Musicing

Integrated Music Lesson #4: Life Cycles

2012-02-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

This is the easiest integration I have ever done, because the science activity follows so clearly from the original singing game. I have second and third graders in mind with this lesson plan, but it could also be adapted for other grades. When I developed this lesson, I wanted to show my class how many of the Missouri music standards could be addressed in a single, complex singing game lesson, hence the long list of objectives and the unique Missouri numbering system.

Science Objectives

Strand 3: Characteristics and Interactions of Living Organisms

B. Organisms progress through life cycles unique to different types of organisms

a. Identify and sequence life cycles (birth, growth, and development, reproduction and death) of animals (i.e., butterfly, frog, chicken, snake, dog)

Music Objectives

Product Performance:

1. Develop and apply singing skills to perform and communicate through the arts

C. Repertoire: Perform a varied repertoire of songs, including . . . folk

E. Group singing: Perform in groups using a steady beat following the cues of the conductor

3. Develop and apply improvisation skills in music to communicate through the arts

A. Improvisation: Improvise short rhythmic and melodic patterns

Artistic Perceptions:

2. Develop and apply the knowledge and skills to evaluate music and musical performance

A. Criteria for Musical Performances and Compositions: Develop criteria to distinguish between quality and non-quality performance through listening and self-assessment with regard to the following musical elements: appropriate singing voice, loud/soft, steady beat/ posture/stage presence

Interdisciplinary Connections:

1. Develop and apply knowledge and skills to understand the relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

B. Connections Between Music and Non-Arts Disciplines: Identify ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines are interrelated with those of music

Historical and Cultural Connections:

1. Develop and apply the knowledge and skills to understand works of art in time and place

A. Genres and Styles: Identify characteristics of teacher-selected genres or styles . . . singing games

C. Music’s Role and function in Various Cultures: Describe the function of music in various settings and cultural events . . . singing games, Discuss and demonstrate appropriate listening behavior for various types of performances

Materials:

“When I Was a Baby” from Jump Jim Joe: Great Singing Games for Children, New England Dancing Masters Productions (includes CD), life cycle handouts/visuals; my university class also recorded this traditional singing game on youtube (see below)

Process:

Learn “When I Was a Baby” and sing it as a class on multiple occasions
Discuss the purposes/functions of this singing game
Discuss the human life cycle relative to the game
Explore additional ways to keep the beat throughout the game
As a class, adapt the parts of the singing game to include additional or different parts of the life cycle.
As a class or in groups (depending on additional help available in class) review the life cycles of various animals or insects and adapt them to the singing game (It might be helpful to use this sentence and fill in the blanks: “When I was a (stage in life cycle) . . . this is what I did. I went (action) this-a-way . . .”)
Discuss elements of a quality performance; practice and refine performances

Assessment: Video record the final performances, view, and discuss as a class

Integrated Music Lesson #3: Singin' About the Food Chain

2012-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

I developed this lesson for and with my son's class when he was in second grade. I played my guitar to accompany the singing. They loved the activity! And, the students remembered the song years after we sang it and wrote the original verses together in class.

Objectives: All students will adapt facts about the food chain as verses for the song, Skip to My Lou (see attachment) and create a rhythmic accompaniment to their verse using body percussion.

Standards: Music—Improvise simple rhythmic accompaniments; Science—Food Chains

Preparation: Food Chain handout or projected image (information about food chains and webs for students to read)

Anticipatory Set: Echo rhythms

Teaching (input, model, check for understanding, individual and group practice, etc.)

Give the students the food chain handout and read the first section together
Sing the food chain chorus for the students (to the tune of Skip to My Lou)

Food chain, food chain, food chain

Singin’ about the food chain.

Invite the students to sing along
Demonstrate and have the students imitate the actions for the song (roll arms until the last word of the line and then touch side of face with right hand and left hand to right elbow end of each line, clap the rhythm on the last line)
As a class, make up a verse that has a sentence from the food chain handout (such as “Carnivores eat only meat”) repeated three times and followed by “Singin’ about the food chain.”
As a class, add a repeated body percussion pattern along with the verse.
Divide the class into groups and have them each come up with a verse and a rhythm accompaniment for it. Maybe give each group a different part of the food chain to define.

Closure: Perform the food chain. Have each group perform their verse. At the beginning have all the students sing the chorus and then repeat the chorus after each verse.

Extension: Write down all of the verses and the chorus and repeat the song during subsequent class periods.

Integrated Music Lesson #2: Found Sounds

2012-02-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

This lesson is an easy (and free!) combination of music and science learning objectives. Students in fifth, sixth, or seventh grades will likely be able to accomplish the objectives of this lesson without lengthy preparation. It could also be adapted for younger students. The initial lesson can easily extend into additional projects.

Objectives: Students will explore the properties of sound on improvised percussion instruments.

Standards: Science

Describe how sound energy is transferred by wave-like disturbances that spread away from the source through a medium, describe how changes in energy cause changes in loudness and pitch or a sound, predict how the properties of the medium (e.g. air, water, empty space, rock) affect the speed of different types of mechanical waves (i.e. earthquake, sound)

Standards: Music

Echo rhythmic and melodic patterns of increasing complexity on classroom instruments
Improvise short rhythmic and melodic patterns
Create and notate a rhythmic and/or melodic ostinato accompaniment within the teacher’s specified guidelines

Materials
Classroom space for discovering sounds

Anticipatory Set
Find out what students know about how sound travels

Teaching Proces

Walk around the room and hit or scrape different things to make sound
Discuss why some things sound different from others (what they are made of, how thick they are, etc.)
Experiment as a class with ways to alter the sounds (use something different to strike an object, for example)
Have class members find their own sound somewhere in the room
Have the class echo four-count patterns initiate by the teacher or a student leader
Have the class make up their own patterns to answer the leader’s patterns
Have the class members each make up a complementary pattern to be played at the same time as the leader’s repeated pattern to make a class “groove.” In other words, start the repeating pattern and invite others to join in gradually, “grooving” with the initial pattern but not overpowering it
Divide the class into groups to develop their own grooves
Have the groups invent notation to represent their grooves

Closure: Let each group play their groove for the class

Extensions: Use the grooves to accompany raps, poems, songs, or times-tables.

Play is Okay!

2012-01-28T04:30:00.001-08:00

Play is okay! Children learn and have learned for ages and ages through play—engaging, joyful, creative action. For some reason, however, teachers sometimes get it in their heads that learning requires work and that work is not play—is not fun. I suggest two points relative to this misunderstanding:

First, play is NOT the opposite of work. Think of someone who has a passion for hiking—researching to discover the best gear (shoes, backpack, sleeping bag, food) and places to hike—a set of crystal clear mountain lakes, for example. The actually hiking trip takes considerable effort; the path is steep and full of rocks. Somehow, though, the hiker enjoys the entire trip, both the challenge of the hike and the view of the lakes. This is play, recreation, fun. It is also a lot of work. Similarly, singing games are fun AND require considerable cognitive, kinesthetic, and social engagement. In fact, they likely would not be as fun if they didn’t require significant effort.

Second, many people enjoy their work. Sometimes people say, “I can’t believe I get paid for this!” Some vocations allow significant levels of autonomy, creativity, and social interaction. Some people even have a knack for making the most mundane tasks, such as yard work or household chores, interesting and fun (this is called autotelic personality, by the way). Work doesn’t have to be unpleasant or boring. In fact, if the work of learning is unpleasant or boring it will likely be less effective than if it involves ample opportunity for physical, social, and creative engagement.

The reason that children’s singing games have endured over time is that they naturally engage students in meaningful musicing and musical learning. In the process students learn far more about music and develop musical skills at levels far surpassing anything that could be accomplished through a music worksheet, for instance. Of course, a music worksheet might have a place once in a while, but if learning is the aim (and, of course, we all know it is), we will allow the joyful and creative play/work or work/play of traditional singing games.

Lesson Plans

2012-01-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

It's important to plan instruction. However, you simply cannot plan everything that kids will learn; some might "get it" and some might not and kids will potentially learn much that wasn't even outlined in the lesson plan. Also, concepts such as dynamics and tempo terminology can be taught quickly if the children have already experienced the concepts musically (i.e. have sung songs in various tempos with variations in dynamics). Then, it's just a matter of naming what they already know first-hand. This reasoning can also apply to reading bubble (staff or "standard") notation in that students need to experience and name pitch patterns (solfege) prior to reading them or discussing things like rhythm trees and fractions. So, basically, identifying (naming) concepts is an important process, but can constitute maybe 5 percent of the lesson . . . if that much. The bulk of the lesson should be skill development--skills in singing on pitch and in rhythm, playing instruments, and moving/dancing ("rhythming"). Kids learn these complex skills over extended periods of time by singing/playing/moving to complex/engaging/memorable songs and singing games. This portion of the lesson (learning, exploring, and transforming songs) should take up 80-90 percent of the time. The remaining 5-10 percent is some type of warm-up--something that focuses the children and drills skills. For example, echo rhythms, echo rhythm solfege, echo melodic patterns, echo melodic solfege, create rhythm patterns, guess songs from the rhythm or hand signs, imitate movements, or even engage kids in traditional choral and physical warm-ups. So, a typical 30-minute lesson plan for second graders might look like this:

Warm-up (5-10 minutes)

Echo teacher-led rhythm patterns (common time)
Answer teacher-led rhythm patterns (do something different from the teacher, still in common time)
Echo student-led rhythm patterns (common time); students initiate three rhythms and then choose another student to take a turn

Learn a new singing game or dance.

Explore the rhythm in a familiar song using classroom instruments. Discuss specific rhythm concepts (tempo, isolate specific rhythmic patterns, etc.).

Play a familiar singing game if there is time remaining.

It is not difficult to connect the musical actions in this sequence to skills and concepts in any given elementary music curriculum guide. The key, of course, is to find interesting, authentic, engaging singing games and to be creative in exploring songs (see 100 Ways to Repeat a Song).

Beginning Band Concert

2011-12-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

We had our first beginning band concert a couple of weeks ago; we played for 10 minutes at the beginning of the elementary school Christmas concert. There are eight sixth-graders in the band--two trumpets, three alto saxes, one flute, and two percussionists. This includes all sixth graders in the school except one. We have been playing out of the Do It! band method (from GIA publications). I accompany the group on piano although the book also comes with an outstanding accompaniment CD (not MIDI, but "real" instruments). We played seven songs from the book including Jingle Bells, Up on the Housetop, and Jolly Old St. Nicholas. The band members' favorite song, however, was Blues in F because they all got to improvise. Due to an awesome beginning band book that includes harmonies and also because of my (very basic "boom-chuck") piano accompaniments, the music sounds a lot more musical than the typical beginning band concert. The family members and friends in attendance seemed sincerely appreciative.

Guess the Song!

2011-10-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

The other morning I tapped a song on the breakfast table and asked the kids if they could guess what it was. They guessed it! I tried a couple more. Then, they each wanted to play a rhythm on the table for the rest of us to guess the song. It's difficult to do. From the perspective of an elementary music teacher, what a wonderful activity for developing inner hearing and rhythmic awareness/proficiency! I used to do this in the classroom regularly. A couple of pointers that I learned from Susan Kenney may be helpful here: Have the students avoid shouting out their guesses. Rather, they can raise their hands if they know. Then, at the end of the song, ask someone for their guess. Don't say they are right or not, but tap the rhythm again so that everyone can test whether that song fits the rhythm--practicing inner hearing. Then ask, "Did it fit?" This allows the students to make the call. Extensions on this type of activity include having the students tap the rhythm together as a group and playing the rhythm on percussion instruments.

Beginning Band

2011-08-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

This year I'm teaching the beginning band at the Horace Mann Lab School here at Northwest Missouri State University. We started playing instruments yesterday. It's always exciting that first day when we play--starting with mouthpieces and then adding the instruments. We have two trumpet players, one trombone player, three saxophone players, one percussionist, and a couple who are still deciding what they would like to do. Today we'll all try to play the same pitch; it should be fun! I'll keep writing about the beginning band, about my brass methods class, and about beginning band in general. I taught beginning band for twelve years and really enjoyed it. I'm glad to be back in the swing of things with my new group.

Elementary Music Curriculum: Simple or Complex

2011-08-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Keep it simple! What can be simpler in curriculum planning than teaching children a singing game like Bluebird or A-Hunting We Will Go? On the other hand, playing the singing game is a very complex activity for the children with so many interesting things that can happen while interacting with others and a delightful song to sing over and over until they know it "by heart"--a beautiful thing! In other words, simple curriculum planning can lead to the musical/cognitive/kinesthetic complexity that little brains and bodies crave. I think this principle works the other way around, too. Plan a detailed curriculum addressing concepts like high and low, fast and slow, syncopation, pentatonic scales, and so forth in a sequential manner and end up with simple, boring musical engagements for children. For example, a lesson addressing fast and slow tempi might require the students to draw a circle around the turtle or the bunny on a worksheet while listening to a musical excerpt--a simple, boring task that will be more likely to prepare children to someday work obediently on an assembly line than to collaborate with others in creating something new or solving a real-life problem. Set up the curriculum and the classroom like a factory and prepare factory workers (low wage employment nowadays for the factory jobs that haven't already gone overseas). Set up the curriculum as a creative, interactive space and prepare children for an engaging world of work and life. The nice thing is that interesting musical activities abound--they grow naturally as musical practices take shape and continue because they satisfy real needs for real people. In sum, look for the naturally occurring and complex musical practices in outside-of-school contexts (singing games, for one) and bring them into the classroom. It's easier than making up your own stuff from scratch and likely more engaging for the children. And it's fun. And that's okay.

Skip to My Lou (Hello, How Are You?)

2011-08-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

Learn the names of the children beforehand or ask three students what their names are. Then sing, "Hello, Cindy, how are you? Hello, David, how are you? Hello, Kayla, how are you? Skip to my lou my darlin'" clapping the beat of the last bit and waving at each student as they are named--all to the tune of Skip to My Lou, of course. I did this one with many groups and they love it (kindergarten or first grade--probably not so effective with sixth graders). Another variation is to then let those three skip around the circle while everyone sings "Skip with me, I'll skip with you . . . etc." I learned this variation from Susan Kenney who, I believe, picked it up from the ETM folks. Yet another variation is with all students in groups of threes singing the names of each child in their group and then holding hands and skipping in a circle on the Skip with me, I'll skip with you part. Or, better yet, make up your own variation. I remember singing this timeless folk song in third grade back in the 70s--just singing it in class with no games but with a variety of verses. (Flies in the buttermilk, shoo fly shoo; Little red wagon painted blue; Lost my partner what'll I do; I'll find another one, it might be you). My students at Eureka Elementary enjoyed making up their own verses that rhymed (I found a stink bug in my shoe; We left my sister at the zoo, etc.). You know, it can be a lot of fun to just play the guitar and sing with kids. An important thing is to avoid getting caught up in whether you are doing it right or not--whether you are following the method or the rules of the game correctly. I was worried once about remembering the tune of a song learned at a workshop and someone suggested that if I forgot I could just make up my own tune. Good advice . . .

Go Tell Aunt Rhody (I'm Thinking of Someone)

2011-08-23T19:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a great singing game for focusing a group of students sitting on the floor in a circle: "I'm thinking of someone. I'm thinking of someone. I'm thinking of someone, who is wearing red" (or any other descriptor about clothing, etc.) to the tune of Go Tell Aunt Rhody. If the other children want to guess who you are thinking of they can raise their hands and be called on at which point they ask, "Is it (child's name)?" The kids love the potential of being the one who you are thinking of. For a refresher on the tune:

Another game is plain old Go Tell Aunt Rhody. The one who is it runs or walks around the outside of the circle where the rest of the players are sitting. On the word "dead", they touch (don't hit) someone who is the closest on the head and that person falls over as if dead. Then everyone says, "Oh, no! The goose is dead!" at which point the one who is it asks the person on either side of the goose, "(child's name), will you go tell Aunt Rhody the old grey goose is dead?" It's a lot to say, yes, but it's good for the kids to put the entire sentence together just like that. Then that person goes to tell Aunt Rhody and the one who was it sits in their place in the circle. Whether the dead geese stay dead throughout the remainder of the game is up to you. To harsh for children? Death is real. Why avoid the topic?

Partner Songs: Bluebird & Skip to My Lou

2011-08-19T08:18:00.000-07:00

Bluebird is a great game for young children. I have found it effective to have the kids press hands together rather than hold hands in order to make the windows. The person who is "it" flys around through the windows and lands in front of someone at the end of the song and asks, "(name), would you like to be the bird?" If the answer is "yes" then the new one is "it" and the previous one takes their place. This game can be played with multiple birds or students can choose what kind of bird to be in which case there might be two questions, "Would you like to be a bird?" and "What kind of bird would you like to be?" As the teacher, I like to eventually drop out of the singing and let the students sustain the singing game. Whoever begins the song, of course, chooses the starting pitch. I don't think the starter needs to give the pitch beforehand either. We start and everyone settles in on a pitch. The idea is to keep it complex and interesting.

Once the children know the song and game, it can be partnered with Skip to My Lou. In fact, there are quite a few songs that will partner with these.

Integrated Music Lesson #1: I've Been Everywhere

2011-08-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

One favorite country song that kids still may have heard and will likely enjoy is I've Been Everywhere. It's a fun challenge to sing it. This lesson idea integrates music with social studies and lauguage arts (and possibly math and even science, too).

Music Objectives: Students will sing in small groups with a pre-recorded accompaniment, explore musical genres (country), compose original lyrics, and create movement sequences.

Social Studies Objectives: Students will locate places on a map representing where they have been. (If you need a math connection they could also figure out how far they have traveled from place to place).

Language Arts Objectives: Students will identify the rhyme scheme for the verse in I've Been Everywhere and compose an original verse. (This could also serve as a writing prompt to tell a story about a trip they have been on.)

Materials: Recording of I've Been Everywhere (preferrably a karaoke recording as well for performance); Lyrics for I've Been Everywhere (make sure the lyrics match the performance since Hank Snow's version has a few different places from Johnny Cash's).

Sequence:

Listen to the song as a class (this could occur on multiple occasions).
Sing along with the song as a class a few times (with lyrics).
Discuss and list places where the students have been.
Discuss and map the rhyme scheme of the verse.
Divide into groups. Each group will locate on a map the places that they have been. (This could be limited to a specific geographical location.) List the places. Look for places that rhyme.
Arrange places into a verse following the rhyme scheme identified earlier. (Notice that one of the rhymes isn't a place.)
Practice and then perform verses for the rest of the class along with a karaoke accompanment if available.
Develop a line dance to go with the chorus of the song and add it to the overall performance.

This lesson, of course, will extend beyond a single 30-minute session. For rural kids especially, this song and activity could maintain quite a bit of interest. The places could also be rooms in a house, businesses, places in the body (for a creative science connection) and so forth. One caution: Don't make a big deal about students who have traveled on extended vacations and exotic places; not all families can afford such trips.

The Big Ships are Sailing Down the Ally Ally Oh

2011-08-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

I love this game and so do the kids! It presents a unique challenge--to "thread the needle". Interestingly, it was also a game in which my students never complained about having to hold hands. The musical portion, of course, is simply that the students get to sing a delightful tune over and over again until is firmly planted in their brains to be shared and explored further. The tune we used in the video is different from some of the others (do a youtube search); you can use whichever one you want, of course. Or, change it to suit youself or your students. Most versions, though, work well as partner songs for Skip to My Lou and Bluebird (I, I, V, V, I, I, V, I if you follow this kind of chord notation). Anyway, here's a clip of my elementary methods class playing the game:

Teaching a Singing Game

2011-07-27T06:44:00.000-07:00

The best way to learn a singing game, in my opinion, is the most authentic: simply watch others playing it and then join in. However, when teaching in an elementary classroom, you will need to teach all of the students the singing game "from scratch" (although you could have the students watch a video of the game). So, there are a few approaches that seem to work, depending on the singing game. One approach is to first get the students into the proper formation (lines or circle) and then act as the one-who-is-it. For snowball-type games such as Rig a Jig Jig this can be accomplished with little or no instruction. The students will catch on quickly. After a few turns, someone else can start taking on the role of the one-who-is-it. Another approach is to teach the entire song by rote before playing the game. To teach a song by rote, sing the song for the students at least 10-12 times giving them something to do (see 100 Ways to Repeat a Song) or listen for each time they hear the song. The things to do should be connected to each other from one song to the next. For example, if they are adding actions, they should probably continue adding more actions throughout or something related, rather than all of a sudden switching to identifying specific rhythms. I outlined such a sequence in the post for Four White Horses. Then, after they know the song, on a different day usually, teach them how to play the game with as little talking as possible. You will discover many things that work. The important thing is to let the students make their own sense out of complexity as much as possible, give verbal instructions as little as possible, and keep it interesting by giving the students something meaningful and engagingly challenging to do throughout the process. Then, on subsequent days, play the game again. Eventually you may want to change the game or have the students change the game (see Four White Horses and Drunken Sailor, for example). You can also explore the song in more detail in order to address specific curriculum standards. For exploration ideas, see 100 Ways to Repeat a Song.

This is such a fun way to teach. Remember, though, that what works for me might not work for you and your students. Be creative and try new things. Enjoy!

Puncinella

2011-07-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a delightful singing game about that classical jester-character, Puncinella (Pulcinella). In this game the-one-who-is-it stands in the middle of the circle and the rest of the students stand or walk around the outside singing the song. Then the one in the middle performs some sort of action or movement that the rest imitate. Then the one in the middle chooses someone to be it by "taking a turn" (covering eyes, hand outstretched, turn in a circle).

Some extensions might include exploration of the Pulcinella character online, puppet shows or mini-plays with costumes, or class-created choreography to an excerpt from Stravinsky's neo-classical ballet, Pulcinella, accessed for free on YouTube or Grooveshark. What a fun way to develop an elementary and music curriculum. Fun is good. Play is okay.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

2011-07-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

This morning, Sophie (6 years old) is playing school with an assortment of dolls and stuffed animals all lined up on an easy chair; she's teaching them to sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm. She has sung through the song quite a few times and sometimes the stuffed animals are used to represent the animals on Old MacDonald's farm. Kids like imaginative play, of course, and it's pretty common to see them imitating adult roles (parents and teachers). This is a great song, at any rate, with some complex fast rhythms and simple pentatonic melodic patterns. Other environments could be represented by changing the person (Old MacDonald) and the place (the farm). Children could also draw pictures of the various environments/habitats developed. A single chord and/or rhythmic patterns could accompany the entire song.

Ring Around the Rosie

2011-07-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

We stayed in Mesquite, Nevada last night on our way to Oceanside, California. In the motel pool Audrey and Sophie (ages 3 and 6) started playing Ring Around the Rosie. Their older brothers and I joined in. What fun! I have yet to come across children in North American who do not know this game. I used to play it with my elementary students. At an ETM conference I was introduced to the idea of singing the song in a round in concentric circles, each circle going a different direction from the one before and after. I used to do this with my students as well especially on days when there were multiple classes in music at one time. Older kids can, in this way, re-discover Ring Around the Rosie, in a way that is challenging and engaging. Of course, Landon and William (ages 11 and 9) were just fine singing the song in the pool because they were singing it with their little sisters. In other words, it doesn't always have to be challenging to be engaging (despite what the optimal experience or zone of proximal development folks say).

Work Up Games

2011-06-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here are three rhythm games where the strategy is to try to work your way to the top. Basically, someone is the leader and during a repeated rhythmic pattern they say their name followed by someone else's. Then that person says their name and someone else's at the appropriate time within the rhythmic pattern. If someone messes up they go to the end and everyone who was below them moves up one spot.

The first is Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The top four people have the names "Matthew, Mark, Luke, John" and the rest have consecutive numbers. I remember playing this one as a teenager. Here's a youtube clip kindly posted recently of a multi-age group of people enjoying this game:

The next game is Big Booty. This clip is of some teenagers playing the game:

And, finally, this is Zoomie Zoomie. I think it came from or at least was popularized by the TV show, Zoom. Now, it's a drinking game (like Big Booty once was mainly). Here's a clip. I wouldn't show this in school, of course, but the game could definitely be adapted for school. One variation is to replace names with actions.

Cupid Shuffle & Move Your Body

2011-05-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

One of the Elementary Education majors at Northwest Missouri State University taught a lesson today combining music with math (left, right, directions) using the Cupid Shuffle. This is an easy dance to learn and also give the students opportunities for creative movement. Here's the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPna1dIeUHQ

There are a lot of line dances (country and hip hop) that could be appropriate for elementary school. Another student shared Beyonce's Move Your Body. This one's a bit more complex, to say the least, but could be a lot of fun, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYP4MgxDV2U

Learning by Playing Singing Games

2011-05-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

Today in elementary classroom methods (a course for pre-service elementary teachers) we played a bunch of singing games and then brain-stormed concepts or skills that students might develop simply by participating in the singing games (Che,Che,Cha; Down, Down, Baby; Little Sally Walker; Draw a Bucket of Water; I Let Her Go-Go). This is what we came up with:

Social Skills (leadership, communication, teamwork, people interaction, come out of their shells, self-confidence, being a good follower, cooperation, following instructions)

Math Concepts (counting, patterns, memorization, right and left, spatial direction--over under through, sequences, classification)

History Concepts (drawing a bucket of water--when did they do this, where do the songs originate, connections with heritage)

Spatial Reasoning (over, under, through, up, down, circle, moving in a circle, 180 degrees)

Large and fine motor skills (jumping, hopping, skipping, dancing, clapping, etc.)

Coordination (self, with others, timing)

Creativity (making a dance, making a motion, group work, creating your own short individual dance, matching movements to rhythm)

Musical Skills (beat, rhythm, patterns, vocalizing, singing, dynamics, articulation)

Seriously, that's a pretty great list and demonstrates how much is going on in the brain/body when children participate in singing games. Super valuable stuff! Think, also, of intrinsic motivation. But, that's another topic . . .

Ken Robinson Part II

2011-05-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a subsequent talk by Ken Robinson about the future of schooling. I like his suggestions towards that end that we need to replace the industrial, mechanized metaphor currently dominant in formal education with an agricultural metaphor. In the former, students are treated like products on an assembly line and in the second like plants, nurtured and given room to grow.

Little Sally Walker

2011-05-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

In Comparative Methods of Elementary Music last night we came across some videos of children playing Little Sally Walker. Here they are:

Here's the older version that we did in class.

And the same (or similar version) with Bessie Jones

Regarding the first version which seems to be a sort of cheerleader version: We made up some hand signals to go with the melodic pattern in order to explore pitch. Clap hands above head on "so", hit the back of your hand with the other hand on "mi", and bump fists together on "do". The sequence of the first part is (with actions in bold).

Lit tle Sal ly Walker, walkin' down the street. Didn't know what to do, so she stopped in front of me.

so so mi la so mi so so mi la so so so mi la so mi mi so fa mi re do

Name Rondo

2011-05-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

About five summers ago I attended Orff level 2 training at the University of Las Vegas where Kay Lehto taught us her delightful Name Rondo. I have been teaching that Name Rondo to prospective music specialists and elementary classroom teachers since (over 500 students in all!). Today when I taught it again, one of the students said, "I learned that in summer camp!" Cool! It is possible that one of my former students taught this at summer camp.

Simple Ways to Repeat a Song

2011-05-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

This evening Audrey (our three-year-old) was singing Twinkle Twinkle on a neutral syllable. I said, "Let's sing it like cows!" And we did. "Moo moo moo moo moo moo moo . . ." Then I said, "Let's sing it like cats." And we did. "Meow meow meow meow meow meow meow . . ." Then I said, "Let's sing it like dogs." And we did. "Bark bark" or "Arf arf". Then she said, "Let's sing it like dinosaurs." And we did. "Graur, graur, graur, graur . . ." And on and on we went for about 20 repetitions of the song (tigers, snakes, etc.). At some point Sophie (out six-year-old) joined in. What fun! Eventually, Audrey started throwing in some non-animal options and we had to figure out how to sing it like broccoli. "Broc-lee, broc-lee, broc-lee, broc-lee . . ." Anyway, my point is that it is easy to find ways to repeat a song and it's also fun to engage the imaginations of children in this way. And, even though we weren't really thinking about curriculum, we addressed singing on pitch and exploring various tone colors or timbres. We also sang Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Bingo, and How Much is that Doggy in the Window? They liked the last one a lot, because they threw in the "bark bark" part at the ends of phrases. I was pointing at them, cueing the "bark bark" part. Eventually Sophie insisted that she sing the song and point at us for the "bark bark" part. She changed the tune a bit, but wasn't concerned about getting it "right" and, really, her tune was just as good as the original. In the Missouri Music Curriculum there is a requirement that all students learn to follow the cues of a conductor. What a fun way to address that! Of course, I'm not suggesting that we adhere strictly to a set of standards--that tends to take the complexity and enjoyment out of musicing with children. Rather, think about what will be engaging musically and interpersonally and then, if you feel it's a must, look at the Grade Level Expectations and see what you've addressed through authentic musicing. Then, if there is something that was missed, creative elementary music or elementary classroom teachers can always take the same songs and repeat or explore them in new ways that will address the remaining standards.

Singing Games

2011-04-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

One approach to teaching elementary music is to focus on traditional singing games and dances at least in the earlier grades. In my experience, this approach is extremely effective in engaging children in joyful musicing. Singing games in elementary school have intrinsic motivation, meaning that the motivation to participate is contained within the game; students want to play the games over and over because of the game's inherent strategies and challenges. In fact, the teacher usually tires of the games before the students do. And, really, to help children develop the ability to sing songs with others it is essential that they sing the same songs over and over. If you try to have the students simply sit and sing the same song over and over, chances are they will become bored. Also, in the singing games are plenty of opportunities to develop interpersonal and communication skills. My recommendation for Kindergarten through at least third grade music is to have 80 to 90 percent of the time devoted to these singing games. Of course, this doesn't mean that the students simply play the games over and over, but includes activities in which the games are explored rhythmically and melodically and changed or extended. In this blog I discuss how specific singing games can be applied in this way in the elementary music classroom as well as integrated within the regular elementary classroom.

Drunken Sailor

2011-04-19T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is an engaging dance to a tune with which most students will be familiar. Sometimes students ask me if this is appropriate for elementary school and I think it is. Drunkenness was a real problem amongst sailors in years past because a drunk sailor couldn't fulfill his work duties. So, drunk sailors were punished. For some students, a drunk parent or relative might pose equal or greater problems. I teach the students the basic dance and then have them make up new verses and new dance patterns.

A piano accompaniment is easy to add: D minor four counts, C major four counts, D minor four counts, C major two counts, D minor two counts. Left hand alternates D and A on D minor and C and G on C major--boom, boom, boom, boom. Right hand does the open fifths/fourth--d, a, d in D minor and c, g, c in C major--chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck. On the last "up she rises" take everything up stepwise (parallel motion) four eighth notes, then three quarter notes coming back to D "earlye in the morning."

The Button and the Key

2011-04-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

I love this game! Make sure the participants are bowing their heads and closing their eyes; the-one-who-is-it shouldn't allow the peekers to guess. I also encourage the participants to call each other by name and ask a question (Cindy, do you have the button?) when guessing. It's polite and it gives those who are shy a script to follow. Anyway, there was one boy in my second grade elementary music class years ago who never would speak or sing in class. I often tried to get a sound out of him, but in vain. One day we were playing this game and he had the button. I wondered how he would respond when we all sang, "Who has the button?" We sang it, our heads bowed and eyes closed . . . and in that darkness the sweetest voice sang out clearly and on-pitch, "I have the button!" Yes, I love this game.

If you don't have a button or a key, any objects will do. Also, my classes usually sang this with a triplet/swing feel. I encouraged the university students to maintain a dotted eighth feel and they did pretty well even though a true Scotch Snap (sixteenth followed by dotted eighth) seems to be lost.

Creativity

2011-04-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

A graduate student reminded me about this Youtube link to Ken Robinson's increasingly popular discussion of creativity and public education. We so often hear music advocacy statements that claim music education increases creativity. However, that all depends on how music is experienced in schools. The types of singing games/experiences I am promoting in this blog are, I believe, the types of complex, engaging, interactive activities that will, indeed, allow for and encourage creativity.

Four White Horses

2011-04-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is a singing game that I learned from a wonderful book by the New England Dancing Masters (Down in the Valley: More Great Singing Games for Children, Schools, & Communities edited by Andy Davis, Peter Amidon, Mary Alice Amidon)--possibly my favorite collection of childrens' singing games. The clip is of my Elementary Music Methods course at Northwest Missouri State University playing the game. The third group is trying to figure out a way to play the game with more than four people. I also have the class make up new hand clapping (or other movement) patterns to go with the song. We tried this with the fourth graders at Horace Mann Elementary School (our on-campus lab school) and they went the entire 30 minutes making up new, creative ways to play the game and they played the game outside of class. That's the kind of successful activity I was referring to in my previous post!

The first thing that really catches my attention in this song is the repeated and syncopated pattern, "ay ay ay". So, when I teach this song to a group I usually have them first clap on the ay's while I sing the lyrics (Four white horses on a river, ay ay ay up tomorrow. Up tomorrow is a rainy day. Come on, join in our shadow play. Shadow play is a ripe banana, ay ay ay, up tomorrow. Up tomorrow is a rainy day.) This usually takes two times through to get them all. Then, we start adding actions for the various parts of the song starting with raising hands high above the head on up and then dropping the hands again . . . the rainy fingers for rainy day . . . make up shadow puppets for shadow play . . . etc. All in all, this gives about 10 to 12 repetitions of the song at which point the students may have internalized it well enough to move on. On a subsequent day, I re-introduce the song this time keeping the beat in various ways and eventually keeping the beat with everyone in a large circle keeping the beat as if they were playing the game starting with hands out in front as if they were clapping hands with the person across from them, then clapping, then clapping the hands of the people to each side, and then clapping hands again, etc. I find that it helps to do this as a large group first so that everyone builds off the success of each other. Then we divide into groups and try the game. Then, on other days, we make up new ways to play the game. It is important to let the students demonstrate in their groups either the original game or their new way. This gives them opportunities to sing in smaller groups without being self-conscious. It gives me a chance to assess how well they are matching pitch, etc.

This game will kind of take on a life of it's own, but could be re-visited for skill development and creativity multiple times (10 or so) throughout a school year. Yes, fun and games!!! But, think about all of the musical, kinesthetic, creative, and interpersonal skills being developed in the process.

Musicing

2011-03-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Whether you follow Christopher Small or David Elliott--musicking or musicing--the idea (in my mind) is the same. Music is an action . . . not an object. In this blog I'm interested specifically in musicing by and with children. I believe that children become musical by musicing (vs. learning musical concepts). Anyway, that's how my four children have developed their musicality--by singing, playing instruments, and dancing at home informally and for enjoyment. Yes, fun and games!!! Too often in school, children are subjected to a music curriculum devoid of meaningful and joyful musicing and, so, they really don't learn much or develop musically. Plus, they don't sing individual songs enough times to really know them. If you're a music teacher, how many of the songs that you sing in class could individual students sing at home (the entire song)? How many of the songs that you sing in class would students WANT to sing at home . . . over and over. The other day, our oldest daughter, Sophie, who is in first grade came home singing, "Wake up you sleepy head and go and find the cattle", etc . . . over and over. And, she played a game along with it . . . by herself. Her teacher had given her a special gift, a memorable song. Thank you, Sophie's music teacher!