| 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.
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