The guided composition activity towards the end of the lesson allows students to spread their wings a bit. They could use the ice cream flavors I created or choose their own. Most of my students choose the latter. I call these activities guided because I give them a basic structure, but they also have opportunities to make decisions and be creative. I also give my students opportunities to decide on their final form. We have utilized many elements in this lesson, but ultimately they decide how to put it together.

This lesson will work even if you don’t have enough barred instruments for every student. You can have one instrument for every two students, and the lesson works just as well. Some of you are reading this saying, I don’t even have that many. Again, this lesson will still work. Hand drums, wood blocks, rhythm sticks, or any un-pitched percussion instruments will work as our primary focus is on rhythm. The pitched percussion instruments just add a different flavor.

I hope you enjoy creating with your students this spring and take some time for a frosty treat this summer.

– Angela

Ice Cream Please

Concepts:

• Hand Drum Technique  
• Canon  
• Rondo Form  
• Rhythmic Building Bricks  
• *Composition

Click here to make a copy of the Teaching Slide Deck

[Based off of Rhythmic Canon, Music for Children, Vol I. pg. 74 #7 by Margaret Murray ] 

• What is your favorite flavor of Ice Cream? 
• Present visual of the three rhythmic units 
• Teacher speaks the pattern 
• What order did I say these in?  1 -2 -3 – 3 – 1 
• Teacher speak the pattern, perform body percussion (clap) 
• Underline word Please & Me – let’s make those a different level of Body Percussion (pat or stomp)
• Teacher speak the pattern, perform body percussion (clap & pat) one phrase at a time- Students echo
• Repeat as needed until S are comfortable with the rhythm 
• Challenge students to do it without your help. Tell them you are going to try and trick them. Teacher performs part 2 of the canon.  Can students hold their own? 
• Divide the class in half. 
• Perform the pattern without speech only Body Percussion – Try in a 2-beat canon and 4-beat canon 
• How is it different? Which do the students like the best? 
• What would happen if you tried a 1 beat canon? (This is a challenge but fun to try.  Some groups can do it- others can not) 

• T discusses hand drum technique: 
  • Play drum with dominant hand  
  • Two main sounds – ‘down’ with thumb and ‘up’ with middle & ring fingers  
  • Be sure to ‘bounce’ off the drum  

• T tells S to use the ‘down’ stroke for the pats and the ‘up’ stroke for the claps -T Models
• S play rhythm on drum  
• When S are comfortable on drum – play rhythm in 2-beat canon  

ON ANOTHER DAY! 

• Introduce the ice cream map with rhythmic building bricks- insert the building bricks into the ice cream map
  • Example:  I want some Ice, Tin Roof Sundae, Ice; I want some Rocky Road 
    Yes indeed! 
• Rotate several students to come up and choose their flavors to place in the chart. 
• Have students clap and say the new pattern. 
• Have students transfer rhythms to hand drums or other un-pitched percussion instrument.

• Option:  Have all students go to Orff Barred instruments and set in a Pentatonic (example C pentatonic they would take off their B’s & F’s)
  • At the instruments, can students play the rhythm that was created on the Ice Cream Map on only the note C? Can they expand to the notes C,D,E? Can they expand to the whole pentaton? (C, D, E, G, A)
  • Encourage students to play rhythm on any notes they wish; but end the last word (deed) on a C (your home tone). 

• You could just work on this as a class or you might choose to work in small groups to create your own building brick ice cream. 
• Talk about Rondo Form (The A keeps coming back) Day one is the A section – the whole class or small group creations are the contrasting sections. 
• Create Ronod Form – Perform as a class.   

• Another Option: Have small groups create a guided composition. See the project sheet below. Guided Composition will take more time, but students enjoy the freedom to choose and create. 

Building Bricks in Duple Meter (these are the basics, to begin with) You could create your own or have your students create their own based on these rhythms.

*Chocolate can be said in different ways depending on your region. Feel free to replace*

Example of Project Sheet I use with students

Click here to download a pdf of Angela’s lesson plan.

The post Lesson: Ice Cream Please first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Grade Level: 5^th-8^th

Materials Needed

• One 8”, 10”, 12” or 14” hand drum per student
  or
• Use available hand drums to make four groups using like-sized drums.

Objectives

The learner will:

• Experience four-part canon
• Improvise over a four-beat phrase
• Perform creative movement

Formation

• Students begin in self-space.

Teaching Process

• Teach the text to the A Section by imitation.
• Teach the movement with text using body percussion.
• Say and play the A Section as a two-part canon and then a four-part canon.
• Arrange students into four groups according to drum size. 
  8” = Group One
  10” = Group Two
  12” = Group Three
  14” = Group Four 
• Teach the movement as follows:
  • Measure one:
    • Beat one, hit hand drum at waist level, facing front.
    • Beats two-four, move drum from waist level to overhead. 
  • Measure two:
    • With hand drum held high overhead, play rhythm and turn 180° to the right (backs to the audience).
  • Measure three:
    • Play rhythm and lower hand drum back down to normal playing position in front of waist.
  • Measure four:
    • Beat one, twist to the right.
    • Beat two, twist to the front.
    • Beat three, twist to the left.
    • Beat four, freeze in place. 
• Repeat measures one through four. In measure two, after the 180 ° turn, students will once again be facing full front.
• Teach the text of the B Section by imitation. 
• Inform students they will have four counts to improvise with hand drums. 
• Select a solo or small group to improvise on measures six and eight.
• Play A Section as a four-part round, starting each new part every four counts. 
• Play B Section in unison. Designate soloists or small groups to improvise in the B Section. 

Form

• Play entire song in unison. (Be sure to designate improvisational players.) 
• Play the A Section in four-part canon 
• Play the B Section in unison. 
• Play the A Section in four-part canon

Extension Possibility

• For an extra challenge, play song as a four-part round, starting each new part every two counts.

Click here to download a pdf of Chris’s lesson along with the Hit 2 3 4 score

Excerpt from to drum. Copyright © 2004 by Chris Judah-Lauder and Beatin’ Path Publications LLC. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

The post Lesson Plan: Hit 2 3 4 first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

OBJECTIVES

• Demonstrate melodic patterns that include same/different and 3-pitch melodies
• Demonstrate rhythmic patterns that include quarter note, paired eighth notes, and quarter rest
• Demonstrate a steady beat while contrasting rhythms are being performed
• Play and identify pitched percussion instruments

MATERIALS

• Melodic percussion instruments and mallets (xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels)
• Visuals
• Colored Scarves for movement

PROCESS

Day One

• Teach the song through directed listening and echo.

• Invite students to listen as the teacher sings the song and ask what they noticed (the colors, rhymes, words/patterns that get more than one turn). How many times did the melodic phrase “Autumn leaves, autumn leaves” happen? (4x). Ask students to echo that phrase, use hand signs for solfeggio if desired. Notate this phrase (see visuals).

• Ask students to sing that part of the song while the teacher sings the rest. Trade parts. Then sing the whole song in unison.
  
• Once the complete melody is secure, introduce the xylophone accompaniment to the notated phrase. Demonstrate and practice the pattern initially using body percussion – patting legs; transfer to instruments. Set the instruments in Do pentatonic on C, removing the Fs and the Bs. For 1st grade consider a chord bordun on the beat, and for 2nd grade an alternating broken bordun (notated in the score). Rotate for turns, so that every student has a turn to play this part of the accompaniment. If necessary, two students can share a xylophone – one playing in the lower octave and one in the upper octave.

Day Two

• Review the song. Ask students “What other part of the song occurs more than once?” (The colors – red, gold, orange, brown). How many times? (2)

• Invite students to add a snap one each color word. Transfer to metallophones. With the metallophones set up in Do pentatonic on C, students may strike any two bars on each color word. Rotate for turns so that all have a chance to play this part. Combine with the xylophone accompaniment from the previous day.

Day Three

• Sing the song together again. Ask students to notice the rhyming words (swirling all around; falling to the ground). Introduce the students to the glockenspiel part that will ‘interrupt’ the song, playing a special part after each of these phrases. After singing “swirling all around”, the glockenspiels improvise swirling, stirring sounds using sliding and glissandos with all bars on. After singing “falling to the ground”, each glockenspiel player strikes each note in turn from the highest note to the lowest note on their instrument one time – like leaves falling from the tree. This does not have to be in a unison tempo.
  
• Introduce a colored scarf movement to pair with the glockenspiel part. If possible, pair a scarf dancer with a glockenspiel player so that at the end, the last note of the scale corresponds to their dancer’s last leaf falling. Dancers can follow the player, or the player can follow the dancer. Dancers are scattered and “planted” in the space holding scarves in the colors mentioned in the song and other fall colors. During the first glockenspiel improv their scarves and limbs move like they are being blown by the wind. During the last descending scale, their scarf leaves are dropped one by one. Scarves can be tossed into the air and allowed to float to the ground, or simply dropped one at a time.
  
• With students working in pairs – one on glockenspiel, one as the tree holding colored scarves – sing the song with the extension and then trade parts.

Day Four

• This is the day to put the whole piece together. Everyone sings and all have a special part – either as a scarf dancer or as an instrument player. Review the song, remind students of each of the accompanying parts – xylophones for “Autumn leave, autumn leaves”, metallophones in clusters on the color words “red, gold, orange, brown” and the glockenspiels improvising after “swirling all around” and the high to low scale for the falling leaves after “falling to the ground”. Consider inviting the classroom teacher to come and watch and/or capture a video to share with parents.

Day Five (optional extension)

• Practice melodic dictation using the melodic tone set of this song. Focus on one 3-note grouping at a time: Sol-La-Mi and Mi-Re-Do. Either a 2-line staff or 5-line staff may be used.

Click here to download a pdf of Karen’s lesson plan.

The post Autumn Leaves first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

By Kate Bright, recorder enthusiast 

The very first time I picked up a recorder, I fell deeply in love with this sweet instrument.  I grew up as a clarinetist, but developed jaw problems and had to quit woodwinds forever – or so I thought.  Then, I began my Orff Schulwerk journey and found the recorder, and the rest is history.  I found that the recorder was a tool of great pedagogical power, a tool that could teach my students how to improvise, read, and compose a melody. 

When I began teaching recorder, I saw my students every other day.  While the first few classes were not the best-sounding classes, soon my students were able to play independently and well.  Due to budget cuts, my schedule changed to a six-day rotation, and I found my students and myself struggling with the recorder.  I went back to the drawing board and, after four years of tweaking, I developed the following strategy to help my students have the best beginning  

Where to Begin? 

There are many different methods of beginning a student’s journey on the recorder.  One can begin on A and high C, B-A-G, or even E-D-C.  In truth, a students’ journey must begin far before they even touch a recorder.  Before they pick up their instrument for the first time, their mind, hands, fingers, tongue, and air support need to be in place.    

Preparing the Heart 

My students first experience the recorder on the very first day of kindergarten music.  As they walk in, awed by my shelves bursting with instruments, they follow me while I play my recorder.  I match the tempo of their feet, and then suddenly I stop playing and freeze.  This generally causes my students to also stop.  I resume playing, and stop again.  As the kindergarteners realize that we are now playing a “game,” they begin to giggle.  Once my students can stop with me, I change my sound.  By creating jumping sounds or playing “in slow motion,” I not only expose my students to the entire range of recorder sounds, but also teach students how to respond physically and expressively to musical cues.  From the very first day, the recorder is a source of positive musical experiences.   

My kindergarteners inevitably ask me if they can play my recorder, and that’s when I have the chance to explain to them about germs.  Since I have my students begin playing recorder in January of their third grade year, I can already tell my current kindergarteners that they will get their very own recorder in January of 2022.  When they ask why, I reply “That is when your hands will be big enough to hold it, and your brain will be responsible enough not to lose it.”  

One of the biggest hurdles when learning any new skill is the motivation of the student.  If a student wants to learn, then they will persevere through any difficulties they may have.  If the recorder already has a positive place in their heart, then they will put forth the effort to persevere through the beginning squeaks and finger leaks. 

Preparing the Hands 

The recorder, along with many instruments in the general music classroom, students need to have the ability to use both their dominant and non-dominant hands.  In other areas of school life, this is not the case.  A student’s non-dominant hand is often ignored throughout the rest school day, with the exception of physical education and typing classes.   

Luckily, music is a subject where this lack can be remedied.  Making sure students learn hand clapping games and play instruments that use both hands equally (rhythm sticks, tubanos, maracas, barred instruments, just to name a few) will help them build capacity in their non-dominant hand. 

With the recorder, having the left hand be the hand that goes on top is counter-intuitive to many students that are right-handed.  Third grade begins with many folk dances and body-percussion activities that lead with the left hand.  In the fall of third grade, I challenge my third graders to try allowing their left hand to brush their teeth, hold their forks, and we also learn the “Left Hand Dance.” 

Left-Hand Dance 

Music:  “Rakes of Mallow,” from Rhythmically Moving 2. 

Opening position:  Closed circle.  Students have a scarf in their left hand, right hand is behind their back. 

A Section: 

• Students circle to the left for 16 beats while bouncing their scarf with their left hand. 
• Students circle to the right for 16 beats while continuing to bounce their scarf with their left hand. 

B Section: 

• With their left hand, students throw the scarf in the air and catch it three times.  On the fourth measure, have students turn alone.  This section is performed twice. 

Extension: 

Once students have mastered the basic dance, the next step is to allow students to create their own B section where they explore what other artful actions they can do with only their left hand moving.   

Preparing the Fingers 

As much as nondominant hands are ignored in daily life, fingers and finger dexterity are even further ignored.  As my teaching career has progressed, I have seen first-hand the effects of students raised with video games and tablets:  students are falling behind in gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and general muscle tone. 

About six years ago, I began to notice a significant decline in my students’ ability to actually place their finger over the hole on the recorder.  I soon realized the issue was not focus or inattention, but a simple lack of muscle development.  My students had never been asked to independently move their ring finger in their whole life.  I spoke with my school’s occupational therapist about what exercises I could do with my students to help develop those finger muscles.  She suggested playing with PlayDough or digging in sand/dirt as probably the most practical solutions.  Unfortunately, my carpeted music room was not the best space for those activities, so I created my own finger dexterity exercises based on the following hand-shapes.   

After the shapes were named by my students, we used them in steady-beat listening exercises.  I would call out two animals, and students would alternate between making those two shapes with both hands.  As students progressed, we would try patterns of three animals, or have student leaders. 

Another finger-related intervention I have tried is the “headless” recorder.  My school purchases recorders for my third graders, that they use until they leave us until fifth grade.  My fifth graders choose to donate it back to the school or take it with them.  I have a class set of recorders where I have removed the head joint.  This way, students can look down inside the recorder and see if their fingers are fully covering the holes.  Students have the opportunity to become familiar with the layout of the recorder and also do not have a way of producing sound. 

Preparing the Tongue and the Air 

To help my students be prepared for articulating notes on the recorder, I began using beat-function syllables.  A beat-function system using t’s or d’s to articulate notes transfers extremely well to articulating notes.  Starting about two weeks before they get their recorders, I have students read rhythms with their hand in front of their mouths.  This way, they can feel the way that the air is separated when d’s and t’s are articulated.  Because articulation is not visible to students, it can be a difficult concept for them to understand. 

Airflow is critical to producing the sweet sound of the recorder, and producing gentle air is another difficult concept to master.  I pair practicing articulation with practicing gentle air.  I used to use tissues for this activity, but last year I experimented with using craft feathers (purchasable at any craft store for less than two cents per student)with great success.  This lesson occurs about one to two weeks before they receive their recorders. 

I directed students to hold the feather about an inch from their lips.  After opening their lips a tiny bit, students practiced reading rhythms and watched their feather move with their articulations. Then I had students use only a tiny amount of air, to see if they could read rhythms and have the feather only move a tiny amount.  At the end of class, students took the feathers home as homework for music class. 

My Students are Prepared! 

After students have been prepared, it is finally time to begin to actually play the recorder!  Again, there are many choices for the music teacher.  I strongly recommend trying any recorder before buying a classroom set.  I prefer to use recorders that are white or ivory colored.  With those recorders, a teacher can spot an improperly covered hole from across the room. 

There are also a few choices about what pitches students should learn first. 

Beginning with A-C’ 

Benefits: 

• Students are able to play so-mi songs immediately 
• Left-hand pointer finger is the only finger that moves 
• La can be added by having students lift the left-hand thumb 

Challenges: 

• The left hand is the only hand used 
• The recorder is unstable (especially if going to a high D) due to the lack of fingers covering holes 
• It is difficult to correctly place the right hand since it does not cover holes 
• Students can overblow and still produce the correct pitches 

Beginning with B-A-G 

Benefits: 

• Students are able to play mi-re-do songs immediately 
• A majority of recorder methods begin using this tone set 
• The notes are organized logically; fingers move in order 

Challenges: 

• The left hand is the only hand used 
• It is difficult to correctly place the right hand since it does not cover holes 
• Students can overblow and still produce the correct pitches 

Beginning with E-G 

Benefits: 

• Students are able to play sol-mi songs immediately 
• Students must use gentle air 
• The right hand is immediately used and in the correct placement 
• The left hand covers the holes, but the fingers do not move once they are placed 
• Once E-G is mastered, it is simple to add the notes B and A. 

Challenges: 

• The student must use the correct amount of air and have six holes correctly covered; otherwise the E will not speak correctly 
• It can be difficult to judge whether a student is overblowing or if a student has an improperly covered hole. 

The Very First Day 

The class before the students get the recorders is when I allow them to discover with the headless recorders and teach them about “feather breaths.”  When we actually get recorders, our only focus is to produce a low E. 

Materials:  Labeled recorders for each student, tenor recorder for teacher, bead necklaces. 

• Before students get their recorders, class recorder rules are reviewed:
• Feather Air
• Left hand on top 
• Cover the holes 
• Don’t Bite!  (This is the only brand-new concept – I remind my students to not bite their new best friend!) 
• Recorders are distributed.  Students are asked to count the number of holes on their recorder to ensure that all recorders were correctly produced.  (This keeps students occupied as they are being distributed.) 
• Using my tenor recorder, I demonstrate left hand on top with “chicken fingers.”  (The thumb hole and first hole are covered.)  All students hold their recorder high in the air with the “chicken fingers” displayed until the entire class has their left hand on top. 
• Nonverbally, I have the class use simultaneous imitation – they do exactly what I do, when I do it.  I demonstrate feather air and then together we play the first note – a B. 
• If the class is successful, I add one more finger for “bunny fingers” and we play an A.  I model moving from A to B, and they simultaneously imitate me.   
• Before moving to “unicorn fingers,” I have my students take their recorder out of their mouths, turn it horizontally (with bunny fingers still in place) and watch their ring finger cover the hole.  We do this ten times before we return to our nonverbal simultaneous imitation. 
• I model moving from “bunny” to “unicorn” – A to G.  Once the G is in unison and student fingers are in the correct place, I have students stop and pretend to “spray glue” their left hands so that they cannot move. 
• Next, I demonstrate adding the next two fingers on the right hand, so that students are playing an E.  We play E-G patterns as we listen. 
• Once the class has their fingers in low-E position, I have students stand in a circle.  I walk around and listen to each student individually, as all students practice.  If students can play the E successfully, I put a bead “necklace of knowledge” on them and challenge them to add one more finger to play a low D.  If everybody earns a “necklace of knowledge,” we stop and have a class celebration. 
• At the end of class, students return their necklaces, put their recorders back in their bags and then return them to the class bin.   

Troubleshooting 

Even with all of the above preparation, students still squeak, and that is okay!  If my students are squeaking, or playing the upper octaves, I check 3 things – finger placement, thumb placement, and have them blow slower.  If they are still have problems, I take their recorder, turn their mouthpiece backwards and have them blow while I cover the holes.  If the sound is good, then it is a finger issue.  If not, it is easier for them to fix their air support when they don’t have to worry about finger placement. 

If you have a student that has limb differences, I strongly encourage you to check out the website Another Way to Play, or check out the article “Adaptive Solutions:  Recorder Instruction for Students With Physical Differences” by Valerie Thomforde in The Orff Echo (Vol. 51, No. 1). I’ve had students with different abilities use alternative fingerings or adaptive recorders if needed.  The important part is to be open with your student and their family, and make adaptations before recorders are handed out.   

Final Notes 

Once students know their first two notes, they will soon be on their way to improvising, creating, and composing on their own!  If you are looking for more information on how to integrate recorder with your classes, try visiting your local Orff chapter, taking Orff levels, and stay tuned to Teaching with Orff for more high-quality lesson plans! 

Originally published by Teaching With Orff on September 26, 2018

The post Steps to Prep the Recorder first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Suggested age range: K-2

Objectives:

 The learner will….

• Identify a character’s feelings and thoughts by exploring the children’s book, “Harry’s Horrible Hair.”
• Using several different selections of repertoire, student’s will create their own movement which allows them to express their feelings and emotions
• Exploring the SEL Competencies, students will discuss how we can empathize with others
• Using a “Musical Question,” students will explore and create musical responses that demonstrate ways we can be respectful and helpful to others

Materials:

• Harry’s Horrible Hair, a book by Theresa Cocci
• Recordings of various “repertoire”
• Emoji visuals
• Whiteboard or chalkboard
• Harry’s Helpers Flashcards

Synopsis:

• Meet Harry, a downhearted little dog who is saddened by the stares and laughter of others who only see his horrible hair. When his friend Miss Maggie knits him a handsome sweater to hide his messy hair, Harry quickly gains confidence. But when disaster strikes and his patchy hair is once again revealed, Harry wonders if others will ever see him for what he’s like on the inside—not just the outside.

Activities:

• Before the teacher reads the story, ask students to listen and look for words that describe how “Harry” is feeling and how they may change.
• After reading, ask, “When did Harry feel happy?” “When did he feel sad?” “When did he feel mad or worried?”
• Discuss with students their responses. Write their ideas on whiteboard or chalkboard.
• Play several excerpts of repertoire suggested below. I used “Spotify” for the selections of recordings.
• We played a freeze game. I played a section of the repertoire, while students moved around in their “personal space” or “poly spot,” then stopped the music. I took the emoji flashcards that I had made. (I used free clip art and selected various emojis and put them on cardstock).
• After the students freeze, the teacher holds up two emoji cards and asks, “How did that music make you feel?’’ “Hold up one finger for the first card or two fingers for the second card.”
• Continue playing the “freeze game” with selections of the repertoire below. Explore and discuss their body movements. Did they feel heavy, light, silly?

Piano Repertoire

“The Happy Farmer from Album for the Young, Op. 68 No. 10” by Robert Schuman (happy)  

“A Sad Story 30 Pieces for Children, Op. 27 #6” by Dimitry Kabalevsky (sad)

“Andantino” or also known as “Ivan Sings” by Aram Khachaturian (worried or sad)

Shenanigan’s Albums

“Muffin Man’s Jig/Circassian Circle” by the Shenanigans (silly)

                        “Frog Puddles/Ninepins Quadrille” (happy, silly)

“Nigun Atik” by the Shenanigan’s Bush Dances of New Holland (sad)

                        “Minoesjka” by the Shenanigan’s Children’s Dances of Terra del Zur, Vol.1 (sad to happy)

Classical Recordings

“Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov (has that agitated feeling)

The next class:

• Teacher reviewed with students their responses from the last class about Harry’s different feelings in “Harry’s Horrible Hair.”  
• Using the SEL Emotional Core Competencies- Social Awareness/ Respecting Others as a guide, we explored:
• How we can be helpful to others?
• What are some things that others did in the story to help Harry and show respect and      love for him?
• These were some examples of responses:

                  A sweater was made for him.

                  Miss Maggie liked to comb his thin hair.

                 The old man gave him a hug

                 The elders petted him as he sat on their laps

• Teacher uses a musical question below and helps students create a rhythmic chant, using their responses.

          How can we help Harry who’s feeling so sad?

               Knit him a sweater.

               Comb his thin hair.

               Give him a hug and show that we care.

• Patsch rhythmic chant on legs, teaching one line at a time. Reinforce by repeating each line and adding a new one.
• Students added “visual clues” to help with memory of each line. We added body movements to show the clues.
• Examples were pretending to knit, combing, “hugging themselves and turning side to side.
• Teacher sets up a C pentatonic scale on the xylophone, removing the “F” and “B” bars. Teach the song by rote

• We took our ideas of helping others, wrote them on whiteboard again. We clapped out the rhythms and used stick notation underneath the words. I put them on a separate page below to print out, cut apart and laminate.
• Students worked in groups with their flashcards that were chosen by a leader from each group.
• We changed the words of the song to, “How can we help others who’re feeling so sad?”    
• The students worked on finding unpitched percussion or body percussion that could match their rhythms. These are just several examples:   
• Doing our chores (guiros, rubbing hands together)
• Helping our elders (rhythm sticks, tapping feet)
• Give a hug (bell tree, glockenspiels or tapping arms)  
• Create a rondo. Sing the musical question, “How can we help others who’re feeling so sad?”
• First group plays their phrase. Then class sings the “musical question” again.
• Second group plays, class sings “musical question.”
• Third group plays, class sings, “musical question.”
• Remind students of their performance etiquette. “Please be respectful while others are performing.”
• When finished, encourage each group to share what they liked about the other groups performance.
• Extension/Reflection:

As a class, we will continue to explore how we could use this song to help and respect others in our schools, family, and our community family. We brainstormed ideas about making cards for others, helping parents and grandparents with chores, sending thank you cards to our community workers, Firemen and Police.

Click here to download a pdf of this lesson

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book, please contact Theresa.

The post Lesson: Harry’s Horrible Hair first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Materials:

Barred instrument(s)

Finger Cymbal or other metal unpitched percussion

Tick-tock block

A way to proceed:

• Present the rhyme to the students using purposeful vocal inflections and extended pauses at the end of each line (you can use the slides at any point within the process)
  
• Patschen the beat that you wish to use for your bordun
  
• Speak the rhyme while students patschen the bordun (depending on the ability level of the students, stressing over the steadiness of the bordun maybe effort best spent on other things)
  
• Discuss how the rhyme will be in 5 sections
  
  • Hickory Dickory Dock – Broken bordun
  • The mouse ran up the clock – ascending mallet playing
  • The clock struck one – Finger cymbal
  • The mouse ran down – descending mallet playing
  • Hickory Dickory Dock – Broken bordun
    
• Practice the entire thing without instruments
  
• Add instruments
  
• Use the Tick-tock block to “maintain” your tempo
  
• Add a coda – unison play after the last word

Click here to download a copy of Patrick’s slides

The post Hickory Dickory Dock – An Exploration in Sound first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

(My New Dress)

Ang Sinina Ko’ng Bag’o (My New Dress) is a Cebuano rhyme in the Visayan language that my mother grew up hearing during her childhood in Cebu, Philippines.

Speaking Visayan

Visayan is one of many languages/dialects spoken in the Philippines. Generally speaking, Filipino languages use the same phonetic rules as Spanish. When introducing this song, keep these things in mind:

Vowels

A is an ah sound like in Moana

E is an eh sound like in elephant

I is an ee sound like in feet

O is an oh sound like in open

U is an ooh sound like boo

Two vowels next to each other have a small glottal stop in between (e.g. gipaangay: gipa+angay)

Consonants

The apostrophe between letters is a glottal stop, similar to the sound that you make when you say “uh-oh!”

R is a rolled r, almost sounding like a d

T is not an aspirated sound, a mix of a t and d

Procedure

• Introduce the song as a children’s rhyme from the Philippines. Explain that the rhyme is about all the new clothes and shoes.
• Teach rhyme phrase by phrase with the below movements:

• Teach the first half of ostinato “brand new dress and shoes, brand new dress and shoes” and have students clap the rhythm before transferring to woodblocks.
• Teach the second half of ostinato “sway, twirl” and have students snap the rhythm before transferring to triangle.
• You can ask students to change the last two words (“sway, twirl”) to other action words they’d use when getting brand new clothes.
• While students are speaking the rhyme, the teacher speaks the words for the ostinato.
• Split the classroom into three groups. Two groups will play woodblock and triangle and one group will speak the rhyme with movements.
• Perform three times, so each group has a chance to speak the rhyme with movements or play each instrument.

Depending on your class and your classroom’s set of instruments, you can let your students choose which un-pitched instruments are appropriate for each ostinato.

The post Lesson: Ang Sinina Ko’ng Bag’o (My New Dress) first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Intended Grade Level(s):

4-5 grade levels with paired readers* from 2-3 grade levels 

Materials: 

Saturday Night at The Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields; ISBN: 978-0-7636-3887-0 

Choose rhyme stanzas from the book suitable for paired reading*. You can choose longer or shorter stanzas depending on grade level. Create sentence strips with the selected rhyme stanzas so pairs, trios or foursomes can read aloud together. 

Bass xylophone, Bass metallophone, and/or contrabass bars.  

Process:

1. Sing the whole song for the students a few times.
    
2. Sing each phrase and have the class echo the phrase. Then combine two phrases and have the class echo the two phrases. Lastly, sing the whole song and have the class echo it back to you. 

3. Pat the pattern of the bass xylophone part in the A section on your legs.Make sure you are doing it backwards (mirroring) so the students will move in the correct direction in preparation to play. Have them join you when they figure out the pattern. Take turns singing and patting the pattern. Try patting and singing at the same time. 

Repeat the same procedure with the B section 

Have all the students learn both parts. Depending on the skill level of your students you might want to have half the class play the A section and half the class play the B section. You might play the B section and have the class play only the A section. If your students are able to play both sections, let them shine! 

4. To learn the speech pattern in the score, first say the speech in rhythm and have the class echo you. You might want to add head bops, or pats for the rest measures. Transferring the speech onto temple blocks or a guiro can add another layer. 

5. When teaching the movement, mirror the steps first, then the arm gestures. Next, put the two together. This process makes it easier for students to learn the movement quickly. If you students are struggling, speak the steps while moving then whisper then “think” the steps until they are comfortable. 

6. For the B section, give the students time to explore different movement ideas alone. Once they like their own creations, they can share with their paired reading partners and combine their ideas to create a group movement. Play a hand drum or the bass xylophone part while they move so the students know how much time they have (it is short!) 

7. Have half the class sings the song, while the other half performs the movement. Reverse roles and do it again.Students may want to share compliments after watching each other perform.
   
   
8. Once the song and dance are secure add the accompaniment. If this is not successful, don’t give up, Try again on another day! 

9. Read the story with paired reading and add the song, accompaniment, and dance. Decide with your students where the song and dance should be performed in the story. Request student narrators to read the portions of the book that are not performed by the shared reading groups. If you want to add another layer, decide on places where untuned percussion instruments may enhance the telling of the story.  

*Paired reading is a research-based fluency strategy used with readers who lack fluency. In this strategy, students read aloud to each other or together. When using partners, more fluent readers can be paired with less fluent readers. In this case, older students can be paired with younger students. Source: Every Child Can Read-Strategies and Guidelines for Helping Struggling Readers. Baskwill and Whitman. Scholastic Inc., NY, c. 1997 ISBN 0-590-10389-X

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As the weather gets warmer, and classrooms get much warmer (especially for those of us without air conditioning) taking the kids outside can be a nice change for music learning! I’ve compiled a selection of lesson ideas for meaningful and engaging music lessons in the out-of-doors. 

Games: 

• Any of the singing games you teach inside can go outside. Those who teach on a cart or have small rooms can go outside and play the singing games that are a challenge to play in restricted space. Some favorites for my students are, Cut the Cake, Ye Toop Doram, Acka-Backa, Chicken on a Fencepost, and “I Have Who Has” review games. These games can be found in most music series books and in online lessons for free. 

Singing: 

Singing outside can be tons of fun too.  

• Have a “campfire singalong!” Set up a fake campfire with flashlights to battery-operated tea lights and tissue-paper. Set up benches or logs around the “fire” grab a guitar or ukulele and teach your students all the camp songs you know.  
• On another day go “camp song caroling”! Walk around the school and sing camp songs (instead of holiday carols) at the first-floor windows around campus.  
• Blow bubbles, sing and move the contour of a bubble as it blows away. Some students move and sing while some watch then switch roles.  
• Grab a few picnic blankets and sing the song “Going On A Picnic”. Bring out a basket full of fake picnic food from the toy store, laminated pictures of food or those squishy toys the kids love so much. This song is great for working on solo singing skills. “Teddy Bear Picnic” would be a fun addition to the theme.  

Props: 

Many times, props are difficult to use in the classroom due to space and safety concerns. Going out doors opens up the space to move and use those exciting props. 

• Jump rope rhymes are fun! Teach the rhymes and jump rope to the beat. Jump faster or slower. Compose B section chants and notate them on the ground in chalk. Choose a form and add body percussion and voices to the second section. 
• Stories with songs, vocal sounds, body percussion and small instruments are great to read and perform outside. Possum Come A Knockin’ by Nancy Van Lann and Baby Rattlesnake told by Te Ata are outdoor favorites for me. Choose stories you wish to take outside and make a bucket or bag for each story. The children carry the supplies for you! 
• Tennis balls and basketball bouncing to the beat games can be found online. Grab a blue tooth speaker and take those lessons to the playground where there is enough space for everyone to bounce and play without bumping into each other. 
• Parachute and stretchy band games/songs would be even more fun in the sunshine and fresh air! 
• Borrow hula hoops from the gym and take a drum along. Do some quick reaction activities. Play beats while the children move in a variety of ways, (walk, tip-toe, skip etc.) When the drum stops they have to jump in the hoop. This can also be an elimination game, remove hoops as more and more students are “out”. 
• Everyone finds a stone or stick, sit in a circle and play all the stone and stick passing games that you know. Put the stones and sticks back when you are finished. 
• Click here for a fun “Music Tug of War” lesson from “Floating Down the River on the Ohio” music blog. 

Folk Dance: 

Folk dance is fun inside, it is also fun outside! 

• Draw a circle in sidewalk chalk and perform all the circle folk dances you have worked on this year. “Sashay the Donut” is a great outdoor circle dance! Play music on your Bluetooth speaker.  
• Play parties require no recorded music, draw “sets” on the ground with chalk so the kids can easily stay in lines. “The Noble Duke of York” and “Alabama Gal” are great places to start! 

Review: 

End of year review takes a new turn when you include fresh air and a new space. 

• Play rhythm and/or sol-fedge hopscotch. Draw a few hopscotch boards and fill the squares with rhythms or melodic patterns to read. The students must hop and read the music to earn the point. Be sure to include supports for students who may need them. 
• Get some cheap paint brushes and cups of water. Paint brush rhythms using the water on the pavement. The kids must clap the rhythms before they dry. (This game is more challenging the hotter it gets!) Give pairs of students a paint brush and take turns “painting” rhythmic dictation on the sidewalk. 
• Draw big squares with the notes of the treble, bass or grand staff all over the black top in chalk. Play a note review game by calling out a note name and asking the kids to run to the answer. Make up a song and play it on uke or guitar so they can sing along. When you say or sing the letter name at the end of the song, they run to find the correct note.  
• Use “found items” as iconic notation or markers to label phrase form. 

Play: 

• Take those recorder, ukulele, or bell songs outside and let the kids practice in teams. They will be able to hear themselves better, and you will too. 
• Any drum, ukulele, or recorder lesson would work well outside. If you have a projector on your phone, you may be able to project charts on the shady side of the building! 

Create: 

Use the skills the students already have to make something new. 

• Go outside and LISTEN! (How long can they listen? Time it!) Journal, recreate sounds, compose sound carpets or vocal exploration pieces using the recreated sounds they hear around them. Improvise a story to go with your music. 
• Make “story stones” for musical stories or rhythm stones or melody stones or chord progression stones then hide them. Have students find the stones and organize the order of a musical story like Peter and the Wolf or compose and perform rhythmic or melodic compositions by rearranging the rocks.  
• List all of the folk dance moves they know in chalk. Add one or two of their own and create a new dance or play party. 
• Collect items and work in small teams to build an instrument out of items found on the grounds, compose ostinatos and sing favorite songs with their instruments. 

I hope I have inspired you to take your music lessons outside. If you have great ideas for outdoor lessons please add them to the post by writing your ideas in the comments below.  

The post Take It Outside first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Spring is in the air, or so we hope! The weather is often a topic of conversation, and the sounds of spring offer a wonderful opportunity to sing, say, dance and play in the music classroom.

Music educators usually agree that some important goals for the youngest learners through the end of first grade include developing tuneful singing, steady beat, and experiencing musical opposites. Learning classroom procedures, building independence at making a circle, moving appropriately in the music room to access supplies, handling instruments with care, and expressing their thoughts through creative movement are becoming more natural with each passing week. Along this train of thought, students are guided to begin barred instrument exploration. They always seem to be asking when will it be their turn to play ‘those big instruments’!

The following lesson ideas are designed to broaden experiences and explore new concepts while giving our youngest learners opportunities to deepen their skills in responding to and performing a steady beat as well as singing and dancing.

Many rain-themed songs, poems, dances and art works are accessible to even the very youngest learners. Over the course of several lessons, students can explore the theme of rain, which will give them an opportunity to sing, move, and create while giving focus to in-tune singing and steady beat.

Drip, Drop: The Sound of Rain

One introduction to the differing sounds and intensities of rain could stem from the book Listen to the Rain by authors Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. During the read-aloud, consider setting the mood in the classroom by playing a recording of rain in the background, and fade it out when the rain ends within the text. Afterwards, discuss all of the activities one may do in the rain. Questions like, “Do you ever go outside in the rain?” “What do you wear?” “Is there anything you bring with you?” “Have you ever played in the rain?” “What did you do that was really fun?” are prompts that can yield very exciting movement explorations! Some common answers might be: “walk and spin our umbrellas”, or “jump in puddles”.

Choose one idea for the students to explore first, for example, “jump in puddles”. Have students explore this idea by pretending to walk down a sidewalk and then jump in puddles. Next, musically contextualize their movement experience by having the students walk between and around the puddles. As this occurs, the teacher improvises walking music, perhaps on a xylophone, to match the walking movement. Interspersing the “jumping in the puddles” experience, the teacher narrates lightly, “Walk towards the puddle, and pause”. Pause the music by playing a tremolo. Then, adding musical tension, the students prepare their jump, and at a predetermined musical signal, they spring into the puddle and splash around all encouraged by the musical stimulus and accompaniment provided by the teacher.

Simple, improvised accompaniment on xylophone can provide a musical soundtrack for the students as they create movement gestures. These ideas materialize, having been developed first in language.

Pitter, Patter: Move Your Feet, Look and Listen

“Chee Chee Cha” from the New England Dancing Masters’ book, Down in the Valley is a ready to go resource! It is a child-friendly arrangement of “Singing in the Rain,” and is a structured activity song that has repetitive lyrics and cumulative movement. This song will inevitably end in giggles! Pair this high-energy experience with a look at the painting, New York Street Under the Rain by Stansilav Sidorov. Guide students to discuss what they see within the painting (objects, people, the taxi, etc.) as well as the colors (“Which objects did the artist paint with bright colors?”) and how this affects the way we perceive the mood of painting. Help them toward thinking more deeply about the taxi in the rain. “What does the driver of a car need to do in order to drive safely in the rain?” Answers like “turn on the headlights” and “use the windshield wipers” are good starting points, and a robust conversation could grow from just about any aspect of the painting.

To lighten the mood after discussing a rainy day, a fingerplay can create a joyful release. Try this little gem, “Windshield Wiper” while listening to windshield wiper sounds via YouTube. Simply repeat the fingerplay several times while moving with an intentional steady beat, in place, and then through space supported by the sound of the wipers on the video.

Rain Drops, Heart Beats, and Borduns

“Rain, Rain Go Away” may be one of the most well-known children’s songs in our culture. It is a great way to bring focus to and learn to track the steady beat on a heartbeat chart. While students sing and track, the teacher can play a simple bordun (a steady beat accompaniment played on an open fifth, in this case, the notes D and A) on a bass metallophone or xylophone to reinforce the steady beat and promote in-tune singing.

You can print this beat chart to use with your students: Beat Chart and Rain, Rain, Go Away mm 1 and 2

Extend students an invitation to play the xylophone with this adaptation: During the “???” portions of the song, the teacher sings individual students’ names to come up and play the bordun together on bass-sized instruments.  In order to keep track of those who get a “special job”, you can check the student’s name off in a grade book. (This helps in future classes to keep track of which students have not yet had a turn.) Repeat several times to give multiple turns.

We use the following lyrics:

“Dripsy Dropsy” Glockenspiel

A springtime visit with glockenspiels, the smallest barred instruments, brings more creative exploration opportunities with the poem, “Dripsy Dropsy” by Leanne Guenther.

At first, students can explore the poem by showing their impressions of how they might mirror the way the rain is falling in the text by using their fingertips in the air. Students could demonstrate their impressions as well by transferring these to the sounds of a glockenspiel. Guided questions can help the students solidify their thoughts. “What would the ‘dripsy, dropsy’ raindrops sound like? Can you show me?” or, “What would the ‘pitter patter’ sound like on the glockenspiel?”

Continue to explore lines of the poem, “falling to the ground”, then, “fast then slow, until it stops” should create contrasting impressions. It is freeing for students to explore in the realm of what is possible instead of what is correct. The goal is creating a sound idea and this activity provides a gentle, aesthetically-minded framework.

The song “Rain, Rain” could be further explored as a pathway to improvisation, allowing two or three students at a time to explore on the glockenspiels while the bordun plays. An ABA form could materialize: “Rain Rain” – Glockenspiel Improvisations – “Rain Rain.” It is a feasible goal by the end of a given class that all students have had a chance to perform a special job on an instrument for the day.

Listening Transitions

The theme of springtime rain can also open and close a class session. As students enter or exit the room, different pieces of music based on rain could accompany a beginning or end of class stretch sequence. Some examples of these pieces include ones like the “Raindrop” Prelude in D flat Major, Op.28 No.15, by Frederic Chopin, or a contemporary piece like “Rain” by Brian Crain.

Stations

As a culmination of our rain adventures, several stations can be set up around the room for the students to rotate through. One station could be created that gives students experience demonstrating their ability to play a steady beat simple bordun to “Rain, Rain, Go Away”, another station with an opportunity to improvise and explore glockenspiels with the poem “Dripsy Dropsy” by Leanne Guenther, and a final station could take shape that helps practice tracking the beat to “Rain, Rain, Go Away” on heartbeat charts.

You can feel the joy throughout the room when transitions from station to station are facilitated with different verses of “Chee Chee Cha” from the New England Dancing Masters. The rotation through stations gives the teacher a chance to see and hear each student’s growth in understanding music concepts while keeping the classroom climate light and fun.

It is my hope that these ideas inspire you to explore the sounds of rain with your own students!

Happy Spring!

Lisa Sempsey teaches K-6 music and movement and is the K-12 Art and Music Curriculum Coordinator in Columbia Borough School District, Columbia, PA.  She has completed three levels of Kodály, three levels of Orff-Schulwerk training, and holds a Master of Education in Leadership for Teaching and Learning. Lisa enjoys sharing ideas with educators, and has presented workshops at both the local and national levels.

Resources and Links:

Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault (published by Henry Holt and Co., ISBN-13:  9780805006827)

Gentle Night Rain – YouTube link

Down in the Valley by the New England Dancing Masters

“Windshield Wiper” fingerplay

Water Drops on Car Roof, Windshield Wiper Sound – YouTube link

“Dripsy Dropsy” poem by Leanne Guenther

The post Drip, Drop, Pitter, Patter, and Explore! first appeared on Teaching With Orff.