Lesson: Ice Cream Please

The spring semester is a perfect time to let students have a little more independence and the opportunity to create. This Ice Cream Canon from Angela Leonhardt is a fun lesson to use in the spring.

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Autumn Leaves

Karen Petty shares a melody and movement lesson for grades 1-2 that allows your students to demonstrate rhythmic and melodic patterns as they embody the colorful swirling leaves of fall.

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Step Back, Baby

step back baby

Step Back, Baby 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…

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A Visit to the Studio 49 Factory

A Visit to the Studio 49 Factory 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…

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Back to School Lesson Contest

back to school lesson contest

CALLING ALL MUSIC EDUCATORS! 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…

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Making It Work: Children’s Literature

Children's Books

Making It Work: Creating Performance Ready Products Based on Children’s Literature 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…

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SLOs for Orff Inspired Teaching

SLOs for Orff Inspired Teaching

SLOs for Orff Inspired Teaching 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…

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Playing With Improvisation

meet me at the garden gate

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.…

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Good, 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…

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Creativity and Active Engagement

The Importance of Creativity and Active Engagement in the Music Classroom While there are many ways in which the technological explosion of the past hundred years has enriched and expanded our lives, Creative Sequence is based on the premise that music, dance, drama, art, and physical activity are still essential human activities that every child should…

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