| Hello World | Lead class into the room with the song, teach 2nd stanza | |
Similar to a previous class, I led the students in singing the chorus to Hello World. I had also prewritten the first stanza on the board, and after singing the chorus with the class, we echoed the stanza, and then finished with another run of the chorus. I then reminded the students that the stanza was really supposed to be sung together, not as an echo, so we sang through the stanza, capped off with another run of the chorus. The prewritten stanza was also written in 4 colors, with each line its own color. There are 8 lines to each stanza, so I rotated the colors through. I had the class, which was seated in a square thanks to ropes I had put down before class started, split into 4 based on the sides of the square, and I gave each group a color. I then instructed the students to sing their color and only their color when singing the stanza. It took a little bit of practice (and some students in the back row complained that they couldn't quite see the words), but eventually the classes were able to sing in parts, in a square. (I prefer to not call this a "round", since it's not really a round, even though we were singing around the room.) The first class was able to do the square a lot more quickly than the second, larger class. After a successful square, we ended again with the chorus. I had the second stanza also prewritten on the board, also in the same 4 colors in the same color order as the first stanza. I then had the class echo me as I sang the stanza, and then I had the class practice singing it in the square. We practiced twice before I then had the class put the entire song together - chorus, stanza 1, chorus, stanza 2, chorus. (One student actually asked about doing this which was a great segue.) It was in all a pretty long effort, but the students now have a full song under their belt. | ||
| Clef writing | Review the staff, write a treble clef | |
I had a bare clefless staff on the board, and I asked the students what it was. Unfortunately, students didn't quite remember the term "staff"; I got a variety of answers such as "note", "pitch", "do". They clearly knew it had something to do with music, but no "staff". After reintroducing the term "staff", I also told them that a staff wasn't really a staff until it was graced by one more thing - the clef symbol. I drew a treble clef a few times on the board, and told the class that drawing a treble clef well takes lots and lots of practice. I then invited a few students, one at a time to come up to the board and try writing the treble clef. Wow, that made the students behave! I could only have a few students do the drawing, and so I plan on doing this several times. Unfortunately, I forgot who went up, so making sure everyone gets the same number of turns over the course of multiple weeks is going to be a difficult. | ||
| Introducing Tempo | Discuss tempo, and find the beat in various songs | |
Before I jumped into discussing tempo, I had the students follow a clapping and tapping pattern. For the larger class, even this took a little bit of time. I varied the clapping and tapping just a bit to be sure that I had everyone's attention. I spent maybe a half of a minute reminding the students about the pervasiveness of a beat in any song. Next, I talked about the songs that we knew already, like Hello World, and how fast it "felt" to the students. I then talked about slow songs, and I introduced "Largo". I then played the Garden Song (Charlotte Diamond) for the students as a representation of Largo. As the song played, I clapped to the beat of the song, and I encouraged the students to do the same. I then introduced "Allegro", and played Victor Vito for the students. Again, I clapped to the beat, and the students followed. Next, I introduced "Andante", and I billed it as a medium speed; I then played "Raisins" (Barenaked Ladies), and again had the students find the beat while clapping. I know that I played a few other songs for them, but I can't recall what they were. But they all varied a little bit, and each time, I had the students clap to the beat and guess which tempo bucket the song fell into. I do recall playing "Mariposa Ole" (Dan Zanes), and a few students perked up as the song was in Spanish. I then also chose a student to walk around the square. I then clapped with the student's outer foot hit the ground, although I didn't tell the class what I was doing. Eventually students figured it out, and I then made the connection between Andante and a "walking" pace. Now, at this point, I was pretty much out of time. :( But, I did try to squeeze in Presto for the first class and I played "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" (Lesley Gore) and the first class marched/danced out the class to the song. The second class' exit involved more chaos, as I played it but then the students were already getting up to leave as I started the song. I'll have to follow up with Presto the next week. | ||
There was a lot that I prepped for that I didn't cover. For starters, I had written out the chorus to "Time" (Sweet Honey in the Rock) on the board, but we never got to it. I also had hoped to get a little more time w/ sticks (although I think I have to budget at least 10 minutes because of handout and pickup), and I wanted to sing a bit of Still Gotta Get Up In The Morning.
My backpocket list is also pretty huge now. Items on that list that aren't review include the Cookie Jar chant (although with 32 kids, that can take a looooong time), Epo I Tai Tai E, Botendere, and Tuwe Tuwe - all world music.
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