Month: November 2019

All About the Nutcracker

I am a little obsessed with “The Nutcracker” this year. I have been scouring YouTube for new movement ideas; checking out what’s new on TpT. I need a place to keep all my wanderings. So…why not here??? Available to all of you as well.

My absolute favorite resource is this gorgeous slide show by Pitch Publications. It is simple, and not super wordy. Perfect for the K-3 level. In my imagination, I would like to add movement to the music in key areas of the story. The party scene is a great place to start!!! “The Nutcracker March”is so energizing!!!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Nutcracker-Storybook-Story-Powerpoint-Tell-the-Nutcracker-Story-1601816

I show them the party scene so they can experience this part of the story through dance.

I really like this recording.

My K’s and 1’s are learning a little plate routine to the Nutcracker March.

The next big moment for me is the battle with the Mouse King.

I found this great video interview with the “Mouse King” of the English National Ballet.

Enter the Sugar Plum Fairy.

You can’t go wrong with a little Line Rider.

But I wanted my students to have a chance to feel like a ballet performer. I am going to teach this little movement sequence to my littles. It is really sweet.

Of course, everyone loves the Russian dance.

Ribbon dances are always a hit. I love how fun this looks. A lot less tangly than the one I am using right now

But I think this year, I will try this Trepak Play a long.

My students always ask:” What is a pas de deux?”

I like this rehearsal video. It is a little shorter and we chat about how they need to practice in order to be ready to perform.

And I think that will conclude our exploration this year. Lots of ideas to find. Thank you to all these wonderful performers for sharing their talents on YouTube. I really recommend Pitch Publications “Nutcracker Story”. I think it is so sweet.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Nutcracker-Storybook-Story-Powerpoint-Tell-the-Nutcracker-Story-1601816

Take Care,

Syndi

Hop Old Squirrel – The Creative “B” Section for grade 1

I am glad to say that I followed the process I outlined for day 1 in my previous blog post and it worked perfectly. I love when that happens!!!!

So… how do I extend this to meet my grade 1 outcomes? Currently, we are working on  and .  Here is my process:

Day 1 – Approx. 10-15 minutes

  • Intro the song with movement. “Hop Old Squirrel” – Hop forward; “Eidle Dum Eidle Dum” – Wiggle your bum to the rhythm.( With my K’s today, I asked them to suggest movement. They naturally chose what I had predicted above)
  • Divide the class. ½ are trees and ½ are squirrels. Add movement. Switch roles.
  • Add a B section. Echo clap two 4 beat patterns using the words “Squirrel” for one sound and “Nutty” for two sounds. For me Squirrel is a one syllable word.

“Squirrel, Squirrel, Nutty, Squirrel”

“Nutty, Nutty, Squirrel, Squirrel”

Form

A Song

B Echo claps

A Song

  • Introduce the chart and visuals.

  • Model creating a 4 beat rhythm.

  • Invite students to create a rhythm. ( We do not repeat the song at this time. We just have fun clapping the rhythms 2X)
  • Discover Squirrel= and Nutty =

 

Day 2 Approx 10-12 minutes 

  • Review the form. Use rhythm syllables in the B section.

 

  • Set students up to play the glockenspiels as shown below. I have used F pentatonic. (Mallets are down until we are ready to play.)

 

  • Review the following chart and intro the new visuals. 

 

  • Model the following:

  • Play the rhythms using tone clusters (2 notes at the same time) on the glockenspiels. (I am building on their experience. They have done this before so they will transfer the rhythm easily. You can tell them to play the rhythm on a specific 2 note cluster if that works for you.) Invite students to create new rhythms. 

Form

A Song with student choosing 4 cards and placing them on chart

B Play the new rhythmic pattern 2X

A Song with a new student choosing 4 cards

B Play the new rhythmic pattern 2X…

  • Continue form until everyone has had a turn to play a pattern. They go to the end of the line as you sing the A section each time. (With 6 glocks, we do it 3 times)

 

Day 3 Approx. 15 minutes

  • Divide the students into groups of 2 or 3. Provide them with a chart and visuals. Independently, they play the game – creating their own B sections. I do give their group instruments. Some might have pitched percussion and other might have non pitched percussion).
  • Create a final rhythm and transcribe it to their worksheet. Perform.

Form A Song

B Each group plays their 4 beat pattern 1X I say 1,2 ready go in between each group. My classes can’t go one after the other without a little prep.

A Song

 

 

I assess as they play. They should be playing the rhythm accurately and through observation, I can do a quick assessment. The worksheet gives me their formal assessment.

I hope you give this a try. Let me know if it works for you. Next… grade 2.

Take care,

Syndi

Hop Old Squirrel – The Creative “B” Section for Kindergarten

Creating, improvising, composing. What do these look like at the K-3 level? Sometimes, our adult brains make the process bigger and more complicated than it needs to be. For me, creating, improvising, and composing in my classroom starts with the “B” section.

On Monday, I am going to start “Hop Old Squirrel” with my classes. I am going to spiral this process through my kindergarten to grade 3 students. I have been fascinated by spiral instruction lately because I would love to have a cross grade level informance. In short, same music – different achievement indicators. Let’s start with my K’s process: We are working on performing short rhythmic patterns using 1 and 2 sounds accurately. This will be across several days.

Day 1

  • Intro the song with movement. “Hop Old Squirrel” – Hop forward; “Eidle Dum Eidle Dum” – Wiggle your bum to the rhythm.
  • Divide the class. ½ are trees and ½ are squirrels. Add movement. Switch roles.
  • Add a B section. Echo clap two 4 beat patterns using the words “Squirrel” for one sound and “Nutty” for two sounds. For me Squirrel is a one syllable word.

 

“Squirrel, Squirrel, Nutty, Squirrel”

“Nutty, Nutty, Squirrel, Squirrel”

 

Form

A Song

B Echo claps

Switch jobs

A Song

B echo claps…

Day 2

  • Review the form. I give the squirrels rhythm sticks, so the echo claps are played using instruments.
  • Intro the following chart and visuals.

  • Model the following: As you sing the song, chose 4 cards to put on the chart to create a new 4 beat rhythmic pattern. Clap the new pattern 2X as the “B” section.

  • Invite students to choose the cards during the A section.

Form

A Song with student choosing 4 cards and placing them on chart

B Clap the new rhythmic pattern 2X

A Song with a new student choosing 4 cards

B Clap the new rhythmic pattern 2X…

Day 3

  • Divide the students into groups of 2 or 3. Provide them with a chart and visuals. Independently, they play the game – creating their own B sections.

I let them play, then I ask them to create one last favorite rhythm together. Then we perform a Rondo – each group plays their composed rhythm 2X for the contracting sections. They use their rhythm sticks when they perform.

 

Sooo….. Creating, Composing, and Sharing at the K level. – Using what they have learned to create something new. AND I CAN ASSESS IF THEY CAN PERFORM A SHORT RHYTHMIC PATTERN USING 1 AND 2 SOUNDS ACCURATELY. Assessment made easy.

Join me tomorrow and we will go through how to extend this in grade 1.

Take care,

Syndi

 

 

An Assembly of Gratitude

I am from the little province of Prince Edward Island in Canada. We celebrated Thanksgiving a month ago!!! But I thought I would share with my American Friends how our school prepares to celebrate our Thanksgiving Day Assembly.

Westwood Primary is a school of  600 K to grade 3 students. We have 2 music teachers. It’s amazing to have a teaching partner and I have the best – Ms. Dorothy Dahn. We offer an extra curricular opportunity for our students called Music Adventures. When we have an assembly to prepare for, we have an adventure with our students. We sing, play instruments, add drama and speaking parts as well as movement in preparation for performing for our school community. This year, our focus was gratitude.

This was our Master Plan:

Autumn Poem Soundscape

Sing a Rainbow 

(We only taught them the chorus. For the verses we had the students create I am grateful for… statements. We played the music for the verses as they spoke and then repeated the chorus ABA form)

A Happy Place – Poem

I am Thankful

Another sweet little song we taught the whole school. We sang it all together accompanied by the piano. we did it 3 times: friends, family, me

The Grateful Book

 

We accompanied the story with a little Orff arrangement based on the melody of “I See the Moon”

Gratitude Video

We always include a video in our assemblies. This is the one we used this year.

Gratitude Stones – Poem

Gratitude Attitude

We taught this song to the whole school with movement. We had everyone stand up and sing with the video.

We always have a slide show to accompany our assemblies. This is the one we used for the Assembly.

Thanksgiving

So that is a peek into how we do things at Westwood. Every assembly has singing, poetry, instrumental accompaniments, a video, a slideshow and a book. It works well for us. I have left the PDF’s of the music on my PDF page of this blog.

Take care,

Syndi

The Road Unknown – Portrait of a Soldier

I remember the exact moment I fell in love with this piece of music. I was an instrumental music teacher at Birchwood Intermediate School on Prince Edward Island. It was Junior Honors Band Week end. Richard Bennett was on the podium and he had the captivated attention of every person in the room. The way he worked with the students was magical.

“The Road Unknown – Portrait of a Soldier” is a tone poem by the composer Richard Meyer. He was inspired by the poem “The Road Unknown” by Walt Whitman.

It paints the picture of a young man, represented by a solo trumpet, who is safe and happy at home. You can imagine him on his family homestead –  cutting the grass, sitting under a tree, playing catch with his little brother. His family goes to a patriotic parade. The soldiers have just returned from a successful tour. There is marching, music and lots of energy. He was inspired to enlist. However, just before he leaves, he has doubts. Should he go? or Should he stay? He decides to board the train and he enters the Battlefield. The battle is fierce. Suddenly, you hear 2 shots, and the young man falls to the ground. As he lies there, alone and afraid, he remembers home. His soul lifts from his body and rises to heaven.

This music is so powerful that I can imagine this story every time. The form is as follows:

Intro – Solo trumpet introducing the theme of the young soldier.

Home – Solo Low Brass takes over the soldier’s theme. 

Patriotic Parade – Solo flute and snare sets the stage. New theme representing the excitement of the celebration

Confusion – The home theme and the patriotic theme are played together!!!Very clever writing! The home theme is in 3/4 meter and the patriotic theme is in 2/4.

Boarding the train – Hear the whistle blow and the steady chugging of the snare. Ominous low brass.

Into Battle – In a minor key.

Two Shots – On snare.

The Fallen – Sustained Low Brass

Thoughts of Home – The solo trumpet returns.

Rising up – Solo Flute

I teach K-3. I don’t go into overwhelming detail but I do use this piece as a listening activity. I have them draw the story. We don’t talk about his death. We don’t mention heaven. They just draw what they hear or use colors to represent what they feel.

 

I use this recording but I don’t project it. The bloody script is a little unnecessary. Remember the PDF’s shown here are on the Visuals page of the blog.

This is how I remember. “Lest we Forget”

Take care,

Syndi

Finding your Singing Voice

I tell my students a story about my Mom every year. When she was little and going to school at the convent, her music teacher divided the class into “Blue birds” and “Crows“. The “Blue birds” could sing and the “Crows” could not. The “Crows” were told to mouth the words so they didn’t ruin the quality of the music. We go on about “How terrible and mean” this was for my Mom. Then tell the kids that we all have a singing voice, we just have to find it!!!

You might be born with your singing voice ready to go. You might develop your singing voice in kindergarten. it might take you until grade 6 to find your singing voice. Your singing voice is really your ability to match pitch. What we struggle with is that we talk and talk and talk all day. Our talking voice is not super high or super low, it is perfectly comfortable. To find our singing voice, we need to “BREAK FREE”

I draw their “Voice Box” on the board and show them how we stay inside this box while we talk all day.

To develop our singing voice, we need to be find our higher places for our voice. I talk to them about how they don’t have girl voices or boy voices – they have Children’s Voices. I let the boys know their voice doesn’t get lower like their Dad’s voice until they are in grade 7. Then we BREAK FREE!!!!

 

As I swoop each arrow, they make that sound with their voice. Finding that higher place.

On Monday, we will be doing this and then we will be playing with these autumn vocal exploration cards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made up this little poem:

Swirling swirling all around

Watch the leaves fall to the ground

  • Intro poem by rote
  • Use the vocal exploration cards as a B section
  • With scarves, create your own vocal pathway and follow it with your voice for the B section

Form

A – Poem

B – Vocal Explorations

A – Poem

I add a simple broken bordun in the Bass Xylophone to glue this form together.

Give it a try !!!! The cards are on my visuals page for you to download. I have loads of others as well in the vocal exploration page.

Have a Super Saturday,

Take care,

Syndi