Song of the Week

Each week, students spend the last few minutes of class listening to a classical piece of music.  They are asked to close their eyes and listen for specific musical elements, and what kind of mood or feeling it evokes within them.

This week, our song was a movement from Antonio Vivaldi's violin concerti, The Four Seasons entitled "Spring."

I asked the students to tell me what instruments they hear in the piece, and why they think this piece is called "Spring" (i.e. it sounds faster, more joyful, et cetera).

Standards Being Met

Kindergarten

MU.K.C.1.2, MU.K.C.1.3

Identify sounds and instruments visually and aurally.

First Grade

MU.1.C.1.1, MU.1.C.1.2, MU.1.C.3.1  

Respond to musical ideas to show how it makes one feel and share responses with others.

Second Grade

MU.2.C.1.2, MU.2.C.3.1

Form opinions about music and discuss it with others.

Third Grade

MU.3.C.1.2

Respond to and compare individual interpretations of a musical work.

Fourth Grade

MU.4.C.1.1, MU.4.C.3.1

Develop effective listening strategies to describe the characteristics of a musical work.

Fifth Grade

MU.5.C.1.1, MU.5.O1.1

Listen to and describe various elements when analyzing a musical work using correct vocabulary.

If I Ran the Zoo

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Since March 2nd is the legendary Dr Seuss' birthday, I have created a lesson plan that incorporates reading, singing, and playing instruments with his book, "If I Ran the Zoo."

I definitely cannot take credit for this idea -- I got the idea from Ms. Benson (you can be redirected to her blog by clicking on her name)!  She originally did a melody to the book "There's A Wocket In My Pocket!"

Prep for Success -- Internalizing Pitches and Intervals

We did our standard warm-ups from the last class, with rhythm reading two measures in 4/4 time (using only quarter notes and eighth notes).  We also sang our intervals from last week (Sol, Mi, Do), and introducing "Re" for this exercise.

Once the children were comfortable with the intervals and hand signs, I had them sing, "Do-Mi-Re-Mi" (dotted eight with sixteenth note rhythm) and "Do" (half note) while using their hand signs.  I then added the words "If I Ran the Zoo!"

Big Changes:

I ended up not using this melody at all -- it turned out I made it a little too hard for the kids when they only have one mallet each.  Instead, we practiced singing, "Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Do" with hand signs on quarter notes, and then added the lyrics "If I Ran the Zoo" to that.  They played the same thing on their instruments.

Performance

I had the children move back to the Orff instruments, and we practice playing the same melody while singing.  I then read the book to them, and after each page I read, they perform the melody on their instruments while singing.

What I Would Change Next Time:

I think that, like the Kindergarten/First Grade post, I would like for each child to have two mallets next year.  I'd also like to make this more challenging, like I wrote about in my Second/Third Grade post, and include a bass line and possibly an ostinato.  

Standards Being Met

Fourth Grade

MU.4.H.3.1, MU.4.F.3.1

Identify connections between music class and other academic areas.

Fifth Grade

MU.5.S.1.4, MU.5.S.3.4
Sing melodies learned by ear.
Play melodies and accompaniments learned by ear.
MU.5.S.3.2
Play melodies and accompaniments.

Horton Hatches the Egg

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Since March 2nd is the legendary Dr Seuss' birthday, I have created a lesson plan that incorporates reading, singing, and playing instruments with his book, "Horton Hatches the Egg."

I definitely cannot take credit for this idea -- I got the idea from Ms. Benson (you can be redirected to her blog by clicking on her name)!  She originally did a melody to the book "There's A Wocket In My Pocket!"

Prep for Success -- Internalizing Pitches and Intervals

We did our standard warm-ups from the last class, with rhythm reading two measures in 4/4 time (using only quarter notes and eighth notes).  We also sang our intervals from last week (Sol, Mi, Do), and introducing "Re" for this exercise.

Once the children were comfortable with the intervals and hand signs, I had them sing, "Sol-Mi-Sol-Mi-Mi-Mi-Re-Do" on half notes (Sol-Mi-Sol-Mi) and quarter notes (Mi-Mi), another half note (Re) and finally a whole note (Do) while using their hand signs.  I then added the words "Hor-ton, Hor-ton, Faithful and True."

Performance

I had the children move back to the Orff instruments, and we practice playing the same melody while singing.  I then read the book to them, and after each page I read, they perform the melody on their instruments while singing.

What I Would Change Next Time:

I think that it would be really great to add an ostinato to this melody, and perhaps a bass line for my more advanced students.  An ostinato, or just playing two notes back and forth, would be great for my kids who are having a harder time keeping up with the melody, and adding different parts would challenge my more advanced children.  Like I said for the Kindergarten class, I'd love to have enough mallets for the kids to have two each.

Standards Being Met

Second Grade

MU.2.S.2.1
Sings songs from memory.
MU.2.S.2.1, MU.2.S.3.2
Play songs from memory.
MU.2.S.3.1
Sing age-appropriate songs using proper vocal technique.

Third Grade

MU.3.F.1.1
Bring a story or poem to life with music and/or movement.

There's A Wocket In My Pocket!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Since March 2nd is the legendary Dr Seuss' birthday, I have created a lesson plan that incorporates reading, singing, and playing instruments with his book, "There's A Wocket In My Pocket!"

I definitely cannot take credit for this idea -- I got the idea from Ms. Benson (you can be redirected to her blog by clicking on her name)!

I did change the melody from what she originally used to incorporate Mi, Sol, and La (intervals I think are easiest for children at this young age).

Before my Kindergarten and First Grade class arrived, I was sure to remove all the bars from our xylophones so that only E (Mi), G (Sol), and A (La) were available for them to play.

Prep for Success -- Internalizing Pitches and Intervals

We did our standard warm-ups from the last class, with rhythm reading two measures in 4/4 time (using only quarter notes and eighth notes).  We also sang our intervals from last week, leaving out "Do" and introducing "La" for this exercise.

Once the children were comfortable with the intervals and hand signs, I had them sing, "Sol-Mi-Sol-Mi-Sol-La-Sol-Mi" on half notes, while using their hand signs.  I then added the words "There's a wocket in my pocket."

***I actually changed the piece to only include "Sol" and "Mi" -- I think adding "La" was a little ambitious of me to have K/1 play!

Performance

I have the children move back to the Orff instruments, and we practice playing the same melody while singing.  I then read the book to them, and after each page I read, they perform the melody on their instruments while singing.  The first grade was, for the most part, able to keep up with what I wanted them to do.

In Kindergarten, there were a small number of children understood and were able to play correctly, a few who were confused and played E to G instead of the other way around, and then a large percentage of children who were not able to move from G to E with just one mallet and fell behind.

During the last few days that I tried this, I ended up just having all the children in Kindergarten play a G over and over again while singing the original melody (although many children were intuitive and added a "La" to the song!).

What I Would Change Next Time:

For next year, I would definitely go ahead and buy more mallets so that each child can have two.  In this way, the Kindergarten classes would be able to play two notes without becoming overly confused and have more success on their instruments.

Here is video of one of my first grade classes performing!

Standards Being Met

Kindergarten

MU.K.S.3.1, MU.K.S.3.3

Sing age-appropriate songs using proper vocal technique.
MU.K.F.1.1
Enhance stories and/or poems through music.

First Grade

MU.1.S.2.1, MU.1.S.3.1

Sing age-appropriate songs using proper vocal technique from memory.
MU.1.H.3.1
Enhance stories, poems, chants, and songs through music.