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.

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.

History

“Step Back, Baby” can in found in the song collection My Singing Bird published by the Kodály Center of America. Bessie Jones, author of Step It Down and member of the Georgia Sea Island Singers, taught the song at the Kodály Music Training Institute when she visited in 1973. The song is in call and response form and features a re, do, la tone set, both emblematic of African-American music. The story may or may not be true.

Objectives

Because of the repetition of the response phrase “step back, baby, step back” the song is great practice for re, do, and la. It is also attractive to to older beginners because of the mysterious story and swinging nature of the tune. The repetition of the response phrase makes the song perfect practice for the A, G, and E notes on soprano recorder. Once students are familiar with the traditional form of the song, it can be extended with new rhyming couplets, recorder improvisations, or scat singing.

Introducing the Story

I get my students interested by asking them if they want to hear a very scary experience I had the other night. They never decline the invitation!

Not last night, but the night before,
Twenty-four robbers at my door,
Open up the door and let them in.
Hit ‘em on the head with a rolling pin.
I picked up my fryin’ pan.
Should have seen the way those robbers ran!
Some ran east and some ran west.
Some flew over the cuckoo’s nest.

I introduce the melody and the call and response form next. I tell the students that I’m going to tell them the story again. This time I want them to listen to for a part of the story that happens over and over. I sing the song for the first time in a very dramatic fashion.

They quickly pick up on the response “Step back, baby, step back”. They echo sing the phrase to me and I turn that part over to them. Depending on where we are going with the song, I might start introducing them to the couplets of the call. I sing the whole first call and and then let them fill in the rhyming words at the end of the second call. If we are playing recorders, I show them how to play the response on the notes A, G, and E. The beauty of call and response is the ability for a soloist to improvise new calls while the group holds the form together by repeating the call.

Movement

Form a longways set (Two lines facing each other). Act out the words as you step forward on the beat for each phrase of the call (Walk forward, 2, 3, 4). Jump back on the first three beats of the response, landing on the beats and clapping on the off beats (Jump back, (clap) 2, (clap) 3, (clap), Rest). Once the students can land their jumps on the beat and clap on the offbeats (a minor miracle in many communities), the artistry comes in the acting out of the calls. Make sure to compliment students that acting out the words in interesting, innovative ways. Allow different groups to perform for each other to help spread ideas.

Solos take the form of interesting walks down the middle of the set. Give the students ideas by having them try out movement words like slink, prowl, or swagger. They can then add some funk to different body parts like hips, knees, elbows, and hands. Once the walks are created, one of the partners at the head of the set starts down the set. The other partner either copies the walk or improves it. The next set of partners follows in the same way. For large groups with limited time, each new walker starts when the previous one is halfway down the set. After one side of the set has been the leaders, sing the song and then repeat solos with the other side being the leaders.

Recorder

This a great piece for beginning soprano recorder players, especially if you start teaching recorder with the descending minor third of G and E. Soon after beginning recorders, students can master the three note response. Alternating the sung call with the played response extends the interest and provides opportunity for important repetitive fingering practice.

In order to assess individual students, pick a small group to play the response while everyone else sings the call. After the response is secure, groups of students can improvise rhythmic calls on a single note, A, G, or E. When students gain confidence, they can expand their calls to include two and then three adjoining notes. If playing this with more experienced players, any note in the A minor pentatonic scale can be used (CDE GA C’D’E’ G’A’). If playing recorders with the Orffestration, one or both of the upper harmony parts may be added to challenge advanced players.

Improvising

Improvising is one of the hallmarks of the Orff process. Call and response is a great musical form for improvising in a group. A soloist or small group can improvise calls while the rest of the group sings or plays the response. Rotate the soloists and add harmony to the response if students need a challenge to hold their interest. Recorders can used as described above but there are many other options.

Rhythmic improvisation is always the first step. This can be accomplished through body percussion and non-pitched instruments. Start with the rhythm of the words and then branch out from there. It is important to feel the phrase length, so students should spend a lot of time singing and moving with the song.

When students can improvise a variety of “hip” rhythms, start pitched improvisations with a limited tone set. As students need challenge, expand the tone set until the whole Am pentatonic scale (A CDE G) is available to them.

For vocal improvisation, sing one of the existing calls on a neutral syllable like “du”. Practice sounding like different instruments. “Can you make your voice sound like a trumpet? What about a saxophone, guitar, drum, etc.?” If your students have facility with solfege you can give them a tone set (l, drm s) and have them improvise using solfege before moving to scat syllables. After letting students try out their own instrument sounds, I like to play some examples of expert scat singers to give them more ideas and up the ante.

Ella Fitzgerald : One note Samba
Louis Armstrong & Danny Kaye: When The Saints Go Marching In
Sarah Vaughan – Scat Blues – 1969
Sing! Day of song – Bobby McFerrin – Improvisation

Scat conversations between partners is a very musically meaningful activity. It forces students to listen to and interact with the musical material they hear. The first partner sings a phrase. The second partner uses part of the first partner’s phrase and changes part. When the first partner sings again they can create a brand new phrase or use the new part of the previous phrase and add something of their own. With the call and response form, the first soloist creates a call, the group sings the response, and then the second soloist answers the first call. An educational bonus of the call and response form is that it gives the soloists think-time between each phrase before having to create new material.

Teaching the Orffestration

The Orffestration is the icing on the cake. Make sure you spend a lot of time singing, moving, and improvising with the song before attempting the Orffestration. When the students can play it, extend the form with improvised solos on a variety of instruments, including the voice and body.

The arrangement below is an example of every single part you could play given unlimited time, talent, and perfectly focused concentration. Please do not look at the arrangement and think “My kids could never do this!” and abandon it entirely. We have often used parts of the Orffestration with great success even though the entire arrangement was well beyond the capacity of the group. Teach everyone all the parts that you are planning to use. Then differentiate by assigning students to parts where they will be challenged but successful.

Teaching Tips

Have all the students play each new instrument part. Then temporarily assign groups of kids to play the new part with the parts that have already been practiced to see how they fit together. Rotate the parts around the groups to help them hear and feel the whole ensemble. Playing the parts together for the first time after they have all been taught is one way to ensure complete chaos. Believe me, I’ve tried it! Don’t teach a new part until the existing parts are secure together. Use the texts provided under each part along with body percussion and/or movement before playing it on the instruments.

The Bass Part

This part sounds amazing if you have contrabass bars. If not, it will also sound really nice on your bass xylophone. We put this part in our feet and step the rhythm using the phrase “Let’s all step back.” Accenting the word “back” helps the students with the anticipation before beat four.

The Bass and Alto Xylophone Parts

The rhythm for the Bass and Alto Xylophone parts can be learned while saying “Let’s all step back” and clapping between the words on the off beats. The pitches are basically a moving 5th between the BX and AX. The Bb in the AX part should be added after the students are confident with the E, G, A, B part. After the students have learned that part, remove the high C bar, move the B bar over to that spot, and place the Bb in the spot B’s former spot. Since the BX and AX parts work together, the students playing these parts really need to listen to each other as well as listening to the main bass part.

The Soprano Xylophone Part

The soprano xylophone part is a fill that happens between the call and the response each time. Instead of telling the students this, play the part for them while they sing the song and ask them to figure out when it happens. Since the rhythm is quick, pat this part on the knees with alternating hands while saying “the night before.”

In order to add a bit of chromaticism, the F# is substituted for the lower F bar and the Bb bar in the B spot. It may be helpful to remove the low D bar and the high C to help the SX players visually see where they are playing.

The Glockenspiel Part

Set up all the glockenspiels in A minor pentatonic. Students remove the F and B bars, leaving CDE GA CDE GA. The rhythm for this part lines up with both times the word “back” is sung in the response. Invite the students to snap on the word “back” while singing the response. Students can play “best friend” bars each time they hear the word back. Best friend bars are right next to each other on the instrument.

An alternate way to play the part is by holding the big F bar, that was previously removed, vertically and carefully striking a group of bars. This works well if you only have a few glockenspiels. Since the glockenspiel part has a lot of down time, I have the students choreograph a synchronized mallet dance to fill that time. This keeps the devil from finding work for idle hands to do.

Non-pitched Percussion

Conga drums, tubanos, or djembes can be used for the drum part. There are two drum pitches, bass and tone. The bass is played in the middle of the drum with the tone on the edge. The first syllable of “conga” is always the bass. The clap at the end of the phrase saves the place for the rest and can eventually be omitted or transferred to another non-pitched instrument. The ride cymbal part is swung and uses the name of the instrument over and over “Ride cymbal, (x3) ride the…” This part can be improved with improvisation on the basic rhythm.

Playing the Orffestration

Layer in the parts starting from the bottom of the score with the exception of the non-pitched percussion. Bring in the drums and cymbal after the alto xylophone. The soprano xylophone and glockenspiel parts are tied to the singing so they begin playing when the singing starts.

Once they students are secure in playing together, extend the form by adding solos. Solicit ideas for being able to hear the soloists. Some ideas that have worked for us are to have everyone lower their volume, have some parts drop out, or a combination of both during the solos.

Not last night, but the night before,                      Step back, baby, step back.

Twenty-four robbers at my door,                          Step back, baby, step back.

Open up the door and let them in.                         Step back, baby, step back.

Hit ‘em on the head with a rolling pin.                  Step back, baby, step back.

I picked up my fryin’ pan.                                     Step back, baby, step back.

Should have seen the way those robbers ran!        Step back, baby, step back.

Some ran east and some ran west.                         Step back, baby, step back.

Some flew over the cuckoo’s nest.                        Step back, baby, step back.

The post Step Back, Baby first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

This past summer my wife and I had the good fortune to visit some family in Munich, Germany. When discussing the various activities we wanted to do while there she asked “what’s the one thing that you must do while in Germany?”  Without skipping a beat, I replied “Go to the Studio 49 factory!”  With a puzzled look, she said “seriously?”

Over the course of 16 years as a music educator I have encountered many different brands of xylophones, some good, some bad, and some just ugly. I figured this was a really good opportunity to get connected to my craft of teaching music using the Orff process. I contacted the company and received a very generous offer to visit the factory while I was in Munich. That jet lagged Monday couldn’t come soon enough but when it arrived I woke up like a boy on Christmas morning and we were on our way to the factory.   

After 2 U-Bahn changes and a bus ride we made it to the factory in an industrial area outside of Munich. We were greeted by a very tall gentleman who asked us to wait a moment and he proceeded to run around and attend to an issue in the factory. After a short wait, he explained that the computer system that runs much of the factory equipment had gone down and now everything was up and running. His name was Herr Becker and he was going to show us around the factory. The tour started outside where it all begins with the wood. It comes to the factory on pallets in long strips ready to start the journey to become xylophone bars. Herr Becker explained that the strips of wood are first placed in this giant oven to be slow dried three steps only to be rehydrated two steps. This process is repeated over and over until the wood gets to the desired dryness and hardness. The slow process helps the bars retain their intonation over time. This was the first of many times on the tour I saw first-hand the quality of the Studio 49 brand.

From the ovens, we weaved our way through the factory going to the different employee stations and seeing each step in the process of building a xylophone. We stopped where they assemble the boxes for the xylophones. The employee was putting together bass xylophone boxes with precision. When a xylophone box is made they cut/router all 4 sides out of the same piece of wood to ensure an even sound and color. It was also explained that by cutting each side at the same time eliminates the small differences in size that would occur as the cutting tool wears down over time. The uniformity and care that was taken was very impressive.

Our next stop was a strange looking contraption. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was as it looked like a Rube Goldberg machine. It had conveyors, gears, cranks, cutting instruments and hydraulic hoses. The pieces of wood which were now cut to length for a specific note (we were there when they were making low D for the alto xylophones) would be put through the conveyor and go on a roller coaster ride. At the end of the ride they came out looking like a xylophone bar. Each bar was sanded and tuned by hand. It was explained that although it looked like the bars were ready to go, each bar had to go to another technician to be fine-tuned to either two harmonics or three harmonics depending on the model. Our journey continued as we saw the many other products Studio 49 makes like yarn mallets, hand drums, and concert quality marimbas for European countries.

When our tour was complete, we headed back into the office areas and passed a portrait that looked very much like our tour guide.  It was then that I realized we weren’t just being walked around by a generous employee, it was the president of the company. He had taken time out of his busy day to walk a stranger who loves teaching using their product through the factory. We had the opportunity to chat a little bit before we left. I asked how he got into this business and he explained that his family had known Carl Orff and Guinald Keetman. They were looking for someone to produce high quality instruments for their school and the relationship between Orff and Studio49 continued for many years.

Herr Becker recalled a story when he had been a young boy he was at the Orff estate and was chasing some ducks by the pond and fell into the water and was soaked head to toe. It was then I realized I was now three degrees of separation from the man and woman who developed this teaching process that myself and millions of others use to teach every day.  After signing their guest-book we left and the rest of our trip I kept reflecting on how lucky we were to get a snapshot on Studio 49 and this legacy. It was truly amazing to see the level of quality and care invested in each instrument from start to finish. By the end of the day it was very apparent that this company makes these instruments with love and wants that love to be spread through the music that our students make for years to come.   

For more on the history and production of Studio 49 Orff Instruments, please visit MMB Music. 

The post A Visit to the Studio 49 Factory first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

While most of you are enjoying summer break, here at Teaching With Orff we are already planning for back to school. Share your favorite Orff-inspired back to school lesson for a chance to win a fabulous prize from MMB Music!

Entering is as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Select a favorite lesson you have written for back to school that utilizes Orff instruments.

2. Write a brief bio and pick out your favorite headshot.

3. Email your lesson, bio, and headshot to TeachingWithOrff@gmail.com. Please include your name, school, city, state, and email address.

Submissions will be accepted through Wednesday, August 9, 2017.

A winner will be chosen by our selection committee and announced on or before August 16, 2017. The winner will be notified by email and will receive a Studio 49 KBN Resonator Bell Set 1c and wooden case. The winning lesson will be featured on our website and Facebook page

The selection committee is looking for student-centered lessons that include objectives, connections to National Standards, and a step-by-step description of the lesson and process for teaching. We are looking forward to seeing your amazing ideas!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Must be a Music Educator who is a legal U.S. resident and at least 18 years of age at the time of entry. Contest begins on July 12, 2017 and ends on August 9, 2017. For additional details including the definition of “Music Educator” download the official rules.

VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.

The post Back to School Lesson Contest first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

One of my favorite parts of Orff workshops and trainings is when clinicians share ways to use children’s literature in a lesson or as the basis for a performance. When I began attending workshops and conference sessions I was amazed at the creative, innovative and musical ways in which the presenters used literature in their lessons. I took lots of detailed notes and eagerly recreated the ideas with my students. I had no idea how they were able to see a story in text and end up with beautiful lessons and performance ready products. Over many years, as I taught more and more lessons using other people’s ideas I started having my own. Now I feel pretty confident choosing a book and working with my students to create an exciting final product. Here is how I “Make it Work.”

When choosing a book for a performance product, it is important that I choose a book I love. If I love it, the kids probably will too as my passion for the story will come through. Most of us see our students about once each week. That means we will be working with the story for at least a portion of each lesson for about eight weeks. If I do not care for the story when I begin, by the end of eight weeks I probably won’t like it any better. I find myself purchasing books that I find intriguing and keeping them on my shelf while I gather ideas or wait for the perfect time use it with my kids.

Next I look for inspiration. If I have a template in my collection of workshop and conference notes, I go there first. Even if I am working with students who are younger or older than the targeted grade in the example, I can glean ideas about where to add music, movement or unpitched percussion. While a song, instrumental selection, or arrangement may not be appropriate for my students – looking at someone else’s ideas sends me on a path to finding something that will work for us.

Once an intriguing book is on my shelf, I look for other ideas and lessons that may contribute to the theme. I keep a file on my laptop or tuck a copy of workshop notes and songs or ideas into the book. When I decided to use the text as inspiration, I have a pile of ideas to choose from. Last year I rediscovered a favorite book that has a tree as one of the main characters. My local Orff chapter hosted a clinician who presented an entire Saturday workshop with a tree theme, and then someone else shared a lesson on a music educator Facebook page that used the same book. It seemed like a good time to use the story with my students, so my theme for spring is trees!

Now I will read the book many times with my handy pack of post-it notes nearby. I read the story four or five times over the course of many days and brainstorm ideas, write them on post it notes and stick them on the page in the book. In the end I usually use about half of the ideas. I include the suggestions I may have borrowed from other sources, my own modifications and eureka moments. Then I edit and prioritize the ideas so I can structure my planning by beginning with the most important elements necessary to tell the story well.  I plan to add on the “color parts” that make the telling more interesting as time allows. I generally choose an opening song or dance (folk dance or student-generated creative movement) and a closing song to wrap up the story at the end.  When working with older students we have even composed our own “opening song” to set the tone of the book.

I have found the most success when I leave a lot of room for the children to choose and create large portions of the telling. They decide on the appropriate timbres for unpitched percussion and compose ostinatos to create “traveling” or “transition” music. We change the words or modify folk tunes to create complimentary songs to enhance the telling of the story. Sometimes we perform selections from the Music for Children volumes and the children arrange the pieces to suit our needs. The students work in groups to write the script, generate creative movement, and plan for costumes and scenery.

Often, the children have better ideas than I do. I share a story and a framework and let the students take the lead within a structure that I set for them. We have a few clear understandings before we begin working. We will all have an important part in the product were we will be successful. The role you perform may not be your first choice because we work together as a team to complete the story. Lastly, I have the final say in when we need to stop adding new ideas. With these understandings in place, the children take ownership of the project and are excited about their individual role and the final product. If you are uncomfortable with structuring so much choice all at once, start with one or two areas where the students make decisions. Choosing unpitched percussion is an easy place to start. When you are feeling more confident, add more student decisions in the next story.

When using folktales and culturally based stories, do some research before you commit to using the book. Make sure the story is culturally sensitive and appropriate for your school. Research regional dance, music and dress to accurately represent the culture as best as you can. Everyone understands the budget for most school music programs is slim to none, and we can make our best effort to be sure the costumes, scenery, dance and music is appropriate to the featured culture.

I have shared the process I use to transform a story or picture book into a performance-ready product with my students. Please share your ideas in the comments, as well as some of your favorite stories and books to use with your students in music class, so we can help each other to “Make it Work.”

Looking for lesson ideas inspired by children’s books? Check out these previous posts on Teaching With Orff:

• Leaf Children by Marjie VanGunten
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Justin Caithaml

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Student Learning Objectives: A Manageable “How To” Guide from the Trenches

The process of crafting an SLO when kept logical and reasonable, can really be a positive force in your instruction and beneficial for your students. Don’t let the structure, all of the “official-ness” of the forms, and evaluation aspects overwhelm you. You are doing a good job, this is an opportunity to prove it in terms educators outside of our discipline can understand!

How to mesh an active music-making environment with an SLO and LDR assessment requirement:

SLO stands for Student Learning Objective. Don’t become consumed by the vocabulary from the world of lawyers and law makers. We can simplify the jargon to teacher-friendly language.

Step 1: Choose the group of students you are going to assess.

SLO protocol often asks teachers to choose one section or class. For most music teachers this is pretty simple—it’s usually the best-behaved, “favorite” class or the class we see most often.

Step 2: Set goals for your students’ growth or mastery. You may already have successful assessments in mind from past teaching, use them and don’t reinvent the wheel! If you have not used formal assessment regularly, go slow, be patient, and purposeful. You’ll find good options as you explore possibilities.

You will need to make some decisions about what your students should be doing to fulfil the requirements of the SLO. The idea is to prove that you are teaching and the students are learning. Returning to these three words – Student Learning Objective – can provide clarity when you find yourself “lost in the forest.” The guidepost is the objective. It is the reason we are providing instruction to this group of students. We are creating guiding experiences to develop mastery of _____ skill, or develop _____ ability.

The metric categories some SLO models use are targets like Growth, Mastery, or Growth & Mastery. I prefer to choose mastery because in order to attain aesthetically pleasing results in music mastery is essential. In your teaching situation growth may be preferable. I consult my curriculum and the standards by which my curriculum is structured. Using those resources as a guide, I select learning objectives and figure out what the “end-goal” will be. It helps to consider this process as a road trip and the end goal as a final destination. What does the “city” or “end goal” where the final assessment will occur look like?

Step 3: Create the assessment instrument by which you will measure student growth, mastery or both.

I design assessments that will accurately demonstrate that my students have learned and that I have helped them show growth or reach mastery. This can be where confusion sets in. Return to “Student Learning Objective.” Students will master _____. Use this statement: “I can measure student mastery or growth through this data:_____.” Data can be compiled through the use of rubrics that assess active demonstration of skills and abilities or numerical scoring schemes applied to a physical product like a quiz, worksheet, test, etc. Rubrics can also be used to assess and measure growth when students create physical products like compositions, or multi-component projects.

If you choose growth, you’ll have to establish some kind of baseline data which will provide the mechanism for growth to be proven. This can be done in the form of a pre-test. In my experience, it works well to administer the final assessment prior to any instruction on the targeted concept or skill. If the students score highly, you’ll have a harder time proving growth.

Step 4: Create a timeline for the process.

Once I have created my final assessment, I decide how instruction will align with these parameters, create a plan to support my students in meeting the objective and put a timeline in place. Again, use the road trip analogy. Which stops will we make during the journey to support our successful arrival at the final destination? When is the appropriate time and place along our journey to make those stops? If we need to be prepared for “Final Assessment” Town by April 30^th, we should probably visit the cities of  1.____, 2.____, and 3.____, where we will practice and process skills and acquire increased ability and/or knowledge along the way. The plan will take us to 1.______ by November, 2._____ by January, 3._____ by March, etc. Sometimes this approach can be easily related to Backward Design or the ADDIE model of instructional design.

Getting Organized

I like to use this graphic organizer to help sort out my ideas away from and prior to filling out the “official forms.”

I create three SLO assessments for one group of students. I use one for playing instruments, an understanding of chord and level drones. The second assessment demonstrates mastery in decoding rhythms to prove an understanding of iconic music literacy. The third is a movement assessment based on successfully performing a folk dance with correct dance figures, vocabulary and appropriate partner manners.I find that once I have put this informal plan together, I am more successful completing the “official” forms.

I use the organizer above to create my three assessment plans. I refine my ideas throughout the process and stick to “big ideas” as I map out my plan.

The Official Forms

Now that I have sketched out my plan I can take it to my official form. Although there are variations in SLO documents from state to state and even district to district there are a lot of similarities. While this might not look exactly like your SLO documentation it may provide some insight and inspiration when you complete your documents.  Here is an example of a Pennsylvania SLO overview document:

The goal statement was one that our music department agreed upon. It is general enough to apply to any SLO assessment plan we might select. Next, I filled in the standards that are guiding instruction.

A rationale for your placing importance upon this assessment plan may be required. Here is mine: “Students should exhibit age-appropriate skill development in basic ensemble skills, decoding rhythmic and melodic notation, and effectively respond to music as a member of a community folk dance experience.” This should be general enough to cover the assessments, but specific enough to be meaningful.

Performance Measures or something like these will probably come next. This is a fancy way of saying what the name of the assessment plan is. Here is the example from my SLO.

The Purpose is often outlined next. This is like an extension of the rationale for each Performance Measure (PM). The metric selection is on the right. I choose mastery.

I chose growth and mastery for my first SLO, but regretted it because in order to form a baseline, I had to ask students to perform a task using vocabulary that they had never even heard before. It was awkward for all of us. Imaging asking a group of 3^rd graders to perform a level drone in C pentatonic to accompany the melody I play. They just stared at me…  

Next the administration frequency is usually required. It is usually acceptable to select to do these once per year. You may want to repeat your assessment in each marking period to show growth.

Performance Tasks

It may be easier to shift one’s focus next to the Performance Tasks, or the separate “official forms” for each assessment. If the details in the examples seem overwhelming, go back to your informal graphic organizer to get re-centered as you work on your own SLO. The important thing to keep in mind is that there is a need to outline your specific plans for each Performance Measure. In this example I fill out the specific goals I am expecting my students to achieve and how I will be assessing them in more specific terms. The forms will usually require you to reiterate the essential information from the overview, and then elaborate on each Performance Task.

Once the basic information is re-supplied, this information will be probably be required in some form:

You will probably have to provide some form of information about the student contributions. Here is an example:

I don’t record the “pretest” as I once did, but I replace this with an exploration of what the students think it might be like to accompany a song in the manner of an “always the same” using C and G, and “Jumping from long bars to short bars” C and G.

The Rubrics

Your plan for scoring is the next thing that you’ll need to outline. Here is an example of a rubric that I created for chord and level drone assessments.

The Fine Print

Next a series of explanations regarding process are outlined. These come from the actual forms for Pennsylvania. The italicized words are my responses to the questions the form poses.

1. Administration (TEACHER)

a. Administrative frequency: How many times will the student be given this task within an identified timeframe? Twice; Once in first trimester (pre-test), and once in last trimester (Summative).

b. Unique task adaptations and/or accommodations: How does the task change in either presentation, response options, setting, etc. to accommodate students with disabilities, English language learners, etc.? The task changes minimally for various learners; however, the guidance to performing the task will be adjusted as is necessary for student to arrive at essential task performance capabilities.

c. Resources and/or equipment: What equipment, tools, text, artwork, etc. is needed by the student to accomplish the task?  What additional personnel are needed to administer the task? Equipment as outlined in the Performance Task Framework 1.c. No additional personnel should be needed to administer the task.

2. Task Scenarios, Requirements, Process Steps, Products (STUDENT)

a. Task scenario: What information is provided for the student that provides the context necessary to create a response, project, produce, demonstration? Teacher demonstrations and student-to-student reinforcement interactions will take place in an ongoing manner. Finally, a short performance experience in a small group will occur.

b. Requirements: Given the scenario, how are the task requirements articulated to the student in order to establish key criteria by which performance is evaluated?  Task directions will be articulated in plain language and through “watch and copy” demonstrations which the students will then perform themselves without a teacher model to copy. Which requirements are implied, thus requiring deeper understanding of the content being assessed?  Which criteria are stated explicitly in order to adhere to the time constraints, product parameters, etc.? The requirements of playing in a cohesive ensemble will be implied, i.e. the students will need to play together in such a way that all are playing the same notes according to one central pulse that unifies the sound of each player.

c. Process steps: What guidance expresses the sequence of events, steps, or phases of the task?  Guidance will be expressed initially to the whole class and then as needed to individuals who should need clarity and reinforcement of specific aspects of the task(s). How are extended (multiple days) timelines and demonstrations of progress articulated? Extended timelines will not be articulated as the task is easily captured within a short time-frame.

d. Products: Given the activities within the task, what products, demonstrations, or performances are expected during and/or at the end of the process? Products yielded will be the instrumental accompaniment upon barred instruments in either a chord, or level drone while students (same or others) are singing. What information is provided about the criteria used to judge student calculations, products, demonstrations, performances, etc.? Specific outlines of what an excellent model will encompass are provided to the students, as well as possibilities for improvement when deviations should present themselves.

3. Scoring (TEACHER)

a. Scoring tools: How does the rubric classify different levels of performance, student work, etc.? Advanced, Proficient, Basic, In Progress. How is the overall score attained?  Scores are attained through teacher observation and ratings on rubrics. How well are multiple dimensions aligned to the standards? Multiple dimensions are aligned to standards as well as possible. The task encapsulates a very small scope in terms of dimension which are the specific target standards addressed and referenced above.

b. Scoring guidelines: How are the steps that are used to evaluate student products, performances, etc., articulated? The scoring teacher will observe students performing the task and assign them ratings based on the rubric above. What guidance is provided to assign scores for incomplete work?  For incomplete work, or absent students, no scores will be given and they will be made up in subsequent classes. How are additional scoring personnel identified and trained? No additional scoring personnel will be necessary. Given an overall score or classification/performance level, how are examples, models, or demonstrations provided? Examples and models will be provided through the teaching process by both students and teacher.

c. Score/Performance reporting: How are overall results reported back to the student?  Overall results will be shared with the students in reference to the rubric. How are scored results reported for all students? A group score record will be kept in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.

These are an example from one SLO that works for me. You will modify your responses to “fit the mold” in your school with your students.

Next, we’ll have to return to the overview and insert the Performance Indicators and Targets into the Overview. Basically, just fill in the blanks with the information from the Performance Task Framework.

Performance Indicator Targets

The PI Targets are the direct correlation between the goal statement and the assessment instrument. This is the essential way that your assessments will relate to your SLO Goal Statement. Here are some examples.

Once you’ve filled out this overview, you are ready to submit both the Overview and the Performance Task outlines and follow the plan you’ve laid out. The important thing to remember is to keep the experience of the student forefront in your mind. If the students know they are taking a “test,” you probably haven’t been artful enough in the design and integration of the SLO process into your classes.

What is an LDR?

In some districts a Locally Designed Rubric (LDR) Assessment is a requirement as well. This is different than an SLO only in that it is a broader “survey group.” In the SLO, we are supposed to select one class section in one grade level. In the LDR, it is required that the teacher use an altogether different grade level or course than their SLO group, and it should include all the classes in that grade level. So, where an SLO should be say 25 students, the LDR, could be 60-100 students. All other parameters remain the same as the SLO model. Essentially, this is a broader application of the SLO but instead of 3 assessments, it is only one.

Big Takeaways:

1. Choose from assessments you are already using if possible. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
2. If you aren’t doing a lot of formal assessments, start simply, reflect, and refine.
3. Be kind to yourself through this process! If you are trying your best, you will find positive outcomes and you will improve!
4. Create a manageable assessment plan and timeframe.
5. Collaborate with a colleague or several colleagues if possible. Divide and conquer!
6. LDR Assessments are similar to SLOs in that they are only one assessment vs. something like three, but spread out to all the similar sections a teacher instructs.
7. Once you find a successful approach to your SLO and LDR, you can reuse it in future years.

While there are certainly more fun ways to spend our time, I do believe this can be a worthwhile way for music educators to show our value and worth through the same lens as our classroom teacher colleagues. Is it the best language for us to use in communicating our value? Probably not. The bottom line is SLO’s are part of our professional world and we want to make them as manageable and meaningful as possible.

I sincerely hope this post has been helpful to “Make your SLO Process Work”. Please comment below to ask questions and share SLO’s and tips that have been successful for you.

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Playing With Improvisation

2, 4, 6, 8 – Recorder Version

B Section

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A Rhythm and Movement Lesson for Grades 4-6

Download a printable version of Michael Chandler’s lesson here.

Objectives:

• Working with beat and divided beat through movement, body percussion, and instruments.
• Choreographing simple movement to elemental forms.
• Rhythmic and melodic improvisation and composition with elemental forms.
• Arranging and orchestrating a performance piece.

Materials:

• Unpitched percussion instruments including drums and temple blocks.
• Mallet instruments 

Day One

• Students are scattered throughout the class space as the teacher plays steady quarter notes or eighth notes on the temple blocks or a drum. Students listen, react, and move through shared space to the rhythms played by the teacher, speaking the words walk or tip-toe and coordinating their steps to match the rhythms they hear played.
• Students find a partner and create a 4-beat clapping pattern consisting of quarter and eighth notes. Partners can use knee patting, clapping, or snapping, but at some point they must connect through a partner clap with one or both hands. Once the pattern is secure, it should be performed twice in a row for a total of 8 beats.
• Partners then create a separate movement sequence of 8 beats. They may move apart and come back together, trade places in some way, or go around one another returning to their original spot. The sequence will likely follow a 4+4 structure to make 8 beats, and it may include any other unique additions that make it look more interesting.
• Students perform the previous clapping pattern twice (8 beats) and then follow it with the 8-beat traveling sequence for a total of 16 beats. Practice until secure, and ask each half of the class to perform for the other half. Students select ideas from among everyone’s to create a single partner dance for the entire class to perform together in pairs.
• Through echo imitation, teach the poem Good, Better, Best. The text may be spoken in unison or in a 2-beat canon after two beats.

• Combine the class-created dance with the text. The phrases of the text mirror the phrases of the class dance (4+4+8).

Day Two

• Present the students with five rhythmic building blocks using model words that demonstrate positive characteristics.

• After imitating each word through rhythmic speech, students combine them in pairs at first and then improvising word chains of four to create an 8-beat phrase. One word should be repeated in each word chain, but two may be repeated for forms like aabb or abab. Avoid through-composed chains (no abcd).
• Students organize into three groups, and each group composes an 8-beat word chain that illustrates an elemental form. Once the form and the rhythm are decided, it should be performed twice for a total of 16 beats. Each group transfers its rhythm to unpitched percussion or hand drums and choreographs it with simple movement.
• Review and perform the poem Good, Better, Best through rhythmic speech. Teach the two accompanying speech ostinati separately (see below) and combine all three parts, allowing each group to experience each part of the texture. Assign a part to each group and perform the piece as a rondo with the poem and speech ostinati as the A section and each group’s unpitched percussion composition as an episode.

Day Three

• Students begin at mallet instruments and choose a pentatonic scale (do-based or any other pentatonic mode such as re– or la-based). Decide on whether to use the authentic range (tonic to tonic with 5th in the middle) or the plagal range (5th to 5th with tonic in the middle). This will depend on the scale chosen and which note is the tonic. Try to use a range comfortable for singing.
• Students play the scale up and down and end on the tonic to hear its characteristic sound. Teacher claps a series of simple 4-beat rhythmic patterns for students to explore playing on the bars. Ask them to use specific areas of the scale such as the tonic to the 5th or the 5th to the tonic. If using the do– or la-based scale, use re only as a passing tone or as an upper or lower neighbor.
• Students review the text to Good, Better, Best and play it lightly with alternating hands on the tonic pitch of the scale selected by the class.
• Working one phrase at a time, allow students to improvise and share individual ideas that lead to a class-composed melody for the entire text. Make note of the class’ final version so it can be notated later with notation software.
• Using primarily the tonic and 5th, ask students to work with a partner to improvise a 4-beat ostinato accompaniment pattern that can accompany the class melody. See examples in Music for Children Volume I, pages 82–83 and pages 86–87.
• Review both speech ostinati and transfer them to contrasting unpitched percussion parts (such as triangle and woodblock). Add these two parts to the texture of the final arrangement.
• Invite half of the class to perform the arrangement as created by the class while students in the other half find partners to perform the dance created earlier. To extend the form, the class can sing the melody once and then repeat it with the melody played on instruments only. Depending on the melody’s range, it could be played on recorder (do Pentatonic on G in the plagal range, is great for recorder).
• Notate the final class arrangement with notation software, and give each child a copy. A copy of each class’ arrangement can also be displayed for parents for open house.

Extension

• Using the previous arrangement as an A section in a rondo, students can use a rhythmic text, such as the one below, for improvised melodic solos. This text works well for melodic question and answer improvisation (8-beat question and 8-beat answer).

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