Instruments--Cheaper By The Dozen

My favorite new instrument at school is definitely the egg shakers. I priced them at $2 each at a local music store, but then decided to make them much cheaper using Easter eggs and rice.

After a few uses, I must say that they are definitely my favorite rhythm instrument right now, for these reasons:
1. Even with 15 students shaking them with all their might, they still aren't that loud.
2. They fit in the students' hands perfectly, and you know what they say about idle hands...
3. The students love them.

They are definitely keepers!

Loud and Soft--remote control game

In an effort to control the volume of the kindergardeners, I came up with a great game...
The Remote Control Game:
Draw a big remote control with large volume buttons on the board.

Discuss w/ the kids about what happens on their TV's at home when they push these buttons. Does the TV immediately get quiet or immediately get loud? Or is it gradual? Talk w/ the kids about what their TV screen looks like when they push these buttons. Are there numbers that come on the screen telling what level the volume is at? Are there tally marks  that are added to as the volume increases and taken away as it is decreased?
Then sing a pitch. Have them match it. "Press" one of the volume buttons one time. (I used a big red arrow to indicate the pressing.)

Reiterate that pressing the volume button one time only turns it up or down one number, or one notch.

Have them sing another pitch. Play around with the volume buttons, pressing several times or back and forth. Sometimes it's even fun to quickly draw a mute button on the remote control and press it and see what they do!
Apply this strategy to other activities throughout the year, reiterating each time what level of volume you are looking for.
Most importantly, have fun!

Review Game--Bus Driver

As I was browsing a lesson plan sharing website, I came across a great game to use for review, called the Bus Driver Review Game.

My 4th, 5th and 6th grade are about to have a quiz on music terms and notations, so this was the perfect venue.

I set the chairs up facing the board in rows of 2. The idea is to look like they are riding on a bus.

The people in the front 2 chairs are the bus drivers.

I show flashcards to them, and the first bus driver to call out the correct answer gets to remain a bus driver. The other has to go to the back of the bus on their side, and all the rest of that side moves up a seat. So now the person who was behind the loser of the first flashcard, is now a bus driver. 

It worked out so well. The kids loved it. With one class, there were a few classroom management issues in the back of the bus. (Why is it that they think you can't see them!?) But the pace of the game goes by so fast, that they weren't in the back of the bus for long.

The game reminded me a little of Around the World, that I remember playing in music class when I was about their age. Maybe in 25 years, they'll remember the Bus Driver game too!

Bangers and Pounders

On Monday I had lunch with my 8 year old at his school. As I walked past their music room I heard the kids playing all sorts of instruments; not necessarily in beat, but along with a CD playing. That's when it hit me: these kids need to play some instruments.

Singing is wonderful. Learning music theory is wonderful. But there is something about pounding sticks together or banging something noisy that makes kids smile. 

So we banged and pounded. And those kids smiled.

The Christian school where I teach has a meager assortment of instruments. But we made the most of that meager amount and the kids were never the wiser.

I introduced the song Ebeneezer Sneezer which is a great song to explore an octave and really warm up the voice and work on pitch matching. So we sang it a few times together sans instruments. Then I introduced the centers/stations.

The stations were: piano, rhythm sticks, bells/glocks, singing and instruments. 

As we rotated around the stations, I also seized the opportunity to develop proper concert form: 

                                                                         1. prepare instruments

                                                                         2. eyes on me

                                                                         3. wait for a four count lead in

                                                                         4. watch for my downbeat.

And the best part was....they got it! Hooray for success!

Epic Fail vs. Success

Wow. I completely underplanned for the Kindergarten and First Grade today. It was painful. Worse yet, was that the PTO President was my helper for the day.

I was pulling activities out of thin air and making up games on the spot. Breaking a string on my guitar wasn't helpful either...

On a positive note, the 4th grade lesson was amazing, if I do say so myself. :) We defined terms for the quiz next week, and in doing so introduced the concept of bar lines, measures, time signatures and beat, and how they all work together cohesively to create order in music.

This was my analogy:

Our homes are not built like gymnasiums. We have walls that divide the space into rooms. The walls are not the room itself, instead they separate the space into rooms. The room is the space inside the walls.

Music has walls that divide it also. The walls are called bar lines. They divide the music into measures. The measure is the space inside/between the bar lines.

Analogy again: Your parents set the rules as far as how many people live in each bedroom.

In music, the parent is called a time signature. It tells us how many beats are allowed in each room, or each measure. The music must follow the rule of the time signature.

We then went on to compose measures of rhythm using whole notes, half notes and quarter notes. I think they got it! At the same time, it also helps immensely that I have already taught the lesson several times and finally have worked the kinks out.  Sometimes I wish I could have a do-over with the first class. 

Loud and Soft--patting the floor, circle time

For Kindergarten and 1st grade, the first unit is Loud and Soft. Think about it. What if all kindergarteners and first graders understood the concept of loud and soft?? Wow! What a difference it would make in our homes and in the classrooms! So this is an extremely important first concept for them to grasp.

To start the unit, we are going to do the Circle Floor Pat, (this is a glorified name for "simon says sit on the floor and pat the floor")  :)
Here's what we did:

Have students sit on the floor in a circle--criss cross applesauce. Lead them in patting the floor with different forcefulness levels: very soft like touching cotton candy (or petting a puppy), hard like squishing a bug, and in the middle--normal. Vary between these and use the words hard and softly to describe how much force they should use when patting the floor.

The girls loved the "petting-the-puppy" soft pats and the boys loved the "squishing-the-bugs" hard pat. It was a win-win situation!

Day one---Done!

First day of school went great!

4th, 5th and 6th grade:
Gave each student a blank nametag. Along with their name, they had to draw the note that matched their personality. These were the descriptions:
    Whole Note Personality~ One who enjoys sitting back and watching.  One who can do one activity for a long time without being bored.
    Quarter Note Personality~ One who goes along with everyone else. Is very dependable and steady.
    Eighth Note Personality~ One who gets bored very easily. Doesn't like to sit still very long. Enjoys being where all the action is.

It was amazing to see them think about themselves in that way. Can't wait to see if they really who they think they are!

2nd and 3rd grade:
Sang 2 different Name Game Songs. The favorite was Shoo-li-loo. We also sang Down By The Bay. They loved the guitar accompaniment!

Kinder and 1st:
Sang Make New Friends, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Came up with lots of "on the fly" stuff to keep our hands busy. :)

Now to make plans for next week. I have just enough time as their sub to complete one entire unit. I'm thinking of doing Lego Rhythms with 4/5/6, Call and Response Songs with 2/3 and Loud/Soft with K/1.

I keep reminding myself, Fundamentals! Don't forget to stick with the Fundamentals!

Guess who's back, back again!

Well, this is the year that all 4 kids are in school. Amazing.

But now, what to do?

I am back in the music classroom as a long term sub at a local elementary school!

It's kindergarten through 6th grade. Where to start? The regular teacher is on maternity leave, and hasn't had time to set up the classroom or her grade book yet, so I'll start there. :) Next, I'd better get crackin', because they called me with 24 hours notice! Here are my thoughts:

First day of school  priorities:

1. Set up classroom procedures (how to enter/exit classroom, classroom etiquette, etc.)

2. Songs. You have to sing on your first day of music!! But what songs to sing??? Hmm.. I'll have to think about that one. Where are my John Feierabend books?

3. Name Game. I've got alot of students' names to learn.

4. Music Trivia. Everyone likes to go home knowing something new.

That should do it.  I'm so excited!

Practicing Piano without a Keyboard

One of the most visited posts of this blog was on how to practice piano when you don't own a piano. I believe the title of that post was Praciting Piano...sans Keyboard.

My family is an Army family and we move around quite often. In fact, we are moving in a mere 3 weeks to a state that is 6 states away. While that's not moving overseas, it is still a move ,nonetheless, that requires having all our household goods packed up and shipped off. Our piano will be included in that packing and shipping procedure. So while we are in limbo, we have to problem solve this dilemma of not having a keyboard to practice on, as well.

So here are the possible solutions I've come up with for our family:

1. Practice at Nana and Papa's house. They have a piano and we'll be there for a night...but only 1 night.

2. Take a week or so off from piano...but its SO hard to get back into a routine once you lose momentum.

3. Take our cheapo electronic keyboard with us in the van...that will not help the 18 hour van ride go well, though.

4. and final thought: Practice on our piano until the morning that they put it on the truck, bring the piano books along with us and have them do the finger work on a counter or table at a restaurant or hotel, window shop at a piano store along the route, then pull out the cheapo keyboard once we get to the new house and are waiting for our household goods.

#4 might be the best idea for us and for our sanity.

From Froggy to Foggy

Someone asked me just the other day about how to cure a "froggy" voice. 

Usually the "froggy" voice comes from a tightening of the throat while singing. Vocalists should try to keep the throat as open as possible. This "openness" is easier to achieve once you know what it feels like to have an open throat.

A great way to introduce this feeling is to breathe on a  mirror or window, and  make it foggy. Pay attention to what the throat feels like while breathing. Try to isolate the muscles involved and work on "muscle memorization" so that you can recreate this openness during singing.

Now begin singing a simple warm-up. Does the throat still feel open? If not, go back to the mirror and try it again. Do this over and over until the throat begins to open repeatedly.

During song performance, keep the open throat in mind! This can help take your voice from froggy to foggy!!

Waltz like Cinderella

In the Primer Level book of Piano Adventures, one of the first concepts is the feeling of 4 beats per measure and 3 beats per measure. This feeling is demonstrated even before the concept of a measure, bar lines or even a staff has been taught. Many times, I have had students that have difficulty in grasping the 3/4 feel.

The first song that this is demonstrated in the book is Mr. Half Note Dot. The lyrics are:

Hey Mr. Half Note Dot, hey Mr. Half Note Dot

You sound like you've just been dancing

When we go 1-2-3, dance up to middle C

We sound like we've just been dancing

These lyrics inspired me to introduce songs written in 3/4 as a Cinderella Waltz song. First, I ask the student if they have seen the Disney movie Cinderella. Then I ask if they remember the scene when the Prince and Cinderella are dancing around the ballroom.  If the student is a little girl, they usually get up from the piano bench and begin demonstrating. :) 

Then we go on to talk about how the piece of music in the book that we are talking about, should feel just like a Cinderella Waltz song.

The students always like it when I make watching the movie Cinderella, part of their homework!

Singing off key...on purpose

Last week I had to purposefully sing off key. I learned a couple of things:

1. I HATE singing off key. 
2. It's hard to stay off key. I kept wanting to go to a harmony note.
3. I found myself wondering if that same frustration is felt by singers who struggle to stay ON pitch rather than me trying to stay OFF pitch...

It's that third point that really got me to thinking... People who are born with a certain talent (i.e. singing, drawing, spatial reasoning, or other certain "affinities"), often take these natural born talents for granted.  We say to ourselves, "why is it so hard for them to do that? All you have to do is ______". 

My goal is to try to put myself in the shoes of the person who was not born with a specific talent, but wants to work at that and learn how.  It's that "working hard and learning how" that is my job to teach!

Beginning, Middle, End

When children are in the early grades and preschool, they are taught concepts of beginning, middle and ending. These concepts are key to understanding word development and story development and eventually large numbers in math.  Teachers reiterate these concepts in as many ways as possible.

In music, these concepts are used also.  Parents can reinforce these concepts by asking their children questions like these:

How does the song Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star begin?

What comes next after "Up above the world so high...."?

How does the song Happy Birthday end?

**Some more questions would be:

What are the words that rhyme in the song Jesus Loves Me?

Can you think of any other words that rhyme with those?

Substitute any songs that are familiar to your family, and you've got a great way to increase your child's familiarity with foundational concepts of beginning, middle and end!

O Happy Day! --Vocal warm-up

Anyone who has studied voice or had singing lessons knows that sometimes vocal warm-ups can get old, tired or boring.  A good voice teacher will try to come up with interesting vocalise exercises that still demand vocal concentration, intonation and endurance.

When "Mama-made-me-mash-my-M-and-M's" becomes mundane, try the warm up from this clip from Sister Act II (one of my favorite movies...ever):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=SLY7yI1xV-M

That warm-up contains:

A pentatonic scale

Arpeggio

Syncopated rhythm

Call and response

And on top of all that.....it's a pretty AWESOME arrangement of an AWESOME song!

I love the Backyardigans!

With 4 kids, I have watched ALOT of kid shows.  ALOT. And I definitely have my most favorites and my least favorites. (The Doodlebops were at the bottom of my list.)  At the top of the list are Backyardigans and Little Einsteins (see previous blog on that one!).

We're actually watching Backyardigans right now as I type---the episode is Elephant On The Run--- and once again, it's a good one!

Here's a short list of why I love the Backyardigans:

1. There's no baby talk. Baby talk bothers me.
2. They sing well. Not flat, not sharp.
3. They each sing in their own range. Ex: Tyrone sings an octave lower than Tasha sometimes
4. Their dance steps are usually in perfect time with the beat of the song.
5. Their dance steps help the kids to understand the mood of the music.

I'm sure I could go on and on, but for now I'll stop at 6 reasons. :)
I'm being summoned by my youngest to come to the couch and watch the rest of the episode with him!
Until next time!
Audrey

Rope them in!

Today's tip is Jump Rope. "What on earth does jumping rope have to do with musical foundations" you may ask... Remember when we were kids and would jump rope and sing songs? We were keeping a steady beat, learning about sub-divided beats, multi-tasking by singing, jumping and sometimes twirling the rope when we were jumping solo, not to mention getting some wonderful exercise! So get your kids out and jump rope with them-teach them the rhymes (you can find a wonderful list here).

www.gameskidsplay.com/jump_rope_ryhmes

Don't worry about explaining what they are learning to them...all that's important is that they have fun and learn through play!

Singing the classics...

Yesterday, I pulled out my Italian Songs and Arias book.  Popped the CD into the player and started singing songs that I performed in college. I'm now 34, that's been 12-14 years ago.  Its amazing that when the accompaniment to Le Violette begun, I felt transported back in time, to the North Georgia College music department stage. Every word, pronunciation, breath, crescendo, decrescendo, rest....it all came back!
I sang and sang and sang through every song I had ever learned: Caro Mio Ben, Sebben Crudele, Nel Cor Piu Non Mi Sento, and many more.
My voice has definitely changed.  My range is smaller, not as practiced as it once was. My breath volume has increased and my tone has matured. My singing passion has changed....so many other things to be passionate about.
But what an experience it was, remembering all the excitement of taking the stage and performing for my parents and then boyfriend Charles, now husband.  It was awesome.
I think I'm going to have to pull that book out more often. :)

Burning Calories While Singing/Playing

Since its January, and tons of people make New Year's resolutions to get in shape, here are some musical ways to burn calories:

According to my new My Fitness Pal App on my Droid:

Spend 30 minutes:
playing cello/flute/horn/woodwind----BURN 72 calories
playing drums---BURN 145 calories
guitar-sitting ----BURN 72 calories
guitar-standing---BURN 108 calories
playing piano/organ---BURN 90 calories
singing-sitting---BURN 50 calories
singing-standing ---BURN 73 calories
practicing marching band with instrument ---BURN 145 calories

Awesome. So today, I will be standing, playing guitar and singing for 30 minutes. If I did my math right, I should burn 181 calories!!

3 snow days in a row

I can't believe that my  kids had 3 snow days in a row! Today is Thursday and its the first day of school for the week. On top of that, Monday is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, so they have off then also!

I'm all about spending some relaxing time, laying around in pj's watching tv, playing games, etc. But after the fourth day of that (Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues) I'd had enough.  I pulled out all the schoolwork and worksheets, crafts, projects, science experiment books etc.

Each of the 4 kids received a list of things that they had to complete before they got any "screen" time.

Of course, since I am a music teacher by trade, they had to do some music theory work. So I pulled out the list of music theory websites.  They could pick any of them and they could spend 30 minutes on the computer playing the games on the sites. It was a win-win situation!

So, in case there are other moms who are ready for some academic achievement in the times of snow days, here's the list of websites again:

http://www.classicsforkids.com/games/

http://www.creatingmusic.com/

http://www.dsokids.com/2001/rooms/musicroom.asp

http://www.nyphilkids.org/main.phtml?

http://www.flashmusicgames.com/

http://www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1


Have a great snow day!

Organ-ish playing

What is organ-ish playing?  I had no idea, but that was the concept given to me by the worship leader when she was explaining what she wanted from me.
After asking more questions, I inferred that she wanted me to play on the digital piano, strings setting, simple chords, holding down the keys that didn't change from chord to chord.  Easy as pie, right?
Well, a smidge harder than I thought.
For years, I've been playing improv from chord lead sheets for church on Sunday morning. While I play though, my fingers stay busy the whole time. I've got arpeggios going in the left, chord changes from 2s to 4sus', passing tones, tidbits of melody, the whole nine yards! So to be asked to "downplay" all that was almost insulting. But I didn't "take the bait" (see footnotes for that meaning) and decided to go for it. What did I have to lose?  Maybe I could even learn something.
So I practiced. I practiced at home, at the group practice both during the week and the morning of and this is what I discovered. I don't like organ-ish playing. I find it boring. BUT I also realized that during that scurry of notes that I usually play, I'm not taking the time to appreciate the similar notes and suspension pitches that carry from chord to chord.
It was really neat. But boring. No more organ-ish playing for me.

*footnotes. Don't Take The Bait is the name of a book/Bible Study that I did a couple years ago. The premise is, don't get offended. Period.