Teaching Notes, 20100111

Finally, a class a week after the previous week! This week was going to be followed by a break, and because there is a Red Grammer concert coming up on 1/31, I would have only this and one more class to teach Red Grammer material in case any of my students attended the concert. And so, I flip flopped pretty heavily with the lesson plan, and decided to try to introduce at least two Red Grammer songs into the class. I also took the opportunity to introduce the guitar to the class, as an accompaniment instrument. (I had taken the 6-week guitar course offered through MFM, and armed with my own 3/4-sized guitar, I figured that RG songs were a perfect excuse to bring the guitar to class.)

Hello World (Red Grammer)	Entrance song - have students echo chorus and follow me into the room
Similar to the previous week's introduction, I had one student hold the door, while I sang and played the guitar. The students I think were a little stunned at the guitar (I had made no hint that I could play anything), and so they were a bit full of giggles when I started playing and singing along. What was interesting to me was that when I sang the the song, I found myself really singing strongly into the song, which may have been why some students were enjoying watching rather than singing much. I stayed within in the key of the original recording of the song, which meant that I had to get the students to match octave with me. That didn't work out so well, as a lot of the students tried to sing low to match me. For the second class, I spent a little bit of time reviewing the octave concept from the previous class, and I even tried to sing explicitly an octave, leaving the students at the top of the octave while jumping back down, but the students followed me down. Oh well. In all, the students were able to echo acceptably, even if they were singing lower than I wanted them to. For the verse, I had written the first stanza ("Bikes to ride...") on the board, alternating colors. For the first time through, I sang the whole thing and just gestured to the board. The second time around, I had the class sing 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th lines of the stanza (I didn't try the second stanza; I simply repeated the first.) and without worry about tone, I just wanted the class to respond with something that wasn't an echo. It seemed to work ok, but the class wasn't all that into it.
Guitar introduction	Introduce students to a guitar
After singing Hello World, I talked a bit about the guitar. I showed them the usual things - 6 strings, body, neck, etc. We also talked about the hole in the body and what would happen if we covered it up. We also talked about how the larger string produced a lower sound, while the higher strings produced higher pitches. One student exclaimed, "that's physics!". I then also talked about what happens when fingers held down strings, and what happened when those fingers got closer to the bridge.
I Think You're Wonderful (Red Grammer)	Immerse students into song, talk about 3-beat songs
I had the students close their eyes and move to the song as I sang it. I was hoping that some students would start swaying, and only a few did. I illustrated it out while singing it again. Then, I had the students tap their knees at the start of each measure; then, they were asked to fill in beats in between with claps. Most realized that there were two beats, not three between the knee taps. I had the students try to sing the song with me while keeping the rhythm with their bodies. I had hoped to try to have the students split the word "new" in "the same thing to somebody new", where half the students went up to la while others went down to fa, but it was clear that I wasn't going to have time to do that. I'll leave that for a later class.
Fish and Chips and Vinegar	Quick review, then record class singing all 3 parts simultaneously.
Students remembered the song reasonably well. With the class divided into three again, I had the students sing the song (with a recording) first one part at a time in isolation. Then, I tried to get the "Fish" group to start and repeat indefinitely until told otherwise. Then, I added "Dustpan", and then eventually the "Bottle Pops". I then silenced the groups in the same order, one stanza at a time. It started out ok, but it was a little messy, especially when I tried silencing individual groups. I tried this twice for both classes, and there was some improvement in the second class. Similar to the previous class, I used a rhythm stick to help conduct the groups ("what is my stick doing?") and it was moderately successful keeping the students all together. I used this song to exit the students. For the second class, I replayed the song to the group, and when each part started, the group of students responsible for the part lined up to leave.

This class I felt was not as successful as my previous class. In general I think I had a harder time trying to tie the songs together; had I been using RG songs earlier in the year, I probably could have prepped the students a little more; instead, it felt a bit like I was trying to rush in a lot of RG material without any good reason. As for the guitar, I'm sure I'll use it again, but over the course of the next few months, I do hope to be able to bring in a variety of other stringed instruments that I own.

I had a few different backpocket items ready to go ("Oh My Goodness, Look At This Mess", "Wimoweh" (Red Grammer), "I'm So Glad" (Persuasions)), and I know I'll be able to use them later.

Teaching Notes, 20100104

We're back! I had missed the last class for 2009 (on 12/14) because my children were ill, and so I was eager to have an exciting class to kick off the year. I wanted to get the students back into singing rounds and singing in parts, but I also wanted to start teaching some music literacy, starting with the staff. I had prepared a staff made up of 5 4-yard 0.5"-diameter cotton rope (about $10 at any craft store), and a 6-foot paper treble clef (unattached). I prepped the room with the 5 lines on the ground, spaced about 1-1.5 feet apart. I then placed the carpet squares for the children in three groups, 6 down the each side of the staff, and 7 at the bottom of the staff. The staff was aligned so that the top was closest to the front of the room and the chalkboard.

Nutcracker Theme (Children's March)	Use as an entrance song.
This time, as the children lined up outside the door, I opened the door and immediately asked one student to hold the door for the students. (For one class, the teacher stepped in and offered to hold the door.) I also told the students to keep track of who was in front of them, and to do exactly what the person in front was doing. I then raced in, started the music, and marched the students into the room, with the first student copying me. The first class followed each other very well, while the second class was able to keep up through about 3/4 of the song before breaking down into chaos. Select students in both classes recognized the song. I led the students in a weave pattern through the staff on the ground, varying my steps with the song, and waving my arms when it seemed appropriate with the music. Near the end of the song, I led the students away from the staff and around the perimeter of the staff by the mats, and near the end of the song, I tried to position students towards mats; for the first class, my positioning ended in kids bumping into each other, while for the second class, I assigned kids to mats right after the song ended.
Seasons (Hey Ho, Winter's Here)	Immerse kids into the song immediately
I transitioned into the song first by saying "Happy New Year" and then asking them what season it was. I then sang the winter version of Seasons to them, and the students recognized the melody. I then showed them the lyrics, to the delight of both classes. For the second class, I even asked if someone was able to sing the Fall version, which one student did for about a line and a half. I had prewritten the lyrics on the board, with the first line black, second line green, third line red, and fourth line (same as the first) in black. The second line is "Hear the rain falling" twice, and so I talked briefly about how we typically had rain in California, but other parts of the country had something else, which the students guessed correctly as snow. I then asked if people can "hear" snow falling. ("You can hear the wind, but not the snow," etc.) And so, I changed the lyrics of the second half of the second line to "See the snow falling", written in blue. Next, I had the students sing the song in a 3 section round, which turned out to be pretty easy. I realized that with 3 sections instead of 4 for this song, we don't have a overwhelming "Hey Ho" line when the first and last sections are singing simultaneously. I then asked the students if they knew what the exercise of singing in this form was called (round). I then had the first group become the green group, the 3rd group (who was facing the 1st group) become the blue group, and the center group become the red group. For the green, blue, and red lines, only those groups matching the color of the lyrics would be singing those lyrics. Everyone would sing the first and last lines. This exercise of singing in parts went pretty well, although some groups were pretty quiet compared to the others.
Staff, Do Re Mi	Introduce the students to the staff on the ground
I moved the two side groups (green, blue) to the back so that everyone was looking up at the staff (and me). I then talked about how there were 5 lines, 4 spaces in between, and then added the paper treble clef to the staff. Using the round stools, I marked a initial note (at G), and then went up the scale, using Do through Sol as the names of the notes. Next up was the concept of the movable Do, and so I removed the stools, then placed a stool at the lower E position. I then asked for four volunteers, one by one, to show me Re, Mi, Fa and Sol. (In the first class, I had a student pick out Mi before Re accidentally.) Next, I cleared off the board, and placed the first stool at the C - noting that it's a space, not a line. After having four more students place themselves at the next four positions, I then asked the class about the significance of the highest note (high G), and students quickly pointed out that the highest student was out of the staff. I quickly noted that it's ok to be off the staff - after all one can sing pretty high or pretty low, more than the staff can accommodate. In a later class, I'll teach students how to write such notes. I then had 5 lines on the board, and asked the students what was needed in order to make 5 lines a staff (add a clef). I then noted that the treble clef's circle always circles around the 2nd line, and that note is 'G'. ("Gee, what note is around the circle of the clef?") I then went up the scale, jokingly noting that musicians only had 7 letters in their alphabet. I went all the way up to the high G, and pointed out that there was indeed another G (one student said "it's Do again!") a nd noted how the two notes made an octave. I also noted that sometimes when I'm singing low, the class is singing high and making an octave with me. I then asked them what was above the G, and students correctly guessed 'A'. Originally I had planned to do this after the Nutcracker, but I felt that it would have meant that all of the standing/walking was at the start of the class, and having the staff exercise in the middle helped to keep the students mostly moving. After the class was done, I had the students to return back to their respective color groups.
Fish and Chips and Vinegar	Immerse, then sing in parts and/or in a round.
I taught the song in 3 parts ("Fish...", "Don't put your dust...", "1 bottle pop..."), and teaching was pretty easy, as the stanzas are not very long. I also added a pat-clap-clap to "Fish", pat-swipe-swipe to "Don't" (to simulate sweeping dust), and hand counting for the bottle pops. While I didn't have much time really to do a round, (I tried it with the first class very briefly, but the first group (green) seemed very lost) I had the classes sing in parts, with the green group singing Fish, the blue group singing "Don't", and the red group singing "1 bottle pop". But before the singing-in-parts started, I asked the students what the clapping, etc. was giving us (beat!). I then reminded the red group that they had no physical beat, so they had to focus extra to keep their beat. In the end, the song worked out pretty well, and provided an easy extendable song for a later class.
Victor Vito	Exit Song
I managed to get through two stanzas before having to cut the song short; I ran about 2 minutes long for both classes. I actually didn't do the mat pickup for the second class; it would have been too rushed. I've used this several times; I can't use this as an exit song next week; the students are going to get bored, unless I find some alternate lyrics.

This class was frankly awesome. I felt I had the students all more engaged especially compared to the last few classes of 2009, and I was able to get all of the students to participate in some fashion. I think that having the students march in carefully and setting the (few) groundrules early helped, and having students pseudo-assigned to seats (and groups even after they were milling around during the staff exercise) was a big plus. During the singing, I found myself using a single rhythm stick to conduct the students, and that worked out very well. I have realized that when I am conducting, all I have to do is conduct in 2 (instead of 4) and students are able to follow rather successfully.

I actually had "Oh my goodness, look at this mess" ready to go, which would have been a fun but long song. I'll be using that next week. I also want to retry Tuwe Tuwe, perhaps in about a month or so, when the students are more comfortable with singing in rounds or smaller groups. I also know that with the Red Grammer concert coming at the end of the month (and the strong potential that some of my students are going to be attending the concert), I hope to intro some RG songs in the next few classes.