Teaching some dancing! (Feb 20th visit)

In Mrs. Pruyt's class we have been working on the music to the Branle Simple with recorders for a few weeks. This week I decided it was time to teach them the medieval dance which accompanies the melody. This was a bit of a challenge for me because I am not really a dancer, but the steps were simple, so I decided to give it a try. We gathered in a circle, and I taught the steps with some assistance from Mrs. Pruyt and a few students who did dance outside of school. In the end it worked out. I also had the students pick the part they would do for the performance of this dance. Some volunteered to play recorders, others to play drums, and the remaining to dance.

Also, as part of this visit, I taught the class some new verses I wrote to a song about the middle ages (one of the units they are covering in social studies this year). My mentor, Jennifer Purdy, gave me this great Medival round called Give to Me Your Hand. I love it, but I wished it had more verses about Medieval history, so I attempted to write some. Using these verses was a great way to teach the class about some important aspects of the Medieval period. Mrs. Pruyt even helped me teach about the Silk Road, which was the theme of the last verse.

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!

Carols and Planets

This week in Mrs. Pruyt's class we did two different activities. Since the 6th graders are preparing to sing "Carol of the Bells" for an assembly next week, we spent the first half-hour rehearsing. I was so impressed with how much they had practiced and prepared during the last couple weeks without me! I had sent the sheet music to Mrs. Pruyt, and it was clear they had practiced and worked out problems since I was with them last. We rehearsed and solidified some harmonies, and they sounded wonderful! We even added piano, two violas, a flute, and violin.

After rehearsing "Carol of the Bells" with two other 6th grade classes, we returned to Mrs. Pruyt's classroom where we did an activity to accompany their study of outer-space. I had the class listen to one of my favorite pieces, "Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity" from Gustav Holst's "Planets". We talked about how this piece is about the planet, but Holst also uses the attributes of the Roman god for whom this planet is named. Each of the students got out a sheet of paper, and as the piece commenced, they were to write adjectives that the music made them think of, and, if they could, write a story. I could tell that the kids really liked the music. As I walked around I saw words like "adventurous" and "excited" or "sad" (for another part of the piece). I even had one student insist that it sounded just like "Galaxy Quest". I just loved seeing them enjoy an orchestral piece that I love so much!

During my visit today a local elementary music teacher, Josh Roberts, came and observed. He gave me lots of great feedback on things like classroom management and how to make more of my lesson. It was so helpful, and I am so grateful that he came out because it gave me a chance to learn!

Carol of the Bells: 6th grade x 3 (November 21, 2014)

When I went to teach Mrs. Pruyt's class Carol of the Bells, I was surprised to discover that some other 6th grade teachers wanted to be involved, too. Before I knew it, I was in the hallway with the piano teaching 3 classes of 6th graders (about 90 students) Carol of the Bells! There was so much energy with the group, and I was so grateful that the kids were so excited to learn the song. I was amazed at how quickly they picked up the different parts. I arranged a simpler, 3-part version of the song so that they could learn it easier. They did amazingly! Then about half-way through my lesson I looked up to see my program director, Doug Allen, observing my teaching. He gave me some helpful feedback about moving more quickly through the parts (the kids were anxious to sing the whole song), and incorporating more physical motion. It was such a fun and rewarding experience. Now these 6th graders are going to continue to practice their parts so they can perform in a school Christmas program!

Pat-a-Pan (Nov 14 visit)

After talking with Mrs. Pruyt, we decided that it would be really fun for her class to learn some Christmas music so they can perform it in a school assembly. I decided to try a simple song for my first time singing with her class, just to gauge their abilities. And, since the class is doing a lot with studying ancient cultures, I thought an old carol might be a fun idea. I chose to do Pat-a-Pan, a Renaissance French carol.

I gave the students a brief historical background and then we dove right in to learning the song. We started with the words, then moved to the rhythm. I was very impressed that the students already had some knowledge about different rhythms. As a class, they are very strong in this area. Then, I brought out my flute to teach them the melody. I thought this might be a fun idea since we sing about a flute in the song. Teaching the melody was a little more difficult. Pitch was a little bit of a struggle, but by the end the students seemed more comfortable. We added a drum accompaniment, which the class beat on their desks, and I accompanied on my flute. It was fun, but I think that the song was a little too simple for 6th graders. Next time, we'll do something more complicated and up-beat.

For some application of their studies, we used their knowledge of Ancient Egypt to make new words for the song. We imagined what Christmas might be like if it took place in Ancient Egypt. We replaced words like "Wille", "flute", and "drum" with things like "mummy", "tomb", and "pyramid". It was fun, and I was very impressed with all the cool facts they knew about Egypt.

Here are some pictures!