Posts Tagged ‘improvisation’
Colors Springing, Voices Ringing
Colors Springing, Voices Ringing Orff Schulwerk and New Beginnings This lesson will use a process in which important nouns, verbs, and descriptive language are chosen and used as a springboard for individual and group creativity. A canon will serve as a unifying piece of music and a music literacy component will take shape as this piece…
Read MoreVenturing into Vocal Improvisation
Venturing into Vocal Improvisation One of the beautiful parts of Orff Schulwerk teaching is that there are so many different avenues toward creativity. Every teacher, during their Orff training, finds areas where they feel comfortable expressing themselves, and others that feel less natural and more exposed. This is part of the beauty. Everyone finds areas…
Read MoreLessons with Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree
Lessons with Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree is a charming children’s book about a too-tall Christmas tree that keeps getting whittled down, providing Christmas joy for a variety of humans and animals alike, from a wealthy man to a mouse. I actually don’t remember how I learned about the book, but it…
Read MoreA Tale of Two Villages
A Tale of Two Villages Materials: Tale of Two Villages, Music for Creative Dance: Contrast and Continuum, Volume 1, Eric Chapelle Objectives: Locomotor vs. Non-Locomotor Movement Expression of Beat Binary Form (AB) Improvisation Process: Students scatter in space, encourage various ways of moving a singular body part; move arm only, or leg, or head, etc., teacher plays drum…
Read MorePurposeful Pathways Lesson: Never Sleep Late Anymore
Never Sleep Late Anymore by BethAnn Hepburn and Roger Sams We trust you and your young students will enjoy this lesson taken from Purposeful Pathways: Possibilities for the Elementary Music Classroom, Book Three – by BethAnn Hepburn and Roger Sams. Designed to encourage active music making, this lesson includes pathways to rhythm, literacy, partwork, ensemble, and improvisation. A printable version can…
Read MorePlaying With Improvisation
Playing With Improvisation 2, 4, 6, 8 – Recorder Version B Section 2, 4, 6, 8 – RECORDER Teaching Process: Sing song and ask students to label form. (abca) Sing the first 4-beat motive, the a motive. Students echo the a motive. Students sing the a motives and you sing the b & c motives.…
Read MoreGood, Better, Best
Good, Better, Best 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…
Read MorePurposeful Pathways Lesson: Fais Dodo
We hope you and your young students enjoy this Fais Dodo lesson taken from Purposeful Pathways: Possibilities for the Elementary Music Classroom, Book Two – by BethAnn Hepburn and Roger Sams. Designed to encourage active music making, this lesson includes pathways to meter, ensemble, and improvisation. Click on the link to download the lesson: Purposeful Pathways: Fais Dodo.
Read MoreLesson: Leaf Children
A beautiful children’s book and autumn leaves inspire creative movement and encourage children to make aesthetic choices about instrumental accompaniment to their leaf dance. A repeated refrain from the book provides an opportunity for vocal improvisation and the lesson also includes suggestions for creating an operetta. This lesson is suggested for children in grades K-1. Download…
Read MoreA Day in the Life of Orff Certification: Day 9
Orff Level I – Day 9 A continuation of the improvisation discussion from Day 7: First, try and use predictable forms during improvisation pieces. You want the students to be concentrating on their improvisation skills, not their memorizing difficult form structures skills (remember that whole “working memory” thing from Day 4?). Second, there are many…
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