This week's class was also taught during a 95-degree heat wave, which probably didn't help a whole lot.
| Oonie Koonie Cha | Lead class into the room with the song |
Students remembered this tune all right, especially as I reviewed the chant with the students still parked outside in their line. I tried to provide a slightly more complicated rhythm with my feet, but only part of the class really caught on. Many giggled. | |
| Down By The Sea (Red Grammer) | Teach motions, teach 1st verse and chorus |
Since it was so hot, I figured that it was an easy day to introduce Down By the Sea, although for 3rd/4th graders it could have been a little too simple for them. This time (compared to previous years), I did have them echo the 1st iteration of the song, and so when I started playing the song, some started singing. (Later, I discovered that some students also knew the song before.) By the time we got to the 3rd or 4th iteration, more were able to pick up the base melody, although I had to still prompt the students to do the aggregate motions in their original order. I also emphasized to the students to try to keep the beat as Red does through the song with snapping - this actually can be a little tricky since the snapping is really on the offbeat. I thought this went reasonably well. Perhaps in a week or two, I'll cover this song again, and ask students for input. It'll have to be another hot day. | |
| Introduction to the Ukulele | Show ukulele to the students, talk about strings, playing, sounds, space |
The students had been asking about the ukulele for a while, and so I finally whipped it out. I spoke first about the makeup, and then had a students describe the strings (4, plastic, black, etc.). I then strummed it a few times, and then walked around the circle, letting each student strum it once. Some students strummed pretty hard, and those students reacted in surprise as their thumbs felt a bit of a zing. I took that as an opportunity to compare strum strength and thumb numbness. :) I also talked about the resonance chamber and the hole, and its importance. I tried covering the hole with a tissue, but that didn't seem to block the resonance as much as I had hoped, so I sort of faked the disappearance of the ring when covering up the hole. However, we still had a good discussion about the importance of space, and I had the students try singing a note while first crouched, and then stretched out. We also spent a little time investigating what happens when you put fingers on the fingerboard. That led to a small chat about size and relative pitch. I didn't get the same "that's physics!" revelation that I did with my 2nd graders from last year, but I think the students understood that big tends to mean low and small tends to mean high. I hope it'll click even more when I bring in a guitar. | |
| Hello World (Red Grammer) | Sing chorus with the ukulele |
I had the students echo my singing while playing the song on the uke. The trouble was, though, that I hadn't quite planned to sing Hello, World, and I didn't have a set of chords in mind that was in the students' ranges. As a result, I sang in C, and that translated to a pretty low register for the students. Whoops. It was a good thing that I didn't really have much more in mind with this song; I only wanted to illustrate the power of the uke. | |
| Deconstruction of Sweet Disposition | Play song, have students move to song, discuss changes |
Sweet Disposition (by the Temper Trap) is a song currently on the radio whose lyrics are pretty innocuous, and is one of those songs that starts light and builds up as the song progresses. I managed to find an instrumental version of the song, and I edited it before class to shrink the duration while preserving all of the transitions. The transitions simply came earlier, shrinking the song from nearly 4 minutes to about 2:55. Before I played the song, I did ask the students what they listened on the radio, and a bit to my surprise, a lot of students were listening to things that I didn't quite expect them to listen to until they were older. No matter, I started playing the song, and I bet at least a few recognized it. Sweet Disposition starts with a fast rhythm guitar that meanders a bit, and after playing that part for about 10 seconds, we discussed what we were hearing. Some identified the sound as some sort of guitar, and I encouraged the students to wave/flow their arms as the guitar notes were also going up and down. I started the song again, and played until the bass drum came in. Again, I stopped the song, and we talked about what we were hearing. This process of listening and playing went on for most of the song. The edited recording of mine progressed as such: 0:14 add drums 0:39 add high guitar, drums now echo 0:52 just echoing drums 1:14 high guitar, cymbals 1:24 add snare 1:44 just drums 1:52 add rhythm guitar 2:14 add high guitar 2:45 just drums In neither class did I actually get to the end of the song, but I was able to get through enough to give the students an idea of how a song was changing as it progressed. Sometimes, I managed to have the students clap to just the snare part. Later the song had a much higher guitar riff that other students mimicked. I did intend on splitting the class into two (drummers vs. guitarists), but that led to a bit of a mismosh for the first class, such that I didn't try it in the second class. Anyhow, after we stopped (due to time for both classes), it seemed like students in both classes were interested in doing something like that again. | |
I was so distracted with the song deconstruction exercise, that I totally blanked out with regards to an exit song. No exit song! Doh.
One thing I've noticed is that for the 2nd (larger) class, I kept finding myself inside the circle, whereas for the 1st class, there was just enough room for me to insert myself into the circle at any time. I also have to keep adjusting the 2nd class circle so that they don't crowd, although perhaps they're doing that because I'm in the middle.
I also moved one student from the 2nd class out of the circle for the first time. I hope that perhaps sticks in the minds of some of the students; that particular student didn't get to do the song deconstruction.
Next week, I must introduce Sol, and perhaps I'll introduce the staff as well.
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