I knew that I was going to use my iPod today, and so while the students were gathering around the carpet, I played the March of the Toy Soldiers for the students. One quarter to one half of the students always chime in with something that showed that they were familiar with the song - either they knew it was from the Nutcracker, or it involved a ballet, or it involved some sort of show. I’d use this song later, and I wanted those who were less familiar with the song to have heard it for a little bit.
| Leaves Are Red and Yellow | Review song and sing about the cold crisp air |
| Today was a day before a large storm system was to sweep through the whole state, and so the plan was to sing this along with the crisp cold air lyrics. However, upon singing the song I discovered that I couldn’t really sing very high at all; that second line was unsingable at my usual class volume! I had to lightly falsetto this for the 3rd and 4th lines, but it was so poor (in my opinion) that I bailed on trying to sing about that cold air, and I moved on.
I did intend on adding another line to the song, but I felt that the red/yellow addition was enough for today. So, I moved on… | |
| Let’s Travel Down the Music Road | Warmup kids with solfege |
| My voice wasn’t about to suddenly regain its full strength between classes, and so for the second class, I decided to substitute this very short song. I did sing it lower than I would have liked to (and I practice this in the car first), but I still had to falsetto the higher notes. Fortunately, kindergarteners are pretty forgiving (even the 1st class and my horrendous performance) and the kids sang along fine. I added solfege, which the kids also happily followed. | |
| March of the Toy Soldiers | Listen and find the pattern of the song |
| This is an activity that I’ve done several times during the holidays, where I play the march, followed by the three different sections, albeit one at a time. For each section I had the students describe how they felt when listening to the music. Now, for kinders, they definitely need a little more guidance and the answers aren’t as predictable as they would be for 1st or 2nd graders; I did steer them towards three distinct themes. I then had three students come up, one assigned to each of the themes, and then when I replayed the entire march, I wrote the students’ names (or initial) that corresponded to what the students were hearing.
The class ends up with a ABACABA pattern; I don’t actually double the A’s; it makes for an unnecessarily long string. However, this also allowed me to introduce “chorus” (A), stanza (B), and bridge (C). Now, this is a bit of a stretch; the March has no words, and chorus/stanza are really concepts meant for songs with lyrics. However, I did want to emphasize the point that music has patterns, and like songs with choruses, the March seems to always come back to A. I then had the students recall “I Think You’re Wonderful” (Red Grammer) - a song that they have heard nearly every Wednesday at assembly; that song definitely has a chorus and a stanza (but no bridge), but it gave the students an example of patterns in a song. | |
| Snowman Scale | Teach song, and movements |
| I started this by talking about the storm, how it meant that some parts of California were going to get snow, and that someone out there will be building a snowman soon. I had the students pretend they were a big snowman, and then I asked what they would use to decorate the snowman. The mention of the carrot nose then allowed me to introduce the little rabbit in the song, who was eager to eat that carrot nose.
This song started out fine, but then around sol or la, my voice started giving out again, and I had to resort to a very quiet falsetto for the rest of the song. The snowman scale song is something that is meant to introduce the solfege body motions, particularly on the way down at the end of the song. The students did follow me down, but I don’t think that the motions really stuck. | |
| Pony Macaroni | Teach song, zipper in movements |
| I segued into this song by asking the students who had a pet at home. We talked about a few animals (someone said that they had a baby tiger!), and eventually I mentioned to the class that once I imagined I had a pony… named Macaroni. Of course I received a lot of chuckles at this point, and so I simply broke out into song, with the kids echoing me. This was the first time that the students heard the song, and since I didn’t have a lot of time, I simply had the students trot around as if they were on a pony as I sang; I suddenly stopped at “stop” to see if the students followed. The found this to be a fun little challenge, so I substituted “walk” and “hop” for trotting during the 2nd and 3rd iterations of the song. | |
| John the Rabbit | Review, sing more |
| With only the few minutes left, I talked more about animala, and I asked them about the rabbit that I used to know as a child. I also asked the students about the song and how it was sung, and even though not everyone remembered, I started singing, and the students responded.
A children’s musical group named “Key Wilde and Mr. Clarke” have an amusing rendition of John The Rabbit, which includes stanzas dedicated to Ralph the Raccoon and Mike The Monkey. The kids absolutely loved these alternate versions, and even though it was clear that I was making all of this up (i.e. I probably didn’t have a raccoon burning down my attic when I was a child), it was a great way to end the day. | |
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