Teaching Notes, 20100426

I wanted to get the Irish Jig in, but considering that I also had a pretty bad allergy attack, I decided that it was best to do more dancing than singing.

Everybody Oughta Know	Cheap intro song
Well, I was debating about singing about pollen and allergies, but I just sang about sunshine and dancing. I figured that there was no point in describing my ailments to the students. The first class, which comes in after recess, again had low energy for this song - it seems to be a pretty consistent trend.
Staff Exercises	Focus on pitch-matching and whole step intervals
Again, I had a prewritten staff on the board, and again I asked students to come up and draw the clef. Next, I placed Do on the board as middle C. I figured that eventually some kid is going to ask me about accidentals if I were to start Do on something other than C, so I figured I'd just do it now. I then, had the students sing Do but I also had them try to match my pitch. I then wrote "re" and sang it, again asking the students to match my pitch. (So much for not singing much!) I then had the class move back and forth between Do and Re so that they got a feel for the step. Eventually, I walked up to the high Do (with the obligatory review question about what the octave was called), and then I had the students get used to singing the octave jump. The kids at this age can definitely do it; they just need the coaching and practice. We capped off the staff exercise by walking down the scale. This was also a pretty good way to warm up the kids' voices, btw.
Don't Want To Don't Want To (Sanna Longden)	Teach song, then movements, then dance
This is another song/dance from Sanna Longden's workshop, and I thought it would be a nice change of pace. While the mats are in a horseshoe, I also put down some rope to make a circle, as this dance involves two concentric circles. I taught the song first by rote (pretty simple), and as I was teaching them the song, I also showed them the arm motions (although I was partnerless). Then, I formed partners with the students. The song actually seems to be easy to teach via immersion, since the motions are intuitive. Some students turned around full, some half, and it didn't really matter. Similar to Kungshi Ni, I had initially only the inner circle move to the left. I eventually had both circles move for the first class, and chaos ensued... until students noticed that when both circles move, you're actually skipping a potential partner in the other circle. Hmmmm! I think though to help out with the partner swap, I think next time I'll put mats on the floors to indicate where to go; I tried explaining that students should look at the space where the next partner is, instead of the person, but I don't think that really sunk in. The second class started getting rowdy, and with an odd number of students, I was more ready to send a student over to the teacher for them to sit out. During the entire day, I probably did it 4-5 times!
Irish Jig	Reteach, dance!
As promised, I brought back the Irish Jig. I had written out 5 parts to the dance on the board (walk, turn and walk, hand star rotation, turn hand star rotation, leprechaun scoot), but in the interest of time, I deleted the hand stars. Trust me, those alone was enough to keep the students confused. It seems to help a lot to have the students practice the turnaround (drop hands, turn, join hands) since otherwise, students are trying to turn via the swinging door (think mass collisions!). The first class got the song well enough to (1) do to the song twice, and (2) start letting others be the leprechaun in the middle of the song. It was really cool to see, but it also caused some confusion, as not everyone was aware that the switching was going on. We discussed this as a group at the end, and decided that it would be a good thing to try out formally next time. I've been thinking lately that when you have groups of 4 because the class is indivisible by 3, that there shouldn't be a siamese twin leprechaun; it's just too chaotic. Next time, I'll have just one leprechaun for those groups.

I was planning on doing Botendere with the clap under the knees, but that'll just have to wait for another week.

Teaching Notes, 20100419

The previous week was spring break, so I had no problems repeating items covered in the previous class without risking boredom from the class. I also wanted to fulfill a promise I had made during the previous class. Similar to previous weeks, I had the mats arranged in a horseshoe.

Botendere	Enter singing the song and doing the simplified motions from the previous week
This is actually a pretty good entry song, it turns out, and the students retained enough from the previous week to make it effective right from the start. I did review the hand motions before leading the students in. When the students came in fully from the outside, I had them go through the song just a few different iterations. Afterwards, I had them sit down and we talked a bit about writing notes on a staff...
Written Music	read on...
I had prewritten a staff on the board without the clef symbol, and I immediately quizzed the students about what was missing. I then had students draw the clef on the staff lines. One student drew it correctly, while another student drew it one line too high. I think I'll keep doing this exercise whenever I have a reason to write notes on the board. I then finally introduced the remainder of the Kodaly scale, which meant adding La, Ti, and the upper Do. I wrote the notes on the board, and I arbitrarily picked D to start, so that it was on the staff. Fortunately, no one asked about F# or C#. Anyhow, we kept working up the scale on the board, writing them one at a time and singing them. When we arrived at the upper Do, I noted that we now had two of them, and I asked them if there were any differences between the two. Eventually they observed that one was on a line and one was on a space. I also introduced the term octave to them, and noted that the prefix "oct" often meant "8". (I threw them a bone by suggesting that they ask their teacher why October is the 10th month.) There is a hanging display of the hand signs for the Kodaly notes, and I walked the students through them, both up and down. After singing and signing the scale downwards, I returned to the board, and sang Botendere while writing the notes down the staff. Pretty cool!
Botendere with Drums	Reprise song, then add drums
This was totally unplanned, but I thought it would be neat for the students to finally play a few instruments, as I haven't used them very often. I pulled out 4 djembes for the students, and first talked about their design, how they float off the floor, and the colorations. I then played one, showed the students a smaller one, and asked them what it would sound like. I then had a student play it once, and we talked briefly about the higher (but only slightly higher) sound. It was, in fact "re" to the first drum's "do", and so I played them both alternating while saying "do" and "re". In groups of 3 initially (eventually I moved to 4 for the 2nd class), I had students play the drums, but only when the rest of the class clapped and sang. I recommended that the drummers not do the arm motions and focus on drumming at the right times. We sang/played Botendere twice through for each group, but for the first two groups, we stopped in between each time through. By the last iterations, we went all the way through without stopping. I then had a challenge for a select few where they were to drum without the rest of the class clapping. I had to hand-pick the drummers this time, and to my delight, they were able to drum the patterns after all!
Eia Makou	Sing, record the song
A student last week asked if we could record Eia Makou, and so this time, we did! I had the lines written on the board, and I had the students come close enough to read it. I took this opportunity to introduce the students to the silent count, necessary for nicer recordings. They handled it just great, as it really forced the students to watch me initially. It also seems that when they're recording, they really pay attention; during the run-through before recording, the students were very together, as they *thought* I was recording already. I had enough time to play the recording back to the students, which they really enjoyed.

Well, that was it, and that was more than 30 minutes! I'm really starting to feel more comfortable taking an item, extending in different ways, and filling a lot of time in the process. A lot of the staff exercise and all of the drumming wasn't in my original plans, but as I was doing last-minute planning before the classes, those extra exercises seemed natural. Believe it or not, I had also hoped to get in the Irish Jig (a student asked about it after Eia Makou), and I'll try to do it next time. I also had planned doing the Polish "Don't Want To Don't Want To" dance/song from Sanna Longden's workshop, but clearly there wasn't going to be any space for that today.

I have yet to incorporate note duration/rhythm on the staff, and I really want to do that soon. I think the students are ready for it.

Teaching Notes, 20100405

This week, I wanted to reprise some songs that I had covered previously. I also was missing my usual laptop computer, and so I didn't have access to my usual collection of music.

Eia Makou	Review song w/ students, have them sing it with authority
I wanted to reprise this song since it was completed rather rushed the first time. For both classes, I reviewed the song by having them echo me with just "Eia Makou". Then, I had them lead while I sang the answer (e.g. "Na Pua O Hawaii"). Then, we all marched into the room. One student asked why we were singing the song even though we weren't from Hawaii. I used the weather as an excuse to sing a song about Hawaii; a front was about to pass through, and I suggested to the students that singing a song from Hawaii would perhaps keep the sunshine out. On the whiteboard, I had written out the lyrics in call-answer form (two colors), and I had used one board for the Hawaiian lyrics and one board for the English lyrics. I had the students sing the Hawaiian version once through, and then they did the song in call and answer form, with one side singing "Eia Makou" and the other side responding. I had more students do the response since "Eia Makou" is pretty easy to sing/shout in isolation. The last line ("Oli'e") was sung in unison. I spent a little time reviewing interesting tidbits about the Hawaiian language, such as how the 'w' sounds like a 'v', the effect of the okina, and the importance of emphasizing "Oli'e". After singing the Hawaiian lyrics in answer-response form, I immediately had the class sing the English version in call-and-answer form, which they did naturally. For one of the classes, I reversed which group was doing the answering/calling, and even though the groups were imbalanced, I was still able to get a good sound from the students. The last thing I did with the students regarding this song was to have them sing the Hawaiian part, followed by the English part, followed by the Hawaiian part. It sounded great! One student asked if we could record it, and I wasn't quite equipped to do that, so I promised we would the following week.
Rain Tapping	Do the exercise, seated
This is the exercise where people are supposed to mimic what the person to their right is doing; if the end of the chain starts a quick, repeated pattern, then the pattern finds its way around the room. I tried to choose sounds that would sound like the changing sounds of a rainstorm. It turned out to be a bit of a struggle, as students craned their necks to see what I was doing, not what their neighbor was doing. I had to turn my body mostly away from the rest of the class as I was the one trying to initiate changes to the pattern. I told the class that they were too smart and fast for this exercise.
Introduction of Violins	Show violin to class, play it
Over the course of the year, I wanted to introduce several different instruments to the students, and with the broken laptop, it was just a good enough time to introduce another one - the violin. I expected a few students to know what a violin was, and many did. Similar to what I did with other instruments, I talked about the shape/size of the body, the strings, and the resonance holes. I also brought out the ukulele (which I had out during Eia Makou) for comparison. I then showed the students the bow, something needed since the strings were unable to produce a sustained tone when strumming. (I don't recall if I talked about frets found on a guitar or uke.) I then also talked a bit about the microscopic prickles found on horsehair bows. Finally, I ended the demo by playing a portion of the Irish Jig used for the leprechaun dance. For the next phase of the demo, I reminded students about the need for space when singing. Then, I whipped out the electric violin, which drew a lot of oohs from the students. I asked them to describe differences that they saw, and eventually someone in each class noted that there was no significant body. I then played the electric violin (unplugged), which generated nearly no noise at all. It was a pretty cool demo.
Leprechaun's Dance	Revisit the Dance
This was a lot harder than I expected; students didn't quite remember how the dance went, and since I was trying to simplify things anyway, it was like teaching from scratch. The simplified dance had: - 8 beats of walking in one direction - 8 beats walking in the opposite direction - 8 beats of a right arm star rotation - 8 beats of a left arm star rotation - 8 beats of the leprechaun change Of course, the "8 beats" was negotiable, and oftentimes it was more like 16. Anyhow, I tried teaching a simple way to do the direction switch: let go of hands, turn around, reattach hands. It was ultimately more effective than asking the students to try to do a swinging rotation with hands joined. The arm stars were also hard this time around, and I recommended that the students try to keep their hands hovering over the same spot on the ground. (I introduced the word "pivot" at this time.) We ran out of time to actually perform the dance in the second class, so I'll try to do it the next time, and the first class was able to do the leprechaun change only twice during the song. The greatest source of confusion was lining up after the left arm star in preparation for the leprechaun change; students didn't remember which way to go. As a result, I'll have to find an easy solution the next time we do the dance.

It doesn't look like I did a whole lot of things on paper, but I felt that at least Eia Makou went very very well. I think with a few more repetitions, the students should be able to get the leprechaun dance; it's only a matter of time. At some point, I'll also be introducing the mandolin as a variant of the violin, and at that point I'll talk about frets.

Teaching Notes, 20100329

Last week ended up turning into a long, extended focus on (mostly) a single song, and so this time I wanted to try to get through as many different things as possible.

Botendere	Teach simple movements, then have the students march in with the song
This is something I intend to teach properly over a few weeks, but Botendere's melody is simple enough to introduce as an opener. I first just repeated the sung part, and simplified the motions (arms out with a clap on the 3rd beat, arms out, arms up, hands in front moving back and forth (like the original)). After I had led the students into the room (again in a horseshoe arrangement), the students seemed to be able to handle the pattern. It also helped that the sung line is pretty short, which allowed for several repetitions. For both classes, I then repeated the pattern and sped it up until it started to fall apart (which was pretty fast). I then tried adding the mostly clap line, with two claps to the left, two claps to the right, then a slower clap in front-back-front and then a sung "Botendere" with the same hand pulse as before. I then had the students do the full song as sung with the limited motions/clapping - 2 sung lines, 2 clap lines. That I figured was enough for Botendere for the first time.
Find The Beat	Sing/play various songs, have students find the beat and introduce tempo
I always want to empower the students to discover musical things on their own, and one of those things is of course the beat. I first sang "Hey Ho, Spring Is Here" and had the students just clap to the beat without me clapping or indicating the beat (other than singing a song). In both class, there was at least one student who was clapping on the eighths instead of the quarter notes, and that gave me a good opportunity to talk about beat and its potential relativeness. The tempo terms that I introduced were "largo", "andante", and "allegro", and there were plenty of other students who wanted to add others (like presto and adagio). I then proceeded to play various songs, most of which the students have heard before. There were actually several choices for andante, but for allegro, I used "I Hope My Mama Says Yes" by AudraRox, and "Sunshine and Lollipops" by Lesley Gore, while for largo, I used "Say Goodnight" by Justin Roberts and "Wandering In the Summer Wind" by Dan Zanes. I then played for the students "The Rabbit and the Turtle" by Laurie Berkner, which is actually in 6/8 but "slows" down to a 3/4. I didn't try that hard to explain to the students what was going on with the beat and the sudden slowdown, but I did show them how you could clap to 6/8 (or rather, 2/4) and then maintain that while the song "slowed" down. The Laurie Berkner song also allowed me to talk a little bit about triplets (including writing them on the board alongside ta's and titi's). That then let me move onto the next item...
Human Percussion	Try walking quarter/eighth/sixteenth notes
This was something that turned out to be a lot of fun the previous week, so I figured I bring this back. The students still found this to be a formidable challenge, and I had the students tap the sixteenth notes with their dominant hand on their opposite shoulder; that seemed to help. After doing this for a while, we talked again about triplets, and then I played for them the irish jig that we used for the Paddy O' Furniture (also in 6/8). We didn't have enough time to do the dance, so I played the song enough for the students to re-acquaint them with the song and march out of the room to it.

Similar to the previous class, there were a lot of other things I had planned that I never was able to get to, including introducing La and Ti, and of course, doing the St. Patrick's Day dance. Other things had in the backpocket included Tuwe Tuwe, King Kong Kitchie (Dan Zanes), Eia Makou, Brown Girl In The Ring, Zemer Atik, The Longer The Faster, and Don't Want to Know You. Of course, I wasn't really going to get to all of those, but it sure would have been nice to get to some of them.