Disney's Little Einsteins has been around since 2005, and it is by far my favorite TV program for young kids....especially young musicians. They cover musical concepts like steady beat, loud and soft, higher and lower, as well as musical terms like Allegro, Moderato, Andante or rest. Some of these sound awfully familiar to my regular followers, because these are terms and concepts that I talk about quite a bit!
I have even been bold enough to encourage school music teachers to spend a few dollars of their yearly budget, to purchase the DVD set of this show. While it is intended for a preschool audience, it easily carries over to a kindergarten and lower elementary school aged child as well. It works especially well for those days that a school music teacher is absent and has a substitute. This way if the sub has to play a movie, the students are still being exposed to music standards in the classroom. This is another win-win situation!
To watch episodes online: go to
http://disney.go.com/preschool/videos/nc/?playlistID=459723#/preschool/videos/nc/
Showing posts with label moderato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moderato. Show all posts
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Metronome - Listen Up!!
The metronome is a fantastic tool to use when conducting listening exercises. When your musician begins learning terms such as Andante, Moderato and Allegro, try this exercise.
Play some recorded music, any style will work, but I would try to get a variety of styles and genres. As the music is playing, find the steady beat of the piece and pat it along with the music. Keep the beat going as you stop the recording and find a matching tempo on the metronome. Ask questions like these:
Did the song feel like it had a slow, medium or quick tempo?
Which musical term could we use to describe the speed?
Did the piece stay steady the whole time?
Was it difficult to find the steady beat?
Then move on to a different genre. Since metronomes are so mobile, you could even take it along with you in the car and analyze the songs on the radio. We do this quite a bit and have fun....especially to some of the music on Radio Disney!
Play some recorded music, any style will work, but I would try to get a variety of styles and genres. As the music is playing, find the steady beat of the piece and pat it along with the music. Keep the beat going as you stop the recording and find a matching tempo on the metronome. Ask questions like these:
Did the song feel like it had a slow, medium or quick tempo?
Which musical term could we use to describe the speed?
Did the piece stay steady the whole time?
Was it difficult to find the steady beat?
Then move on to a different genre. Since metronomes are so mobile, you could even take it along with you in the car and analyze the songs on the radio. We do this quite a bit and have fun....especially to some of the music on Radio Disney!
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