I spent about 2-3 hours, mostly trying to look for an appropriate Kwanzaa song, but everything that I found sounded either too silly or too Disney-like.

Well I'm On My Way	As an opener, bring the students into the room and into a circle while singing the song. Have students learn the song by echo, and sit down.
I ended up scrapping this for the 1st class because there was an assembly going on in the adjacent room, and I didn't want to sing with the door open. (The door to the music room leads directly into the assembly area.) Instead, I had the 1st class sing I Can Sing Up High and warm up both voice and body. The 2nd class did get to sing this a bit, as they were coming out of an assembly. Students did seem to be able to echo the song pretty well, although the song does do an octave jump.
Che Che Koolay	Teach song by rote. Have students mimic me during song a few times. Then, let a student be the model mover, and have the rest of the class mimic that student's movements.
This was an easy song to introduce. I talked a little about last week's class' holidays, and first had them shout out Funga, Alafia but I didn't have them sing the song. Then, I went right into Che Che Koolay, and had them follow me. Getting them to do the last line ("Koom Adende") twice was pretty easy, but I did have to preface/remind them during the song every time. Each class, I chose one boy and then one girl to be the model mover, and in both cases, the boy was a lot sillier than the girls in movement. During the 2nd class, I also had the teacher be the model mover, which really got the students' attention. By the end of the song, everyone was just laughing and not doing much singing.
Tone Bells	Introduce Tone Bells, first going over usage, and then handing out two chords (C, G) to 6 students total. Teach the chords to the two student trios, and have them get used to playing on command (when I pointed to them).
There were lots of oohs and aahs when I brought out the bells. I ended up spending a lot of time in the middle of the circle, and demoing the bells to them. (This ended up wearing a hole in the knees of my jeans!) During the 1st class, I passed out bells to all 6 students, which made things tough as I tried to teach the students one group of three at a time. During the second class, I ended up passing out and teaching only one group of 3 first, and then another group of 3; during the second class, I also made sure that the gap between the groups was divisible by 3, as I intended to pass the bells around the class.
Dreidel Song	Review the 1st verse+chorus quickly, and then get the students to sing while I pointed to either tone bell group.
This was a little chaotic with the first class, as I neglected to tell the tone bell players initially (1) to play only on the beat, and (2) to stop playing when I didn't point to them. Even after I reminded them, adherence to my gesture instructions was spotty, although they errored on playing more than less. I had the students move the bells to another group of 3x2 after singing the song once. I then had the classes sing the song two more times, asking each time if the other students could hear the bells (some could not hear the bells over the voices).
Jingle Bells	Review the chorus, and then add the verse (which we never covered during the previous class). Then, add another triplet of tone bells (F-chord) to the student pool, while moving the older tone bells to another set of 3. Give handheld jingling bells to any student who didn't play an instrument thus far.
Moving the bells around really kept students excited, although I had to provide some extra encouragement to the jingle bell group, as well as those students who no longer had instruments. (I also needed them to sing loudly anyway.) At this point, I had to practice with the F-group, and that was a little tricky, since the students mostly had instruments with them and were noisy. I then had them sing jingle bells with the tone bell accompaniment during the chorus (which starts the song), and during the verse ("Dashing"), I had the jingle bell holders ring their bells. In retrospect, while the students seemed to enjoy this, I did feel a little bad about the F-group, which doesn't get to play very often, and I had to make sure they understood that they could keep singing when not playing (hard!). I was going to try to review Cascabel if there was time.
Feliz Navidad	Teach song via rote.  There are really only 4 lines to this anyway.
Someone in a previous music class had clearly taught Feliz, as the words were on the board when I got there. But alas, I had no time to do this.
Funga Alafia	Review song quickly, and have them sing on their way out the door. The 2nd class would also clean up the mats.
Funga Alafia is one of the easiest songs to teach it seems, as the class remembered the song and were eager to sing. (They didn't all remember the hand movements.) Anyhow, it was an easy song for them to march out of the room, and even the mat cleanup was somewhat successful. Maybe the students didn't want to hear A Rig A Jig Jig any more.

I managed to do all of this with a single set of tone bells. The G-chord was lower than the C-chord, which was lower than the F-chord, and all 9 notes interleaved each other quite nicely. I don't think I used the word "accompaniment", but the students were really excited about adding pitched instruments to song (as opposed to handheld jingle bells). I didn't have any new backpocket items, although I guess Feliz was a sort of backpocket song. In the new year, I would like to be able to review most of the nonholiday songs that I covered over the past 4 classes.

Teaching Notes, 20081205

It's week 3! We had skipped a week for Thanksgiving, so I had two weeks in theory to prepare for this class. But as usual, I found myself planning the night before instead of throughout the week, although I tried to remember any spur-of-the-moment ideas that I came up with over the course of the two weeks. I spent about 3 interrupted hours trying to plan this week's session.

Let's All Travel Down The Music Road	As an opener, bring the students into the room while singing the song.  Use hands to illustrate relative pitches of the song.
I almost scrapped this, but ended up doing this even though students started pouring in before I could start singing the song.  In both classes, students were mostly seated on the mats in a circle before I started the song.  After singing it for a few times, I asked what they thought my hands were doing, and the students picked up on the pitches quickly.  I would sneak in a little bit of solfege in the hand movements, but not enough to really make any emphasis on it.
Highway Number One	Play the song, make sure the students listen carefully. Walk in a circle to the song and do what the song says!
I made sure that the students remembered how to slide (something that we did during Sally), and I also talked a bit about Australia (including pointing out its location on the map in the room). A few students knew about Australia, ranging from knowing it was a country to having relatives from there. The song was a clear success, and the students (plus both teachers) really enjoyed the activity. I had the volume a bit on the low side by accident, prompting me to rush out of the circle in the middle of the song for the 2nd class to drive up the volume.
Funga Alafia	Introduce Kwanzaa (Matunda ya Kwanzaa). Teach song via rote, and then add hand movements. Explain the meaning of the hand movements.
We chatted a bit about December holidays before introducing Funga. The students enjoyed the song, especially when just saying Funga and Alafia. I didn't have a lot of Kwanzaa material practiced, and so Funga was a nice approximation for introducing Kwanzaa to a lot of the children.
Dreidel Song	Introduce the first/main verse of the song, along with the chorus. If the song is picked up quickly, then introduce the 3rd ("My dreidel's always playful...") verse.
I went to Target the morning of the class and purchased a 2-pack of wooden dreidels, which was nice, since I really didn't have any other accompaniment to this song, and I wasn't going to have the kids walk or do any sort of of motion with the song. Many of the students already knew the song, so I moved onto the 3rd verse, which wasn't originally known by any of the students.
Jingle Bells	Teach via rote. Add handheld jingling bells (7 in all) and have students keep beat with the bells. Then, teach Jingle Bells in Spanish (Cascabel).
It didn't come as a surprise that the students knew Jingle Bells, so rather than have them sing the middle verse ("Dashing"), I cut them off right at the end of the chorus of Jingle Bells, and then added the handheld bells quickly. I had to rotate the bells around the room after a few runs of the song so that most of the children got a chance to play with the bells. Cascabel I think was met with only minor success, although the students were clearly interested. I probably didn't teach the Spanish version slowly enough for it to make a lasting impact on the children, except for maybe the one student who could speak Spanish and knew Cascabel.
Rig a Jig Jig	Review the song one more time. For the 1st class only, try to do the double circles. For the 2nd class, have them clean up the mats while singing.
Success! I finally got the 2nd class to do the song with two concentric circles moving in opposite directions. In both classes, I ended up substituting the last line with "Goodbye goodbye goodbye", and it's starting to turn into a common easy way to end the class.

The first class didn't really have an exit strategy, which led to a bit of an abrupt ending ("I think we're out of time"), but it didn't seem to faze the students or teacher. I did try to sneak in "Goodbye my friends, Goodbye", but it wasn't really taught. Again, I didn't ask students what they learned; there wasn't much time for any sort of discussion. For the second class, before Rig a Jig Jig, I also taught "We wish you a Merry Christmas", but only the first half of the first verse, and then substituted the verse with "Now Bring Us Some Chocolate Pudding", followed by "We won't go until you bring some". I don't think that really stuck well with the kids. Other backpocket (unused) songs were Up On The Housetop, and the usual trio of Sarasponda, Deep and Wide, and Tony Chestnut.

Teaching Notes, 20081121

It's day 2 of teaching, and I thought I was more prepared this time, having gone through a set of classes for each. I spent about 3 hours planning the day's lesson, which sent something like this:

Fanfare for the Common Man	Arrange mats in advance in a large circle. Start music as kids are walking in, and lead them to the circle. Then, start moving body (stretching, etc.) to the music.
Having the mats out certainly made the procession in very fast - in fact, a bit too fast, as it seemed like we were stretching and moving (in place) a bit too long. There were some giggles as we kept moving to the music, but many were entertained. I would consistently tap on the floor when the timpani would boom. At the end, we talked a bit about the instruments that they heard. I ended up downloading the song off of the internet and burning it on a CD. (At some point, I should try inputting the song in itunes or an iPod and attaching the device to the component sound-in port of the music player in the music room.) The internet is an awesome source for music, and I've found it to be a lot more convenient when finding songs that we've covered in class than going to the resource room and checking things out there.
I Can Sing Up High	Same as before, but faster
This was simply a voice warmup, and I tried to go a lot faster this time than I did in the first class. Transition was easy; "now that you warmed up your bodies, let's warm up your voices."
It's A Very Good Day for Playing In the Sun	Use only the first half of the song. Teach piecemeal by echo, and then quickly immerse them into the song. March to the song in a circle
The first class seemed to enjoy it, but not universally. Some children seemed bored. The second class seemed to enjoy it a little more, especially when I exaggerated the shrugging of the shoulders during "why?". I was hoping to add a second verse, but I didn't, and decided to save it when it wasn't so sunny outside (e.g. "playing in the rain...").
Rhythm Sticks	Arrange class in rows. Pass out sticks to a known song quickly. Have class follow me a bit with sticking, including pauses in bewteen sticking. Then, have them follow me while I played a song in the background.
I decided on the fly to arrange the class in 3 rows, but I didn't really have a quick way to do it. The first class probably burned about 90 seconds during the rearrangement; the second class was just a little faster. Before passing out the sticks, I instructed the students to take 2 (any two) quickly, and I sang Sally Go Round The Sun (or Fall Song for the second class, doing the obligatory pause at "apple") while passing the sticks out. I also discovered that I didn't have sticks for everyone (apparently, there were additional sticks in a bag somewhere else hidden in the room), and so before the song, I had the children in the first row give sticks to children in the back. The children loved this activity. Even those without sticks ended up clapping, which was perfectly fine for me. I used "Raisins" by the Barenaked Ladies, a song that I chose on the way down to my office. (I was fortunate to have a stash of kid-oriented songs on a CD that I made for my children in my car.) When reclaiming the sticks, I sang Sally to the first class again, and It's A Very Good Day to the second class, again quickly. Some children tried to keep up.
Fall Song (1st class only)	As planned the previous week, have selected children hold onto red, yellow leaves, or an apple. Teach the 2nd ("air is crisp") verse if the class seems up for it.
I wanted to do this for the 1st class, since they didn't get a chance to do it during the previous week. Unlike the 2nd class's experience, I hand-selected (before the class) three names, and had those students come up to the front of the circle; having them up front rather than interspersed in the circle unified the rest of the students' attention, and also put the 3 selected students a bit more on notice to react during the singing of the song. I still felt that I directed the song a bit too fast, as the 3 selected students were still lagging behind the sung verses. I did end up teaching them the second verse, which turned out to be pretty easy.
The Turkey Ran Away	Teach at least turkey/apple/pumpkin, and then solicit students for suggestions
I was able to do this only with the 2nd class. The students really enjoyed the song, and gleefully added their own suggestions when asked (vegetable/soup, potato/mash). Doing a review of all 5 items was also easy, although I ended up only remembering 4 of them and needed help from the teacher. Anyhow, this was a hit.
5 Fat Turkeys	Teach by echo first, then quick immersion given the amount of time. Add hand signs (sign for 5, two-handed turkey, etc.) if possible.
This was originally planned for the previous week, and I did indeed finally get to this for both classes. Both classes picked up the song easily, and the hand signs were very easily learned.
Rig a Jig Jig	Review the song while marching, and then try to do concentric circles, first in the same direction and then in opposite directions. Finish with "goodbye goodbye goodbye" at the end.
For the first class, there wasn't a lot of time, and so we only got to review the song. (I actually tried to get two circles set up, but there was too much clamoring among the children, and given the lack of time, I aborted it.) Unlike the previous week, I didn't have the students put the mats back, and I just had them sing "Goodbye" and line up by the door. The second class had a bit more time, and I was able to get both circles going, and in opposite directions. I had the inner circle hold hands, while the outer circle just walked without any handholding, as I wanted to preserve the original mat circle; having the mats as a separator between the circles also was a definite bonus.

Again, I didn't ask students what they learned; there wasn't much time for any sort of discussion. Backpocket (and unused) items included Sarasponda, Deep and Wide, and Tony Chestnut.

Teaching Notes, 20081114

Woo! Today is/was the first day of teaching at Montclaire. I was asked to teach two classes, one at 10:30A and one at 11:30A on Fridays. That, I figured, gave me enough time in between to recuperate/adjust plans/etc.

I have to say, Montclaire has a fantastic music room, full of instruments, and in some cases, enough instruments for everyone in a class of 20. The room is large enough for plenty of movement, and it comes with its own set of carpet-sample-sized mats for the kids (which, if used correctly, can map out circle boundaries quite well).

I spent about 3-4 hours mulling over a lesson plan. Here's what I came up with:

Come and Follow Me	Lead kids from the door to the mat cart. Have each child pick up a mat and walk in a circle. When everyone had a mat, place the mat down and sit.
This turned out to be a bit chaotic. The first few children followed me just fine, but the middle and later kids got bottled up by the mat cart. Some kids fought others for certain mats, for instance, and some kids didn't know to keep following after getting a mat. The circle was ok, but very uneven for both classes, and I (or the teacher) would spend a little time readjusting the circle during the class. I also felt a bit like a broken record, as Come and Follow Me doesn't last very long, and in order to get everyone in relatively quickly, I didn't have people freeze when I sang "we will go this way." Overall, this activity took longer than I expected.
Stretching	Kids would just follow my lead; there would be no deliberate structure.
There wasn't a whole lot to this. I spent maybe about 30 seconds here.
Keep The Kettle Boiling	Teach the activity using myself and 1 kid as an example. When the chant is going, vary tempo, pitch, body location (high/low).
This turned out to be an excellent way to hear each child's name spoken in the way they expected. The first class' kids wore nametags, and after I was berated by some kids for mispronouncing one child's name, I let the whole class say the name during "in jumps...". The second class wore no nametags, so I didn't have much of a choice there. :) This took a while - something like 6-8 minutes, but it was time well spent. After the chant, I asked the class what they saw changing, and they picked up on what was going on pretty well.
What sounds did you hear today?	Just ask them while sitting.
This was kind of fun, a relaxing activity after the heavy motion of Kettle. I had the class repeat sounds offered by other children. I also pulled out a set of finger cymbals to illustrate high pitches, and a bass drum to illustrate a low pitch. I let the kids play them, which turned out to be just fine; no unstructured jamming on the drum, etc.
I Can Sing Up High	Teach the song by echo, and then add body movement
This was a lot of fun. I had them stand up, and they seemed to enjoy the motions. I was thinking of speeding the song up near the end, but decided not to at the last minute.
Star Light Star Bright	Have them sing the poem in sol-mi, and then sol-la-mi. Add hand motions to note the beat. Kids are seated.
I transitioned to this by asking the kids if it was light or dark outside when they woke up. I guess in retro it was a nonsequitor of a transition, but the kids didn't seem to mind. (Yay for short attention spans!) I did this similar to the Star Light 1st grade demo during the mfm.org class, and it seemed to go well. The children picked up on the beat quickly when I asked them what I was doing with my hands. Of course, most of the class knew the poem already.
Sally Go Round The Sun	Teach song by rote, in pieces, and then add circle walking, hands together. Switch directions, change pitch, volume, and walking height. Add the jump at "boom."
This was a little chaotic, as the kids weren't uniform in either singing, walking evenly, walking in the right direction, etc. They did seem to enjoy the jump at the end.
It's a Very Good Day	Teach only the 1st half of the song by rote. Maybe have the kids walk in the circle and stop at "why?"
I did not get to this.
The Fall Song	Hand out red/yellow leaves for kids to raise during "red/yellow". Also had a prop apple for the apple phrase.
I didn't get to do this for the first class, but for the second class, I passed out the leaves and the apples, similar to what Chris Burke did in training. However, I didn't have quite a systematic way of passing the items out; I just passed them to both sides of me and expected the items to find their way around the circle. Of course, in doing so, there was an item collision at the opposite end of the circle, and the leaves and apples sort of stuck there. Getting the children holding the items to respond during the song resulted in partial success - the song had to be really slow for them to realize that "I have a red leaf, and we just sang red!". I did add the "air is crisp and colder" verse to the song, and added hand motion (ASL for wind, etc.) for the wind and cold.
5 Fat Turkeys	Teach by echo first, then quick immersion given the amount of time. Add hand signs (sign for 5, two-handed turkey, etc.) if possible. Kids are seated
I didn't get to this in the first class, but in the second class, I was able to get through the song with the 3 kinds of hand signs (open hand for '5', two handed turkey facing left, two handed turkey facing right). The kids liked it. Many had clearly heard the song before, which shortened the musical teaching portion of it.
Rig a Jig Jig	Teach song by echo, then sing, then walk in circle+sing, then do two circles moving the same dir, then two circles in opposite directions. Cap it off by having children pick up their mats and drop them back into the mat cart while singing
I have to admit that this was a little ambitious. During the first class, we didn't have a whole lot of time, so we just sang, walked in a circle, and did the mats. The second class was pretty much the same. The mat deposit worked at first, but then the line between the mat cart and the door filled up before all of the children were able to drop off their mats, creating a bit of a traffic jam. I changed the very last words to "good bye good bye good bye" and waved, which was a nice way to end the day. I ended up messing up the lyrics to the 2nd verse a lot - ouch. The kids picked up on it, but they didn't seem to mind so much. Children in both classes knew the song in advance - some noted that they learned it in nursery school!

In retrospect, I didn't really ask the students about what they had learned. I wasn't sure if they'd really be able to recite what happened, and I still had a lot of material that I wanted to cover. That said, I think they had a good time and at least picked up on some new musical tidbits.