"Recipes" for Teaching Music!
Deborah Leeson

As for lessons, what works for me may or may not work for you. Nonetheless, here are some thoughts on how I go about laying out my ideas for the week, month and semester. I hope, at least, some of you will find them helpful.

The older I get, the more need I have to do things in units or segments, so that I can keep things straight in my head.

The first 6 weeks, I concentrate solely on American folk songs, work songs, spirituals and the like, because I teach music using the Kodaly Approach. Kodaly believed that it was very important for students to know their own mother-tongue, rich, music heritage first.

Here are some <a href="http://www.smickandsmodoo.com/little/sing.shtml">folksongs</a> set to midi music at the Smick and Smodoo site.

Each grade level should be able to sing from memory at least 25 folks songs by the end of each year. Each year, I build upon the previous year's songs and so on, so that by the time the fifth graders go on to middle school, they have a hefty repertoire in American folk songs.

The second six weeks, we work on holiday music, and of course my upper grades begin preparation for their Christmas pageant.

The third six weeks, we continue our holiday songs and, all along, I try to have extension activities on Fridays, calling them Fun Fridays, and at least one listening lesson or composer lesson per week. I see my students daily for 25 minutes, except for kindergarten, which I see every other day. I have eleven classes each day. The classes begin learning folk songs from other countries during this six weeks and I continue these studies, mixed with their own heritage songs for the remainder of the year.

The fourth six weeks, I do an intensive coverage of Blues songs and Jazz artists, composers, and also an intensive study of Scott Joplin's opera, Treemonisha. The students view a video of The Houston Grand Opera performing Treemonisha and then they create a book based on the various Acts and Scenes in cooperative groups. We display these books at the end of school in the Author/Illustrator's Club end of school program.

The fifth six weeks, we begin recorders in the upper grades and the rest of my classes will begin an intense study of playing percussion instruments, Orff instrumentation and the like. However, we have one or two days each week where we practice playing parts to accompany our songs using the Orff instruments through-out the year. I also introduce improvisation during the Black History studies during the months of January and February. We use creativity stories throughout the year and those children that feel comfortable with writing a sound story of their own are given an opportunity to do so. Some of the upper grades begin these studies in improvisation and in writing "sound" stories during the second six weeks. 

During the sixth six weeks, I review all of the above. We do a lot of circle games and singing games, partner songs, partner singing games, street games and play parties and perform off-campus for an end of the year reward for work well done.

This year, we are experimenting with midi songwriting in all grades. I begin this unit after the Christmas holidays.

Each day, we spend a few minutes practicing reading rhythms and we use solfege to help develop in tune singing. I use transparencies and charts on and off that allow the students to practice their sightsinging.

Kodaly Sequencing in Rhythmic and Melodic studies

<a href="http://www.musicstaff.com/lounge/article1.asp">Eartraining Lesson</a>

<a href="http://www.musicstaff.com/lounge/article2.asp">Visual Imagery for Voice Lessons</a>

<a href="http://www.musicstaff.com/lounge/article3.asp">The Kodaly Approach</a>

Here is a good outline for teachers to use for a well rounded music lesson.

    * Have a greeting. Something that sets a routine for the students as they enter your classroom. It's also called an attention-getter.

    * Sing a familiar song.

    * Practice some rhythms.

    * Practice some melodic reading.

    * Sing a new song, practice listening. Have a music appreciation lesson or introduce a composer.

    * Play some instruments to a song they already know.

    * Reinforce the rhythms and melodies studied earlier in the lesson.

      Ending - Sing a farewell song, sing a call response song, or something that will calm them for the next class. Sometimes, I sing what I want to say to them, or I speak in a rhyme or chant to let them know how to leave the room. A rhythmic or melodic reminder that musical elements can be found all around them as they leave for another class or to go outside. Stay alert and always be listening.

Page 3
Some Ingredients for Spice

Introduction: Expressing rhythm is part of the nature of childhood. Learning speech patterns, using inflections, compound words, complex rhythms, timbre, rhythmic patterns, movement and sound, all these things are interrelated and play an important part in developing the whole being.

As we know, oral language preceeds written language. Children need to develop their oral and nonverbal language skills, including their ability to focus attention and listen to successfully undertake reading and writing skills.

Let's begin by experiencing how rhythm can be an organizing factor in language development with the following partner game:

The basic rhythmic body percussion as follows:

Face your partner. l.h. (left hand) up and r.h. (right hand) down, 2 beats patting against partners hands, then 2 beats palms forward against partners, then clap 2 times, then 2 beats with thumbs over the shoulder.

      (melodic)

      Ronald McDonald * * a biscuit! (note: the astericks are quarter rests)

      Ronald McDonald * * a biscuit!

      Oh shu shu wah wah, a biscuit!

      I've got a sweetheart! a biscuit!

      He's/She's so sweet! a biscuit!

      Sweeter than a cherry tree! a biscuit!

      (spoken)
      Ice cream soda with a cherry on the top.

      Ice cream soda with a cherry on the top.

      (melodic)
      Down, down baby, down by the roller coaster. (make curvey roller coaster with hands)

      Sweet sweet baby, don't wanna let you go! (hug yourself)

      Shimmy shimmy cocoa pop! Shimmy shimmy POW! (circular hand over hand)(on POW, clenched right handed fist upward movement)

      Shimmy shimmy cocoa pop! Shimmy shimmy POW! (circular hand over hand)(on POW, clenched left handed fist upward movement) 

There is a feast of language enjoyment before and after the child begins to read. The child makes the rhythm of the words come alive!

Adding tonal textures to the following rhyme heightens the acuity of the student's senses.

Example: Using voice inflections, different timbres and movement in, "The Apple Tree".

Once there was an Apple Tree.

Two little Apples smiled at me.

I shook that Tree as hard as I could.

Down came the Apples! Hmmm, they were good."

The second time you say the chant/poem, tell the children to pretend like they are little bitty people with a little bitty apple tree and that these little bitty people have high sounding voices. All gestures are to demonstrate miniature movements.

The third time you say the Apple Tree chant, tell the children to pretend that they are giants and they have a giant apple tree with giant apples on it and that giants have very low voices. The gestures are to demonstrate huge movements with huge-sounding voices. This is an excellent time to tell them that just because something has a high sound does not necessarily mean it is a loud sound and low doesn't mean soft, either. 


    MUSIC AND MOVEMENT FOR THEATRE ARTS CLASSES
    GRADES: 6-12
    Music & Movement is an activity for drama students (or others!) to be able to use music to heighten a dramatic pantomime. They relate the changes in tempo, feeling and mood in music, and instruments used in the interlude to action and activity.

    MATERIALS:
    tape recordings of classical music pieces from two to four minutes in length. tape recorders - one for each group for the follow-up activity -- just one needed for the initial activity pencil and paper for each group to record their storylines to hand in optional props and costume pieces.

    METHOD:
    Students listen to a short piece of classical music (one of the easiest to start with is "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from "The Nutcracker Suite") and try to pick out musical instruments used.
    Once they have heard the music once, they listen a second time to get an overall feeling and mood of the music, and try to think of a "plot" for a pantomime which will go with the music.

    After the second listening, students get into groups of 4-5 and share ideas of what "storyline" the music brought to their minds as they listened to it. Each group picks it's favorite "storyline" out of those presented by others in the group and begin to outline a pantomime and assign parts to each group member.

    I continue to play the music, time after time, as they brainstorm then write down their sequence of actions for their pantomime. Once their actions are written down, each group practices their pantomime to the music for approximately 15-20 minutes (I play the music about 10 times). Their goal is to have their pantomime not only enhanced by the music being played, but to END the pantomime story when the music ends. Each group then presents it's pantomime, and other groups critique the performances.

    This activity is good for either Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced Drama classes. The difference in each class would be the piece of music and the length of the pantomime.

    I usually follow this initial activity up with each group receiving a DIFFERENT piece of music and a tape recorder so each group will be planning a pantomime scene to a different piece of music. While this creates quite a cacophony in the classroom for awhile, it does increase concentration on the part of each actor as they work on their own group presentation. 

If you wish, you may add things like costumes and props to be chosen from, to help with the presentations.

submitted by:
DEBBIE WHITLOCK
TEHACHAPI HIGH SCHOOL

In closing:

We are probably not much different in regard to sometimes doing our lesson plans by the "seat of our pants."

Usually, I write down general ideas of the topics I want to cover with the classes for the week, then I adjust and adapt my lessons to meet the "real world" in whatever fashion that requires. Sometimes, that means teaching by the "seat of my pants." :-)

As the great music educator Sr. Lorna Zemke once said: "We don't teach lesson plans, we teach children. We don't pour in knowledge, we draw it out of the children." We are guides and if we are sensitive to what each individual class is capable of, we know when to step aside and let them have a go at things on their own. When a child can improvise or improve upon something that I have taught them, then I know they truly own it. :-)

Links to Music Lesson Plans

<a href="http://www.pacificnet.net/~mandel/TheArts.html">Lesson Plans for the Arts</a>

<a href="http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MusicLessonRhythm.htm">A Music Appreciation Lesson Plan</a>

<a href="http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MusicRhymePoetry.htm">Poetry and Music Integrated Lesson</a>

<a href="http://www.lessonplanspage.com/index.html">Lesson Plans Front Page</a>

<a href="http://www.teachers.net/">Teacher's Net</a>