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

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

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

– Angela

Ice Cream Please

Concepts:

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

Click here to make a copy of the Teaching Slide Deck

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

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

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

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

ON ANOTHER DAY! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Example of Project Sheet I use with students

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

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

Grade Level: 5^th-8^th

Materials Needed

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

Objectives

The learner will:

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

Formation

• Students begin in self-space.

Teaching Process

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

Form

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

Extension Possibility

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

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

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

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

Objectives:

The learner will…

• Match visual clues with corresponding rhythm cards
• Compose body and instrumental percussion for found rhythm clues
• Perform each found rhythm for each specific section in the story
• Reinforce rhythm reading

Materials: 

• Harry’s Horrible Hair, a book by Theresa Cocci 
• Website: www.theresacocci.org
• Storybook Flashcards
• Unpitched Percussion Instruments 
• Orff Instruments

Synopsis:

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

Activities:

• Prior to the class entering the classroom, the teachers hides the visual flashcards for “Harry’s Horrible Hair” around the classroom.
• At the beginning of the class, the teachers holds up each prepared rhythm card for “Harry’s Horrible Hair”.
• Before the story is read aloud, encourage the students to pay close attention to the pictures in the book.
• Teacher begins to read, “Harry’s Horrible Hair.”
• After reading aloud, the teacher explains to the class that there are seven pictures from the story hidden around the room.
• Divide students into groups. Give each group a rhythm card that will match the picture card from the story.  Scavenger hunt time!
• (Note:  If it’s too hectic to send all groups looking for their picture clues, send two groups at a time.
• When each group returns to their spot, bring their rhythm card and picture card to the teacher.
• Ask the group to take turns and say their rhythms aloud and ask if that rhythm matches their picture card.
• When each student in the group can say their rhythms, ask them to take turns and tap their rhythms.
• Each group then returns to work together and choose unpitched percussion instruments that can accompany their rhythm card. Set a time limit or I use a signal like a drum or clapping rhythm to end the group work.     
• Then groups take turns saying and performing their rhythms for the class.
• Remind students of their performance etiquette while others are performing. 
• Discuss with students what they liked about each performance.  
• As Teacher reads, “Harry’s Horrible Hair”, once again, each group will perform their rhythmic phrase that correlates with their illustration in the story as the teacher pauses before turning the page.
• Note: It may not be possible to add all the rhythmic phrases in one reading.  Depending on the class, I will pick two groups at a time to add their phrases while reading the book. 

Extension:

• For older students, I have hidden the rhythm cards around the room. Then students will look for a visual card that matches the rhythm.
• When I want to reinforce rhythm reading, I will line up the rhythm flashcards on the board ledge.  Then I will play a rhythm without saying the words and ask,
  “Who can find the rhythm?”
• Set up a C pentatonic scale on several Orff instruments or enough for each group. 
• Each group receives a rhythm flashcard and let the groups explore and create a melody for their phrase which can be used for book reading. Some students can write down the rhythm, while others in the group create a melody.  These are ideas that I have used, but please feel free to adapt  and tailor to your classroom.

Purchase a copy of Theresa’s book here

Download her scavenger hunt flashcards here

Download a pdf of Theresa’s lesson plan here

For more music lessons inspired by Harry and his horrible hair, click here

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Every year, new students enter our classrooms from all walks of life. The one commonality with all of them is a NAME. As an elementary music teacher, learning all of our students’ names can be a daunting task and we sometimes forget that the children are in new classroom groups and do not know all of the people in their class either. However, with this fun and practical name game learning names can be fun and hip! Use this activity to build community, make music, and learn those NAMES!

Curriculum Concepts

Beat, Rhythm, AB Form

Skills

In this lesson, students will:

• Learn and review key musical vocabulary—beat, rhythm, form.

• Identify A and B sections that combine to form a larger piece of music.

“I Can” Statements

• I can chant while performing rhythmic patterns using body percussion.

• I can recite and recall key music vocabulary terms in this lesson.

Tennessee Music Standards*

• 4.GM.P3.B Using body percussion or instruments, perform instrumentally (pitched/unpitched), alone and with others, with expression, technical accuracy, and appropriate interpretation.

*NOTE: Find the similar standard for each grade level, 2nd-5th grades. 

Instructional Procedures

Preparation and Items Needed

1. Print out and become familiar with the following documents included in this item:

• Lesson Plan
• Speech Piece

2. Use a drum or the video below to establish the beat

A SECTION

1. Echo-chant each phrase. Put two phrases together until students are able to easily chant the speech piece.

2. Echo-teach the body percussion part.

3. Divide the class into two groups. Lead one group in performing the body percussion parts. When

the beat has been established, bring the other group in chanting the speech piece.

4. Switch groups. Repeat.

5. Challenge!! Have the entire class perform the speech and body percussion together.

B SECTION

After students have successfully learned the speech and body percussion of the A section introduce the B section. In the B section students will take turns saying their first name in rhythm. Example: My name is Franklin. (See rhythm examples on handout.) This is a cumulative piece so after 4 students say their names, class chants the names in reverse order. Then add another group fo 4 students, class chants 8 students’ names in reverse order and so on.

1. Use this body percussion pattern to establish the beat for the B Section.

2. Echo-teach the speech pattern to the first four students. Tell students to come up with a motion to go with their name, stand and twirl, clap/pat the rhythm of their name, wave hands, etc. Class will repeat that motion every time that student’s name comes in the chant. Practice several times until they are comfortable going on to the next set of four students.

3. After four students have said their names, all students repeat the names in reverse order as described above. See example.

4. Repeat the A section after each set of four names.

5. Keep repeating the B section until every student has had an opportunity to speak their name.

6. Be sure to add YOUR name to the end!!

For more activities from Franklin Willis, visit his Teachers Pay Teachers Store

© Copyright 2019 by Franklin Willis. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

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Day 1

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

Day 2

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

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

Day 3

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

Here is an example:

Day 4

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

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

Day 5

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

Day 6

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

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

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Explore possibilities of rhythm and form in Cyndee Giebler’s second installment on Elemental Composition!* Using just quarter notes, two eighth notes, and quarter rests, discover Cyndee’s ideas for using a simple 8-measure composition as inspiration for providing a ready-made musical context for just about anything you and your students are passionate about.  Simply stated, you can start having fun in a “snap!”

Let’s begin with three basic components: quarter note, two eighth notes, and quarter rest. These three items can be combined into two beat “blocks” in a variety of ways:

In the above examples, numbers 6 to 9 are a bit trickier than 1 to 5, especially for students still developing literacy skills. This is, of course, highly dependent upon the experience and skill level of your students, but for now, we will use only the first five blocks, like so:

Here comes the fun part: you can combine these blocks any way you wish to make an interesting rhythmic piece! This can be accomplished through the miracle of:

Form

Think about simple forms for a moment. What are the possibilities? Here are a few:

AABA

ABAB

ABBA

AAAB

ABBB

AABC

ABAC

ABBC

That is a long list of possibilities created with only 3 components! Let’s make some music out of all of this.

• Choosing two blocks, let’s make an A phrase using numbers 5 and 1;
• Now, a B phrase with 4 and 3;
• Finally, we will select a form from our list of possibilities: ABAB;

Our resulting piece would look like this:

As my students would say, “Mrs. Giebler, this sounds REAL!”  It sounds real because:

a) it IS real

and

b) it has form

Try it with your students if you haven’t done something similar already. They will feel very successful!

Here’s another example. A= 2+3 and B= 5+5.

The form is AABA. (Yes, it’s really AA’BA, but A’ is just a rhythmic variant of A). I added words for fun:

A musically satisfying piece in only 8 bars! Wait a minute, does it say manipulate the rhythm? The A section rhythm has already been manipulated somewhat, but the whole piece can be transformed through the magic of:

Dimunition and Augmentation

Diminution means assigning the given note values ones of shorter duration. The overall effect is one of an increase in tempo. Here is the original piece in diminution, again with words:

Augmentation is changing the original note values to ones of longer duration. While the tempo really has not changed, it will seem slower. Here is our example in augmentation:

We can combine all of these examples into an even bigger piece with three independent lines. Use the augmentation example as the foundation. Layer the original rhythmic example on top. Note that you will have to repeat the original example in order to accommodate the length of the augmented example. The example in diminution will need to be repeated four times:

Consider having students perform their compositions using body percussion, speech, small percussion, pentatonic melody, and movement – the possibilities are plentiful to have fun with rhythm!

*Read Cyndee’s first installment in this series on ACEMM’s website: Nature’s First Instrument: The Body

Cyndee Giebler lives and teaches in northeast Wisconsin. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and completed her master’s degree at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn. She has presented workshops for American Orff-Schulwerk Association chapters around the country as well as state, regional, and national conventions. In her spare time, Cyndee enjoys composing and arranging music for classroom use, children’s chorus, and elementary strings.

The post Nature’s Second Instrument: Rhythm first appeared on Teaching With Orff.

Lynn Osborne shared this lesson in our “Back to School Lesson” contest from last year, and was the first runner up from our entries. In this lesson she shares her process for getting to know what her students like about school and a variety of ways to explore sing, say, dance, and play.

Do you have a favorite lesson you would like to share? Teaching With Orff is always looking for quality lessons, book reviews, and articles. Let your light shine and share YOUR best work with the world. You may have just the idea to “Make it Work” for someone else.

PROCEDURES:

Opening Warm up: Students enter classroom for warmup; Students stretch and create movements to rhythm of various rap recordings; (NOTE: when playing RAP music in the classroom, always be sure to check it first for appropriate language and subject matter)  

RHYTHM ACTIVITY:    

Step 1                                                                                                                                                             

• S’s in front of SMARTBOARD with new Notebook page opened, with title “What’s Cool for Back At School?”  This is a 4-beat musical phrase as shown below: What’s Cool for Back At School?  

• Teacher speaks this phrase several times to a RAP rhythm, clapping a 4-beat RAP steady beat as the phrase is repeated; Simple 4-beat RAP-clap rhythm below:  

• S’s echo Teacher several times.
• Teacher points around class with question eyes until a Student raises a hand and says something “NEW” about being back in school (for instance: “Friends”; “Recess”; Science” etc…)
• Teacher or a student scribes the ideas onto SMARTBOARD onto the Notebook page and keeps repeating the process, adding new words but always going back to the “What’s Cool …?” chant between ideas. (NOTE: NOT REQUIRED for every student to contribute an idea!)   

Step 2     

• All Students clap RAP beat and speak chant, then three different words or phrases, then back to chant, then three more words/phrases, until all have been spoken.
• Next to each word or phrase, students take turns writing out the notation rhythm of the word/phrase, until ALL the ideas have been notated.    
• For example: Play-ing at re- cess

Step 3  Move/Rhythm Rondo

• Students in groups of 4-5 choose 4-5 words or phrases
• Each group creates a body-percussion pattern for their words, and practices it together. Create a circle so that each group follows the last
• On REFRAIN: Students create movement for the refrain, What’s Cool for Back At School? Chant it several times in unison, everyone using the movement; (Can be locomotor or non-locomotor
• After each REFRAIN: Each group gets a chance to perform their individual word chant with body percussion;  

Step 4  Extensions For Following Lessons   

• Students set up xylophone instrumentarium in G pentatonic scale  

IMPROVISE: Using these notes, students choose a word or phrase to play the rhythm; Improvise using these 5 tones and explore possibilities;  

TONIC: Teacher asks each student to end their words/phrases on the “G”, or tonic, “do”;  

MOVEMENT:  Students in each group decide on one specific “cool” thing about being back at school to create pantomime scene for C part of RONDO. Using chosen xylophone(s), have 2-3 students from each group act out the “cool” thing while the 2-3 others create a pentatonic ostinato to accompany their IMPROVISED SCENE.  

PERFORM RONDO: ABCABCABCABCA

A =ALL perform REFRAIN
B= GROUP performs BODY PERCUSSION
C= GROUP performs PANTOMIME SCENE with accompaniment 

REFLECTION:  Students discuss this process, what would they do differently, new ideas for next time, more themes.  

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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

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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. 

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As Orff inspired music teachers, we all believe that one of the ways students demonstrate musical literacy is by creating new music.  In order to have students in upper grades feel confident in their creative skills, though, it’s important to have younger students get in the habit of making musical choices and creating small musical works.

One of the ways I’ve found to be an easy starting place for having young students create their own music is to use rhythmic building blocks to create a B section to a piece students have already learned.  Here’s an example:

• Teach students the folk song “Apple Tree.”
• Add the game.
  • Game directions vary from source to source. The traditional game directions involve “trapping” students from the circle like they do in “London Bridge.”
  • The game directions I have found most successful with students are as follows:
    • Class sits in a circle and sings the song.
    • One student walks around circle carrying a foam apple. On the final note, the student drops it on another student.
    • That student stands up and chases the first student around the circle. From this point on, “Duck, Duck, Gray Duck” rules apply.  (Yes, I know most people call it “Duck, Duck, Goose,” but I grew up in Minnesota and just can’t do it!)
  • Share the following visual with students. Tell students, “I went to the grocery store yesterday, and they had my favorite kind of apples — Fuji!  I bought four of them.” Ask students to “speak and clap” Fuji in each of the four apples.
    
  • “My mom is coming to visit me tomorrow, so I was really excited that they had Granny Smith apples at the store, too! I only bought four apples — some were Fuji, and some were Granny Smith.  Can you mix and match them?”  Have students speak and clap several combinations that they come up with.
  • Continue the process, adding “Red Delicious” and “Pink Lady” apples.
    

Have students select their favorite combination of four apples and remember it.

• Have students sing the song as an A section, then clap or play their apple combinations on hand drums as a B section.
• Possibilities for extending the lesson:
  • Ask students to clap their combination for a partner and have the partner guess what the four apples were. Switch jobs.
  • Invite individual students to play their pattern on a tubano and have the whole class guess the pattern.
  • Have half the class clap their patterns while the rest of the class sings the song. (Students will need to clap their pattern two times in a row to match the length of the song.)

“Apple Tree” is by no means the only song this works with, and the idea of using rhythmic building blocks is certainly not something that’s unique to my classroom!  But it’s something I really do, and I do it with real kids.

Teaching folk music and fostering creativity with students are both key components to what most of us do every day…and finding ways to help kids see that the music they learn and the music they create can go hand in hand?  That’s a powerful combination!

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