Lots of recorders (January 23rd)

This week we really dove into recorders! First of all, I was so grateful that I did a brief introduction last time because it helped me prepare for this visit. The first thing I learned was that when a class of 31 students starts playing recorders, it is LOUD! The beginning of this visit was a bit rough. We went through each note, and there was a lot of loud an out of tune sounds. I admit I was a little concerned. As we continued, however, it got better and better. I divided the class into smaller sections in as many different ways I could think of to minimize the number of students playing at once. Before I knew it, they had the Renaissance song learned. At the end of my visit, I invited anyone who wanted to play recorder to come to the front of the room while the rest of the class beat a rhythm line on their desks.It went so well, and I am excited to start teaching them the Renaissance dance step that goes with the music!

Rounds and Recorders

This week we dove into the music we will be doing for the assembly at the end of the semester. We began by singing "Give to Me Your Hand", which we began last week, but this time I taught it a little differently. First of all, we actually warmed up singing a scale with the solfege syllables that I taught them last week. I asked the class what syllables and hand signs they remembered. I was amazed! They were able to recall all of them! I was so proud of my 6th graders! Warming up with the scale proved effective, and as a result they sang more on pitch as a whole. The class has made such improvement with their singing!

Dr. May last week told me that it would be better for the kids to hear the music a few times before singing it and to teach them the words first. I brought a penny-whistle with me, and I decided it would be a fun way for the kids to hear the melody if I played it for them on my little instrument. They did like it, and they caught onto the melody  much better than last week. Now, "Give to Me Your Hand" is a round for 4 parts, and I was nervous to do such a complicated round with such a large class. Mrs. Pruyt helped lead a section of the students, and it actually went really well. The students were able to catch on quickly. Mrs. Pruyt is so supportive and helpful! I am so grateful that I to get to work with her!

For the second half of my visit, we started playing recorders. In a class of 31 students, playing recorders can be a bit chaotic. Mrs. Pruyt helped me with classroom management by instructing students to place their recorders on their desks when they weren't playing them. We spent and entire half-hour learning 4 notes. It took a while, but I wanted to make sure that each student had the correct fingering and that the note was speaking. I did this by having one row play at a time as I walked by checking their hand positions. I can tell that teaching the recorder song is going to take a little bit longer, but I have confidence that they will do well.

Here are some pictures! Finally!

Intro to Medieval music! (January 9th)

Today in Mrs. Pruyt's class we got started on our final project: a performance of Medieval/Renaissance music in a school assembly on March 26th. (This is in conjunction with their social studies unit.) I wanted to give the students an introduction to music from that time period to get them excited for the project. As I was preparing, I found a wonderful website that has a large list of various Medieval instruments which, when clicked on, gives a little description of the instruments as well as a sound sample. It was perfect!

 http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html

The kids had so much fun taking turns picking which instrument we would see and hear next. Some had really funny names or sounded silly. Many were similar to modern instruments. I compared these instruments to "homophones", something they have been studying in grammar. I would ask them which modern instrument is a "homophone" to this Medieval instrument. It was such a fun activity.

The next activity we did was to begin the song we are going to sing, "Give to Me Your Hand". I taught them solfege syllables, and using these with accompanying hand signs, we learned the melody together. It was a little more difficult for them to grasp the melody than I had anticipated, so next time I'm going to try teaching the words with the melody first instead of the solfege syllables. Dr. May, my mentor, was able to come and observe. She gave lots of good advice about how to include body movement with singing: beating rhythm in various ways, dancing, and hand motions. I am excited to try this!