Teaching Notes, 2nd, 20130425

Last week, we spent time exploring tempo, and so this time I wanted to have the students work with dynamics. I also was thinking of having the students fiddle with the movable Do, but I didn't think that I'd really have enough time, so I wanted to introduce a short song for future starting pitch changes. I also wanted to experiment with a potential second song for the spring sing.

Pay Me My Money Down	Lead students into class with ukulele, introduce song
I started leading the students in while strumming my ukulele, and I started singing the chorus of the song a few times. With all of the students in the room, I had the students practice singing "Pay Me My Money Down" (just that line); I would point to the students, and they'd sing. I tried both a chorus and a stanza this way, and the students mostly got the hang o fit. The response shows up with two different sets of pitches during the song, but the students seemed to figure this out, possibly from my original singing. Pay Me is a worksong, and it certainly have lyrics that can generate a lot of questions from children. ("Go to jail?" "Pay me money?") And so I told the students that the song was indeed a worksong. I asked the students where they thought the people were working, and although I tried providing some hints by re-singing a few stanzas, the students couldn't figure it out, and so I simply told them that the song was sung by workers working at a shipyard or at the docks. I then had the students pretend they were pulling a rope whenever they sang their response; we tried this for a stanza and a chorus pair. The movements really help with the students' response; unfortunately I did this only with the first class as I simply forgot to try this with the second class.
Little Tommy Tinker	Teach Song and Movements
I've typically taught Little Tommy Tinker with the full body Kodaly signs. This time, I started with just doing the motions in silence, and I had the students mimic me. I then sang the song once through, still doing the signs. I thought some students might have known the song, but it turned out that none did, and so I then taught the song in echo, one line at a time, twice. We then sang through the song together once through. In the second class only, I asked the students how we could change the song. The first few answers all were around changing the words, but then someone noted that we could change the speed, similar to the previous class that I taught. I then suggested that we could also make it softer. At this point in time (in both classes), I told the students to try singing it quieter, which we did (still with motions). I then asked the students to try to sing it even quieter. I asked the students right there what we changed, and the first answer was that we sang it "lower". However, I explained to the students that we didn't lower our bodies when we sang the 2nd and 3rd times. I had preprinted "piano" and "FORTE" (in all caps) on sheets of paper, and I then taught the students the meaning of the terms, in a music setting. I also taught the word "dynamics" to the students. We sang Tommy Tinker once in piano, and once in forte. The students, when given permission to be loud, always try to be as loud as possible, and so I clarified that forte wasn't top-of-your-lungs loud. Also on separate sheets of paper, I had "p" and "f" printed out. I then proceeded to tell the students that for some reason, music doesn't have a perfectly centered "medium" dynamic; instead I showed a piece of paper with "mf" on it. Some students knew it was mezzoforte, but I had the whole class repeat it. I didn't have "mp" on a paper (mainly because I didn't want four dynamics for the next exercise), but I did explain what mezzopiano meant.
Oh My Goodness	Review while changing dynamics, tempo
I displayed the lyrics to the chorus on the overhead projector, and the students sang it with no issue. (I was glad to see that no students had that "not again!" look on their face.) I didn't even have to sing along with them past the first line. However, as I was about to display the first stanza, I asked the students to sing the next part in piano. As the song went on, I would change the dynamics on them. Later in the song, I started changing the tempo as well, but I would have to snap the beat with my fingers and then lead them into the song lyrics. Near the last few stanzas, I started changing the dynamics during the middle of a stanza, which really captivated the students. I did notice that the later parts of the song weren't sung with the same crispness as the other parts. Certainly the later parts are less known to the students, but even the regular recording by Sweet Honey In The Rock is 3:20, which is long. I likely have to cut some stanzas from the song (there are 6!) in order to make the song easier to learn and sing for the Spring Sing. That said, I think the students had a good time with the changing dynamics and tempo.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers (Trout Fishing In America)	Teach first half of song very slowly
If you try to search for this song, you won't find much, because it hasn't been formally released by Trout Fishing. I was inspired by this song after hearing it performed at a Trout Fishing concert only a few weeks ago. It's a really great song featuring several tongue twisters, and it is so new that even the band admitted that they had "never sung it correctly yet". A web search, in fact, yields only one little video, found here. This is the only resource that I have, in fact, in order to learn the song myself. I had Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers pre-written on a hidden board, and so it was time for the big reveal. I asked the students to not say anything until I said it first, and so I had the students repeat me, word by word. I don't think any of the students understood what was going on yet, and even when I had them echo all four words at a time slowly, still the students weren't quite sure what they were saying. I then had them say it a little faster, then even faster, and finally some of the students realized it was a tongue twister. I really wasn't expecting the students to really learn the song well, nor was I planning on having them sing everything, so I had the students simply practice saying, then singing, Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers (those four words only), when prompted by myself. I then proceeded to sing the stanza (without the students singing along or echoing), but when those four words came up, I pointed to the students (and they answered). There were times when I would prompt them by counting 1-2-3-4, which helped their timing and helped keep a steady beat through the song. When it came to the chorus (which contains a bevy of additional tongue twisters), I had the students echo each line. One line ("three grey geese in the green grass graze") I had to split into two separate echoes, just so the students wouldn't get lost. I wanted to cover only the first stanza and first chorus, anticipating that the song was going to be pretty hard for them. After finishing the chorus for the first time, I displayed the full words to them on the overhead, and so I again ran through the song in the same way; this time, however, some students tried to sing the stanza with me. (It's a very simple stanza.) I found it difficult myself to try to speak or sing the tongue twisters correctly, and while the students clearly noticed this, I don't think it bothered them much or detracted from the song, as they were having similar issues. But, they all pretty much were giggling while struggling to sing the right words, and that still was good fun for all. The song ends with the same tune found at the end of the Donut Song (but with RBBB), and so we ended up practicing that a bit. I had some extra time with the second class, and so I ended up asking them where they heard that tune before - eventually settling on the Donut Song, which we practiced one last time.

That was actually a lot of fun, even if in the second class I still had my typical struggles keeping the students in line. (I had to send a student to the office, which is no fun for anyone.) Originally I had imagined that I could have students choose the tempo and dynamics rather than myself, but that is going to have to happen later in the year. I also do plan on doing something similar with a changing Do (or starting pitch), and that should amount to more fun.

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers went pretty well - better than I imagined - but it is still going to take a lot of work to get it to performance shape. The song actually has a bridge with spoken words, and that (mild apping) might be something for the students to try. Some of the stanzas in Oh My Goodness in the original recording also are spoken rather than sung, and I might also let the students try that.

I'm starting to think that if we ever have to use a song for an impromptu sing for these students, it would have to be the donut song. If Oh My Goodness or RBBB are not ready for the Spring Sing, at least I'll have the Donut Song, which I'm sure the students would enjoy performing over and over again.