Day 1

Teach “Canon” and sing as a two or three-part canon. (Music for Children I, #41 pg. 132 with adjusted rhythm to fit text)

Day 2

As a class, have students brainstorm superheroes and create an eight-beat rhythm using superhero names. For example,

Together, create body percussion to go with superhero rhythm, perform as a B section with the canon.

Day 3

In small groups the children choose two superhero’s from my stack of Super Hero Trading Cards and keep them secret from the other groups. You can make your own “superhero deck” with resources from the internet, purchase superhero playing cards on Amazon or old superhero trading cards on E-bay. The students create a list of adjectives that fit the superhero’s personality. (Courageous, fearless, epic, brave etc.) After creating the word list, they choose the hero they like best. Each group shares their list of adjectives and the other groups try to guess who it is. (This step may take two classes, depending on your students.)

Here is an example:

Day 4

Students create a 32-beat rhythm about their superhero using at least two of the adjectives from their lists. They CAN NOT use the word VERY. The speech pattern should be in an elemental form and the last beat should be a quarter note or quarter rest.  Examples of elemental form are as follows:

a a b a
a a a b
a b c a
a b a a
a b a c
a b b a

Day 5

Create “Action Cards” that say CM (creative movement), BP (body percussion), UTP (untuned percussion) and BP (barred percussion). The groups randomly select an action card and transfer their 32-beat rhythm to the action listed on their card. Share the creations with the class.

Day 6

Review composition, the canon, and the body percussion and rhythm from class two. As a class, decide on a form for the final product. The children may choose to use all of the parts or not.

Start with an introduction, and end with a strong coda.

The post Lesson: Super Heroes first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

The Squiggle by Carole Lexa Schaefer (ISBN-10: 9780517885796) is a charming little book about a child who finds “a squiggle” (string?) on the ground as she and her class are walking in a “bunched up, slow, tight, straight line.” As children do, she gets off track, picks up “The Squiggle”, and proceeds to use her imagination to create all sorts of wonderful items, such as a Dragon, the Great Wall of China, and other works of art….all with a piece of string.

When first glancing through the illustrations of “The Squiggle”, one who has an Orff Schulwerk background might instantly think about pathways. However, there are other means to incorporate this story to meet objectives for the kindergarten/first grade classes that also involve vocalization and inventive statue activities.

Kindergarten/First Grade Objectives

1. Vocalization/head voice

2. Pathways

3. Creative Movement with partners/groups in statues

4. Demonstrating musical opposites/elements with movement

Read the story to the students, and then pick one or all of the following activities:

Vocalization

Display the attached PowerPoint. For each slide that says “Use Your Voice”, trace the design with your finger and ask the students to follow it with their voices.

Questions for higher level thinking:

* Where do you think your voice will be in your head voice?

* Does it start high or low?

* Where is the highest your voice will be?

* The lowest?

Your own Squiggle!

Divide the students into pairs. (For this, I usually give half the students Mardi Gras bead strands and ask them to find a non-beaded friend or I use partner cards.) Each student will get a red strand of yarn that is their “squiggle”. Students will take turns: one as the person who forms his/her “squiggle” into a pattern. This first student will serve as conductor and trace the path of the squiggle. The second partner will vocalize the path. The students switch and take several turns. You may choose to use an instrument signal to help them determine when to switch turns. 

Pathways 

Using the Power Point slides that say “Now draw the path with your feet.” Tell the students to pretend they have paint on their feet. Their job is to use their feet to leave paint prints in the design that is shown on the board.

• Select a recording that is either made for freeze dancing or one you can pause. (Eric Chappelle’s various “Potpourri” arrangements in his Music for Creative Movement CDs are great for this). Once they hear music, the students should move in the pathway design of the first slide shown. When the music stops, they freeze. Advance to the next slide. When the music starts, the students make a pathway using the next design, etc.

Here is an example of my students doing pathways from the lesson.

Squiggle movement

Recording: “Forrest Gump Suite”, Alan Silvestri. From the “Forrest Gump” soundtrack by Epic.

The students will stay with their partners to create statues of the items/objects mentioned in the story. The students should be directed to consider the following:

* They must join together to create their statue, but they can also join another group.

*  They need to show any opposite changes in the music (high/low, fast/slow, loud/soft)

*  They need to follow your normal classroom movement safety rules.

* Point out various movement terms/Laban action words you use in class.

(Locomotor/nonlocomotor, levels, implied, etc.) You might want to display action words on your Smartboard. I have action words hanging up in my room.

Begin the recording and call out an item that was represented in the story. Allow plenty of time for each group to make creations before moving on to the next one.

Here is a video example of my students making their creations.

Although I have not utilized this book for my older students, there are instrumental possibilities to be had here by using barred and unpitched percussion to represent the various items from the young lady’s imagination. Another idea is to use listening/movement examples to represent these items. I have a playlist on Spotify of recordings I have collected for a future movement project for older students.

The book is charming. My students enjoyed it and the activities a great deal. If I had to select their favorite activity, it would actually be using the yarn. Maybe because they got to take their own Squiggle home?

The post Children’s Literature Lesson: The Squiggle first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Last week we shared how to begin using creative movement with your students. This week Judith Thompson-Barthwell shares why including creative movement is an important part of an Orff-Inspired curriculum.

Creativity does not occur in a void!

• Teach directive lessons to give specific material for exploration
• Let students experiment with what they know while the teacher facilitates their creativity

Levels of Creativity

• “Windows of opportunity” – within a teacher directed activity, there are little windows where the teacher offers the students a choice (from two to as many as the class can handle)
• Guided Exploration – Teacher is the spokesperson offering clear suggestions during an exploratory activity.
• Improvisation – Students experiment with known concepts. Teacher offers guidance and facilitates as necessary.

What is it good for?

• Introduction – Through creative movement, introduce a step or figure of a dance in various ways before it is attached to the actual traditional dance.
• Understanding – Movement is a great way to see if your instruction is actually penetrating toward understanding. Are students regurgitating what you want to hear/see or have they understood the concept and interpreted in their own way?
• Practice – Creative movement can allow students a chance to practice a skill or concept at their own pace.
• Ownership – When students have the opportunity to show their own way of understanding a concept, they begin to own and be prideful of their learning.
• Affirmation – Through creative movement, each child can be good at something. It is a way to acknowledge and affirm individual uniqueness.

Movement is how most children respond to music

• Plan for meaningful, creative ways of how children can respond to the music in your classroom
• Creative movement gives children more awareness of the possibilities of their bodies
• Being more aware of their bodies leads to making movement more musical
• Learning comes through engaging as many senses as possible. Creative movement should not be ignored as a mode of learning

Movement is how we learn

• Movement/dance is worthy of attention by itself because it is an important art, just as music.
• We learn by moving toward what we want.
• We succeed by creating our own path and moving along it.
• Creative movement exemplifies the bigger picture of life.

Creative Movement makes aural sound more concrete

• Beat /Rhythm/Meter
• Contour of melody
• Harmonic changes
• Energy/Force/Quality/Dynamics
• Form

Creative Movement aligns with National Standards

Performing

• Analyze: Analyze how the content of varied musical works inform the response.
• Enduring Understanding: Response to music is informed by analyzing content (social, cultural, and historical) and how creators and performers manipulate the elements of music.
• Essential Question: How does understanding the structure and context of music inform a response?

Connecting

• Connect #11: Relate musical ideas and works with varied context to deepen understanding.
• Enduring Understanding: Understanding connections to varied contexts and daily life enhances musicians’ creating, performing and responding.
• Essential Question: How do other arts, disciplines, contexts, and daily life inform creating, performing and responding to music?

The post Why Creative Movement in Music Class? first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

When I took level one I joyously folk danced through the movement segments and really understood that I could use folk dance with my students and how it would fit into the types of lessons I was designing. Then we began the creative movement portion.  I loved the end products we created as adults, and I didn’t think my diverse groups of public school students would be into it. Besides, how would I get to such an amazing end product with MY classes? I let those ideas stew in my head for a long while and took levels two and three. The process did not come together for me until almost five years after my first creative movement experience. Now creative movement lessons and projects have become a favorite for me and for my students.

I use creative movement in a few ways. It can be used as a starting point for another musical goal. For example, using movement to “feel” a concept or rhythm before using it in an instrumental or vocal product. We create movement to complement and enhance other musical products, and finally as a whole group interpretation and internalization of a musical selection.

I was a bit mystified as to how to get my students moving in controlled, interesting, and focused ways. My previous attempts at “adding movement” had fallen flat with rigid and unappealing two-dimensional  “dances” created by the children. Laura Webster, the movement instructor throughout my levels training offered practical solutions to focus students when working on creative movement that I have adapted to my own teaching situations and student groups.

To get started, I chose an inspiration. It could be a student-generated musical product, a theme, recorded music, a picture book, poem or artwork.  I choose the inspiration as a way to point the children in the general direction of the end product. Next we become familiar with the inspiration. If we are working from recorded music we engage in guided listening, we may write poetry inspired by a topic or picture, read a story and discuss the meaning. We find authentic ways to internalize the inspiration before we start moving.

More often than not, all of the children will participate in the creative movement and the children decide who will be “movers” in the final product. The only exception is when the music is student generated, in that case we choose the “players” first so the music can be played while the “movers” work.

I usually choose a dance concept or element (from “Creative Dance for All Ages” Anne Green Gilbert) like “shape” or “relationship.” The first step is for the children; in carefully chosen groups of three to five to create a short movement segment that serves as a starting point for the creative process.  One student has the job of “head choreographer” for the day. The job rotates from class to class so everyone’s ideas are included.  We share our work with the class and use “I noticed” statements to highlight ideas students found appealing. I video-document their work as a reminder for the next class.

When we meet again we review the video clips and begin the movement triangle. In the top of the triangle, we write in the most important element of the creative movement project. That is usually the element that I choose as the focus, and I am always open to changes students may want to make as we work. I then ask them to add something new to the movement they have created. Maybe add levels, or change the shape. They can do the same movement with legs instead of arms or reverse the action.

Each group makes their own choices of what to add to the product. I may limit or expand the list of choices based on the children and their comfort level. I repeat this process adding layers of complexity until we reach the desired product.  Sometimes we add one layer, sometimes three. The children may decide to perform sections as a whole group, or have an ending that is homogenous. I let the children lead, offing choices when they are stuck. Depending on the complexity, a creative movement “lesson” may last from one to eight or nine class periods. In the instance of a more detailed end product, I will spend only a portion of each class period on the project until we near its’ completion.

When I started working with creative movement lessons, the most difficult part was letting go of controlling the final product. I had no idea what it was going to look like and the children came up with so many more ideas and more beautiful movements than I could have ever imagined. The children take ownership of the work. I was worried about the boys not wanting to participate, and because I was not dictating the movement they jumped right in.

Share Your Ideas

What ways have you structured creative movement in your teaching situation? Have you wanted to try and still have questions? What tips can you share to help someone else make creative movement work in their classroom? Please share your ideas and questions in the comments so we can all Make it Work!

Creative Movement Lessons

Haiku Inspired Creative Movement by Marjie Van Gunten

Shaping Up Creative Movement by LeslieAnne Bird

Leaf Children by Marjie Van Gunten

The post Making It Work: Structuring Creative Movement first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

LeslieAnne Bird shares her process for utilizing the elements of movement to interpret the English folk song “The Keys of Canterbury.”

The lesson encourages students to review and take inspiration from a performance by Dance Studio Kadans, which can be found in this YouTube video.

National Standards

3MU:rR9.1.4a Demonstrate and explain how responses to music are informed by structure, the use of the elements of music, and context (such as social and cultural)

MU:Pr5.1.4a Apply teacher-provided and collaboratively-developed criteria and feedback to evaluate accuracy and expressiveness of ensemble and personal performances

Process:

Lesson 1: Watch video and write two “I noticed” statements about what you see. Share ideas with the class. Guide the discussion to recognize that the movers created shapes with their bodies and sometimes “freeze” in the shape. They are not moving all the time.

Lesson 2: I read the lyrics to the students (in this case with my student teacher, and I would do it with two voices very dramatically by myself) and we discussed what is happening in the song. Watch video again. Sketch one or two shapes that the movers make during the performance that you like. Share ideas with your team.

Lesson 3: In groups of three to five (I used six groups) the students were to create two to three “shapes” inspired by their sketches. The groups shared their shapes with the class and they voted on which shape they liked best. I took a picture of the shape as a reference for the next class. We identified “shape” as the most important element.

Lesson 4: In their groups the students were asked to replicate their shape from last week using the photo as a guide, and to create a second contrasting shape. It could be one of the shapes we did not choose last week, another idea from a sketch or a completely new idea. I again took a photo of the shape for reference next class. We identified “contrast” as the second most important element.

Lesson 5: The groups were asked to replicate both shapes from the previous lesson and then create an “artistic and interesting” way to move from shape one to shape two. Each group practiced several times and we performed for the class.

Lesson 6: The challenge class. The groups were challenged to use the “movement posters”* to change ONE thing about their performance to make it more interesting to watch.

Lesson 7: Each group was set in the room and they were asked to sit or kneel with their group and freeze with a “serious” look. I gave each group a cue and they were to SLOWLY stand and perform shape #1, freeze, shape #2, freeze again them “melt” back into their starting places. Then I played the music and had them do it again. We brainstormed ideas to end the movement selection. We went back to our seats and listed criteria for our best performance on the whiteboard.

Lesson 8: Review student-generated rubric, practice, record. Lesson 9: Watch recording and self-evaluate. Example of student-generated rubric: 1. Move slowly and smoothly 2. Be SILENT 3. Remember and perform your part with good posture. 4. FOCUS 5. Move with purpose and confidence 6. Be serious 7. Watch Mrs. Bird 8. FREEZE Rubric Follow-up Questions: 1. Did you enjoy this project? Why or why not? 2. What did you learn while completing this project? 3. What could Mrs. Bird do differently next time to make this project?

*”Movement posters” are displayed in the classroom and list the Laban efforts and the Anne Green Gilbert movement terms for pathway, connection etc.

Click here for a printable version of this lesson.

The post Lesson: Shaping Up Creative Movement first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

“I once did this lesson with a group of 7th grade students with no prior experience in creative movement. It was delightful to observe how eagerly they embraced the dance portion of the lesson, and how this experience with movement opened the door to composing truly beautiful music…another new experience for them. The haiku they wrote at the end of the activity are still treasured possessions!”

– Marjie Van Gunten

Download lesson here: Inspired by Haiku

The post Lesson: Haiku Inspired Creative Movement first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Download Marjie Van Gunten’s Leaf Children Lesson

The post Lesson: Leaf Children first appeared on Teaching With Orff.