Using Earth Song by Frank Ticheli, students are given elemental composition tools to craft unique movement accompaniments to a poignant and timely vocal piece with themes of peace and hope – just in time for Earth Day 2024!

Earth Song is a gorgeous vocal composition with origins in the work Sanctuary for wind ensemble. Diatonically living in F major and a strong form in 4/4 time, the lush and swelling 4-beat phrases elude traditional cadential harmony, and settle into an E phrygian resolution by the end. The atonality and undetermined harmonic destination create an incredible springboard for creative, unique movement compositions by students. The compositional process is prompted and guided by thinking maps designed to elicit biome characteristics from around the globe, pull out movement vocabulary for decision making, and utilizes visual organizers to aid in compositional brainstorming and refinement along the way.

Thinking maps and graphic organizers are a favorite way of mine to begin movement activities, because it naturally filters and focuses language prompts that evolve into the impetus of movement decisions.

From here, the class as a whole will split into small groups, each assigned to their own biome. They will transfer their biome and the movement words pulled out of the brainstorming session into a targeted organizer for their unique movement piece.

At this point, I expose them to the music we will be working with, Earth Song. I love to use the recording made by Virtual Choir HQ, featuring 167 singers hailing from 21 different professional choirs around the world.

I find it powerful to post the lyrics as we listen:

Sing, Be, Live, See.
This dark stormy hour,
The wind, it stirs.
The scorched earth
Cries out in vain:
O war and power,
You blind and blur,
The torn heart
Cries out in pain.
But music and singing
Have been my refuge,
And music and singing
Shall be my light.
A light of song
Shining Strong: Alleluia!
Through darkness, pain, and strife, I’ll
Sing, Be, Live, See…
Peace.

In a quick additional brainstorm, I ask them to describe the feelings, emotions, and impressions they get from listening to this piece. This will be crucial to leading them into creating movement pieces that “fit” with the recording of Earth Song that we will be using. For instance, if the Jungle group are planning on thrashing around like toucans and monkeys, this would help them adapt to interpretations that fit better with the mood of Earth Song.

Then, I post a collection of Movement Vocabulary words (using categories derived from Creative Dance by Anne Greene Gilbert) for them to use as they return to their groups’ Movement Plan.

With these guides and prompting vocabulary at their disposal, they are tasked with using the remaining fields of their plan to map out exactly how each word from their biome characteristics can translate into a movement representation. Plenty of time is given to experiment, test ideas, and refine.

As students develop three different gestures for their biome words, give them the additional task of creating transition movements to get from the end of one part and to the beginning of the next part.

• How would you travel to “reset” for the next part?
• How would you move to “stay in character” during the transition?
• How would you communicate without words to your group to move through each section and transition?

Now it is time to coach each composition to fit into the phrase lengths of Earth Song.

Start playing slow 4-beat phrases on a drum and ask the students to stretch and sustain each of the three sections of their movement piece across 4 beats, and then use the following 4 beats to transition or travel, and then begin the next section of their movement pieces over the next 4 beats, etc. The form will evolve into:

Plenty of time should be given for refinement and edit during the phase of the process.

“Finally, on a daily level, risk a slower pace in your own work with children, a pace that allows time to consider creative questions and their answers. Personal reflection and construction of knowledge takes more time than simply dictating knowledge.” – Peter Webster, “Thinking in Music Education, Encouraging the Inner Voice.”

Time must be allotted to allow students to feel, analyze, and constructively work through places that “feel weird” or “don’t fit” and to work toward the group consensus, and ultimately feel really good and confident executing their final version.

Now it is time to add Earth Song in. I like to let them just listen one more time, breathing with the 4 beat phrases, and following along on their group’s plan and with the roadmap. On a second pass through, we will practice grafting the movement onto the recording, and spend more time sharing out to the other groups.

As a final group version, I like to put the groups into canon, having one group begin, and introducing the following groups one at a time in offset intervals. The layers of movement and characteristic expression, unified by the breath of the 4 beat phrases is so dynamic and fascinating.

This activity can be incorporated into a larger collection of activities for a variety of performances. From humble building blocks of vocabulary, the results are a multidimensional expression of creativity, layered with a gorgeous choral piece singing for peace.

Project Details

Beginning with accessible and cross-disciplinary guides and organizers, this activity follows the concrete definable language associated with Earth’s biomes, and unlocks creative expressive movement in small group settings. The compositional process is guided but unbound, and the inspiration is rooted in emotional and deeply moving choral music.

4th graders will brainstorm, prioritize, and compose movement poetry and performance pieces, and be able to articulate their creative process. 

• Fourth Grade, Standard 1. Expression of Music: Demonstrate practice and refinement processes to develop independent musicianship
• Fourth Grade, Standard 2. Creation of Music: Compose, improvise, and arrange sounds and musical ideas to communicate purposeful intent.
• Fourth Grade, Standard 3. Theory of Music: Identify and demonstrate complex form, meter, and timbre elements – Form: Aurally identify a variety of forms including recurring themes, interludes, canons and theme/variations.
• Fourth Grade, Standard 4. Aesthetic Valuation of Music: Evaluate and respond to music using criteria to make informed musical decisions.

• Use as a part in a greater showcase with Earth/environment/science/SEL/collaborative/peace themes

• As a gateway into larger movement or creative composition activities
• As an accompaniment to a story or piece of literature

Think of this activity as a beginning, with endless process variables and directions you could take. Some of the variations could include but are by no means limited to:

Poetry

Thinking maps and graphic organizers are a readily accessible entry point and guide through this activity, but beginning with poetry is just as effective. Consider collecting haikus, cinquain, or tetractys poems that are short, focused, and unfold musically, and have the students identify movement words in their poems and take up the process from that point of inspiration. Or, have students compose their own earth-themed poetry and pull out the movement prompts from their own creations.

Music

Do you have an arrangement that would accompany this activity? Grafting creative movement onto student arrangements and compositions can be done following the outlined process, by breaking down the components of a movement piece and its transitions, and fitting them into the phrase lengths of any piece of music.

Visual Additions

Working with Light

• Putting the movers behind a shadow screen unleashes incredible visual dynamics to an activity like this, and would no doubt spark a rabbit hole of compositional ideas in your students.
• Projecting light down onto the performers, perhaps a different hue for each represented biome would add to the distinctness and qualities of each group’s impetus for compositionAdding Movement Props
  • Adding scarves, ribbons, stretchy bands, or lights like this (a special thanks to Dave Thaxton for the discovery of these bad boys) would be an engaging layer to add to each movement piece
  • placing groups on tiered levels in a performance would add fascinating depth to the visual presentation
  • Adding a projection of scenes of nature or even the Earth Song performance would elicit the theme and add an interesting accompaniment

Assessment

Evaluating the efficacy of this type of activity can be tricky, subjective, and unclear. In activities that are creative and compositional in nature, with unclear and open-ended outcomes, I like to utilize an area of evaluation that is incredibly valuable: assessment as learning, ie: assessment done by the student, as the activity is evolving. An idea introduced to me by the incredible Victoria Redfern-Cave at AOSA National Conference 2017, this is clearly and easily achieved by leading the students through self-created rubrics that define and track what success looks like in a compositional activity. This naturally helps eliminate moments where students are asking questions such as, “Is this what you want?” or “I don’t get it.”

Student-Created Rubrics as a a guide through an abstract activity, and checklist for success:

• Create categories that can be assessed by someone watching a performance of this activity. These should be categories where the students have received actual instruction, such as how each section of the movement is developed and composed, what transitions look like and how are they considered successful, and how we work with the members of our groups.
• Create levels of possibility and valuation that are age appropriate. I find this often boils down to “Did you do this thing? Check yes or no”
• Fill-in the blanks with descriptive language. 

An example of a rubric made in a whole-class discussion, identifying what effective participation looks like and defining success could look like this:

The post Earth Song first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf is one of the mainstays of music education. Since its composition in 1936, it has been used to teach the instruments of the orchestra to students around the world. My question is this: how can music educators transform a traditionally passive listening experience into an active elemental experience?  Let’s start with movement! 

To set the stage for Peter and the Wolf, I first let students explore each of the main themes with movement. (This website is a useful resource as a place to find each theme without having to correctly click on a YouTube video link.) As a class, we create a list of movement qualities for each character. I use student-generated vocabulary as well as ACEMM’s movement cards. This is a great opportunity to discuss timbre and how the expressive elements of each theme affect our movement words. Then we pass out character cards and listen to a performance of the folk tale with students creating movements for each character. (Note: we do have a class discussion about the hunters and what motions are appropriate for school. In my classroom, the hunters utilize nets instead of firearms for the purposes of our storytelling.)

In the next class, we discuss why Sergei Prokofiev chose each particular timbre for each character. To facilitate this discussion, I created “Peter and the “What if…?”   This is a website where students can choose different timbres for each character. After the students have reassigned the instruments, we explore how the different timbres affect our movements and interpretations of the characters.

Lastly, I have students create their own stories utilizing classroom percussion. With this worksheet, students create a short story about a character meeting two different characters and then returning home to their grown-up. Students can use classroom percussion to create a soundscape for each character or they can create a brief melody or rhythm – whatever your curricular goals are at the time. Finally, students can put on a performance of their piece of music for their peers, classroom teacher, or school community. 

The post Peter and the “What If?” 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.

We are so excited to bring you this online retreat, which is being led by some of our favorite humans. Each of them brings unique perspectives, experiences, and modalities to this project. Together they are collaborating to co-create a unifying and nourishing experience meant to support you in preparation for the coming year. You use music, art & movement every day to nourish your students – let our team guide you on a journey to do the same for yourself. We invite you to set aside four days for spiritual refreshment through music, movement, and community.

Click here to learn more about this unique opportunity for personal and professional development.

You can also click the links below to hear from our instructors as they share their excitement about our upcoming retreat.

A personal message from Roger Sams

Aloha from K. Michelle Lewis

Garden greetings from David Thaxton

An invitation from Judy Barthwell

Greetings from Drue Bullington

An invitation from Beth Nelson

We hope you choose to join us July 27 – 30, 2020 to care for yourself so you are better prepared to care for your students and handle the uncertainties of the coming school year.

The post Elemental Soul: An Online Music & Movement Retreat first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

1. Practice Mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness means that you bring your mind to the present and pay attention to what you are doing consciously.  It is easy to slip into being on “autopilot.” Spending a few minutes in the morning checking in with yourself and setting intentions for your day is a helpful mindfulness practice.  Zoe likes to focus on affirmations. You can create your own by asking yourself, “How do I want to feel?” Write your response in the present tense. Here are some of her suggestions:

Zoe’s Examples

• I allow myself time and space to reflect. 
• My mind is aware of the present.
• My heart feels compassionate and is full of love.
• My mind is stimulated by books, stories, art, scholarly articles, music that inspire me to be my best self.
• I maintain boundaries with technology and intake of the news.
• My body is free to dance.
• My voice is clear to sing, laugh and converse authentically.

2. Sleep Regularly

Keeping your body on some sort of regular schedule will help keep you feeling your best.  Make time to work in 8 hours of regular sleep, and try to make yourself go to bed and wake up around the same time.  Our bodies have an easier time getting enough rest when we structure our days. Here is an example that Zoe created for herself.  Her husband, a night owl has his own version, shifted several hours later.  

3. Move Every Day

We were made to move!  You don’t have to do a grueling workout for hours each day, but especially since we are used to being up and moving around as we teach hundreds of kids, we will keep feeling better if we go outside and enjoy a walk.  

• Go for a walk
• Pop in a workout video
• Do a yoga routine
• Ride your bike 
• Dance

YouTube is a great resource for free workouts.  Whatever will be most fun for you, warm up your muscles and move for at least 30 minutes.  Your body will thank you later with great rest!

4. Flex Your Brain

We suddenly find ourselves with time on our hands, and we have a special opportunity to learn something new!  

• Pick up an instrument that you’ve been meaning to practice.  
• Play along with a video on your ukulele
• Fill out the New York Times crossword
• Watch the MET stream their operas live
• Catch up on TED talks.  

There are many opportunities to learn available for free online.  Find something that makes you happy and give it a try!

5. Hydrate

It’s easy to reach for soda or other beverages when we’re bored.  Fill up your body with the water it needs!

• Fill a 32 oz water bottle twice a day and challenge yourself to drink both!
• Drink a minimum of 64 oz a day
• The ideal amount of water is half your body weight in oz, so a 150lb person would drink 75 oz of water.

6. Eat Well

Nourishing your body well will help keep you from feeling bloated and inflamed in a few days.  Think about eating as an act of care for your body, and how nourishing food protects your immune system.

• Try eating 6 small meals a day
• Eat within 30 minutes of waking
• Eat every 2.5 to 3 hours for a total of 6 meals
• Include protein, produce, fiber, and fat in each meal

7. Reach Out

Finally, make sure you continue to reach out and find community!  We are not alone as we navigate this strange season together.

• Join a Facebook group doing composition challenges
• Join us in our Teaching With Orff mindfulness activities
• Facetime a relative who can’t accept visitors because of quarantine 
• Host a Zoom party and do charades or Pictionary online
• Share your ideas and insights with others who need to post lessons online for students.

This is an uncertain season for all of us, but we can move through it with mindfulness.  Choosing to reach out and navigate the weeks to come in community will help us grow through a time of stress.  Seeking ways to remain grounded and connected will only make us stronger.

The post Self Care Tips for Quarantined Music Teachers 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

The post Dinosaur Stomp 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.

Exploring Vaughan Williams through Kitchen Utensils

A food-themed exploration of Vaughan Williams’ “March Past of the Kitchen Utensils” through movement and play! 

YOU’RE INVITED! 

As educators who use movement to initiate music learning, we often explore a variety of themes to make connections with our students and to make these experiences lively and playful. One topic that never gets old in my classroom is food! My second grade students used Ralph Vaughan Williams’ composition “March Past of the Kitchen Utensils” to begin a musical feast. As a french horn player who also started her teaching career as a high school band director, I have long loved instrumental music. I seek high quality pieces for my students, and this particular composition has become a favorite in my classroom because of its lively feel. It is one of five sections of Williams’ larger suite of incidental music, composed for a 1909 production “The Wasps,” an Old Comedy written by Aristophanes, a playwright from ancient Athens. “The Wasps” tells the somewhat humorous story of a man that loved the law and trials so much that he actually stages with two household dogs concerning a piece of stolen cheese. The kitchen utensils serve as witnesses to this trial created to appease the man’s needful feeling to do something judicious. 

When I added the novelty of actually having a plastic utensil toy to hold while they marched about, their posture and purpose rose to a whole new level. They tirelessly practice steady beat as they experience the form through movement. 

We reviewed what a marching style of walking can look like and explored how we can march to the beat. You may also introduce the term “march past,” referring to a procession, sometimes military, and its connection to what students probably know as a “parade.” Students first tapped the steady beat while they listened to the piece, alternating different ways to tap the beat by watching and mirroring me. We then discussed what they heard in the music using their own words to describe the change in mood, tempo, and style. The basic form of the piece is ABA; for our musical feast we called this form a “musical sandwich.” During the A section, students marched to the steady beat (locomotor). When they heard the B section they feverishly cooked up their favorite dish in their kitchen (nonlocomotor). They returned to the marching until the end of the piece and proudly delivered their delectable treat to the table (locomotor).

On their second try, I gave students a toy plastic utensil to use to enhance their action and play. With the novelty of having a utensil to hold while they marched about, their posture and purpose rose to a whole new level. They tirelessly practiced steady beat as they experienced the form through movement. After sharing this lesson with my classes, many students had the idea of raising their utensil into the air on the accented notes, which I thought was brilliant! After listening, Faith, a second grader, pointed out: “Some of it repeated and some of it didn’t. When we got to the middle part there were beautiful sounds when we were mixing.” Through several experiences with the piece, she began to fully understand the structure. Of course, at the end of the piece we share what delicious dish we have “just prepared” with a neighbor. They can just tell them or “give them a bite too.” 

EXPLORING FORM 

In their next classes, I had students create their own stories for different sections of the piece. We tried some of the ideas and created choreography to fit their story. Students worked in teams to draw the plan, like a map, for their story. We explored hiking through a forest, getting lost, and then finding our way again, as well as many other ideas. One of my favorite ideas was swimming through the ocean, getting caught in a whirlpool, and then getting out again, as the music does have a nautical feel. Nolan said that he like creating his own story because “you could think of your own movements and you don’t have to just do the marching story.” Kids love having ownership in the classroom and being able to create on their own. 

This video segment shows students performing the B section, then returning to the A section:

MORE POSSIBILITIES 

The ABA form lends itself to connection with the form of other pieces. This piece has many possibilities and it has definitely spiced things up for kids in my music class. Later in the lesson, students used food manipulatives to create rhythm phrases to speak and then add body percussion. These manipulatives allow students to group their sounds into measures and add a repeat sign easily. We turned this into a rondo with the spoken phrase “Yum! Yum!  Eat it all up!” repeated four times.repeat sign easily. We turned this into a rondo with the spoken phrase “Yum! Yum!  Eat it all up!” repeated four times. 

Additional food related possibilities: 

One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes 

Traditional tales and songs: 

Pumpkin Stew 

Going on a Picnic 

Mabel, Mabel 

Chop, Chop, Chippity Chop 

The Muffin Man 

Listen to more selections from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Wasps” 

Explore other pieces of incidental music 

Explore other dramas, and make connections to history of ancient Greece 

Food also serves as a great connection with different traditions and cultures! 

The possibilities are endless… 

Where will your musical journey take you? 

Melissa Burroughs is a National Board Certified Early and Middle Childhood Music Teacher at Doby’s Bridge Elementary in Fort Mill, South Carolina and an adjunct professor teaching Integrated Arts at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. She received her undergraduate and Master’s degrees there. Although she has used Orff Schulwerk in her classroom for a while, her study of Orff Schulwerk levels began at Winthrop University with Level I in 2014. She completed Level II at George Mason University in 2016 with plans to complete Level III in the near future. Melissa is the co-founder of “Good Vibes,” a new ukulele collective starting in York County, South Carolina and volunteers with children’s music at her church. She serves as a STEAM Leader Corps teacher working in her school in conjunction with Discovery Ed to promote the arts as a powerful tool to shape the lives of children. 

The post Lesson: Be Our Guest! first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Materials:   

Tale of Two Villages, Music for Creative Dance: Contrast and Continuum, Volume 1, Eric Chapelle

Objectives: 

• Locomotor vs. Non-Locomotor Movement
• Expression of Beat
• Binary Form (AB)
• Improvisation 

Process: 

• Students scatter in space, encourage various ways of moving a singular body part; move arm only, or leg, or head, etc., teacher plays drum for 8 beats as students move.
• Say, “Let’s try it a different way; if you moved standing up, try it sitting or bending knees, or laying down”.  Change levels, add shapes (triangle, circle), and expressive movements (slither, sway, melt, bend, etc.), non-locomotor only.
• Introduce temple blocks (or a different instrument), students respond with locomotor movement as teacher plays for 8 beats.
• Discuss words to describe movement, discuss the activity; lead to discovery/labeling of same/different as “A” and “B” sections of music.
• In small groups or as a whole class, brainstorm a list of creative movement, both locomotor and non-locomotor.
• A Section:  Non-locomotor movement
• B Section:  Locomotor movement  

Extension Activity with Ribbon Wands and Unpitched Percussion.   

• Divide class; half with ribbon wands, half with hand drums.
• Ribbon wands will watch as teacher changes shape cards below on A section (mbira/kalimba playing on recording).
• UPP players will improvise on B section (drums on recording).
• Perform, then switch jobs. 

Click here to download and print this set of movement cards.

Title Photo Credit: Houston Chronicle

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