#16 Form, Tone Color, Texture - (Updated 6/16)
TOPICS (Just click on the title you want to view)
See also: #25 LISTENING ideas
#9 COMPOSE ideas for: Beethoven/Rondo (Sextet in Eb) call chart; Brahms/Theme & Variations (on Theme by Haydn) call chart; Mozart ABA, Rondo (Serenada Nocturna) call chart
#52 Tchaikovsky: ABA-Nutcracker March]
***********************************************************************
ABA FORM
07/11“Wild Horsemen”ABA - Star Wars Main Theme (up until they pan down to the Star Destroyer)
ABA - Copland Rodeo (Hoedown) The "A" theme makes a hugely obvious reappearance, though the B section gets a little complicated, perhaps, for young ones.
------------------------------------
01/07 ABA=Shoo Fly, Twinkle - Artie Almeida
--------------------
06/06 One of the very coolest bluegrass pieces is one called Clinch Mountain Backstep, written by a woman baaaaak when. In the B section there's a place where there's an extra beat and it is very surprising at first. But when you get used to it, it makes perfectly good sense musically. Another one that is superb is Jerusalem Ridge by Bill Monroe. It's even in ABC form. And a good bluegrass group playing it is absolutely exciting. It's one of the premier classic bluegrass tunes. I do a "line dance" that I made up for Jerusalem Ridge that even the little guys can follow. .The big kids eat it up. I lead it, they mirror it. That helps them see the form and experience the irregularity with a sense of fun built in. Best, Martha in Tallahassee
---------------------------
06/06 A great form song these older kids really like is "Lean On Me." It has a clear verse, chorus, and bridge. I've been using it for many years to do form with 5th graders. There are many recorded versions of it too. You can start with the Bill Withers version and compare it to the many versions that came out later. The song is in the Silver Burdett Making Music grade 6 too. Many Beatles songs also have clear verse, chorus, and bridges. Meredith Harley Inserra
--------------------------
01/04 Before Christmas they have heard both Leopold Mozart's and Leroy Anderson's pieces entitled "Sleigh Ride". They have experienced the basic ABA form in Anderson's as follows: Intro A (sitting in chair, acting out holding reins and riding in a sleigh)
A = Theme 1,2,1
B (still in chair, but "stopped at a park where kids are having a snowball fight", throwing snowballs)
bridge music (back in sleigh for the ride home)
A
After Christmas, I add the "snowball fight in the music room "...give each child a piece of white copy paper and have them place it on the floor in front of their chair until they see you pick up yours. They will crumple it into a ball and throw it...they may pick up and throw any snowballs that land near their chair but absolutely must STOP throwing snow and get back in the sleigh when they hear the bridge music! (I usually prep them with a brief discussion about throwing safely so no one gets hurt, etc.) When the piece is finished, I have them bring any snowballs near them to me and save them in a big plastic bag. I have four 2nd grade classes on different days, so I usually add the saved snowballs the next class I do it with. By the fourth class, we have a lot of snowballs. One of my favorite lessons of the year!
Another junk mail CD idea: I've asked staff and kids to save junk mail cd's for me. I cut two different kinds of snowflakes on the Ellison machine and made a border around my large bull. bd. of cd's with alternating snowflakes on them (pinned them on with clear push pins). Sprinkled a few across the board for decoration, glued 2 back to back and hung them around the room on invisible thread, and sprinkled a few more on a small bull. bd.(also with a winter theme.) Before break, I made a Christmas tree on the bull. bd. with CD's, the year before...a wreath - Contributed by Nora Bruder
--------------------------------
04/03 I use this in first grade for a VERY basic ABA form lesson. The song: Shoo Fly
Boys in one circle, girls on other side of room in another circle. Boys have guiros and step to the beat of the A section, playing their scrapers. Girls take over on B, running around in circle shaking jingle bells, changing direction halfway through. Back to boys when A repeats. The kids enjoy the movement activity and usually ask to trade instruments and repeat it.-- Contributed by Artie Almeida
-----------------------
03/03 ABA: I love using Circus Music from "The Red Pony" for form for the little ones. I divide them into 2 groups and each group can be a circus performer (clown, lion tamer, tightrope walker, etc) then with each section their group comes forth and mimes their character.
---------------------
05/21 I went to a workshop with Georgia Newlin at the CT general music conference last October. She is from the University of Hartford. She did a session on listening which used movement to expereience form. My handout must be at school so I can't remember titles off hand and exact movements that we did. But, for example, if the piece was ABA you may have students march in a big circle around the room for the A section, flap wings for the B section, and then march again for the A section so students realize that it is the same music. I thought it was great because students can experience it in a fun way and learn all about form without really realizing it at the time.
I found the connections were made much quicker using full body movement rather than just raising their hands when they hear the A section return. Something I thought was pretty cool was that during a bridge section she may have students build bridges with their hands like London Bridge and other students can march underneath. You can make up whatever movements fit the piece. Listenings she had us move to were teaching both melodic and rhythmic concepts.
--------------------
05/21 Another fun activity when studying ABA form (and they never forget this) is after listening and discovering the ABA form (for example, with the Trepak in the Nutcracker), I pass out oreos. We listen again and then eat the chocolate during A, the white during B, and then the last chocolate during A. (got this idea from a session at a conference, not mine!)
We also talk about form constantly in songs they sing and play, and identify it frequently. Rondo form is like a big sandwich - bread, something else, bread, something else, bread, something else, bread etc... I use a big picture of a sandwich before we start and we talk about the sections that way.
Moving, playing, singing, (and eating!) definitely help in helping kids understand these concepts while listening!
----------------
05/21 I use the old ruse of "If/When you can HEAR when A is over and B begins again, by the movements, or signs(like many others have talked about on the list) then I will hand out a set of instruments to everyone and let them play during A patsch during B" My students are ALWAYS VERY motivated to get to play instruments. This ALWAYS works, not with every child, but with LOADS of them!
I agree with so many of the entries that responded that one should start with ACTIVITY the very first time you listen, even if it is to raise your hand every time you hear A. Then I move to the movement activity and end up with the instruments.
----------------
11/01 Olympic Fanfare - FORM Kids listen and do the movements that correspond to how each section sounds. Section A: marching. Section B: running. Section C: standing still and floating with their hands. Then, section B and A again as form dictates.
------------------
Sometimes I have my younger kids color pictures related to a song we've learned recently. No, this is not just busy work: after they color the pictures, they must arrange them in the order that suits the form of the song. Even a non-music person can check a pattern. Example: I use "Get On Board, Little Children" for ABA. So, each kid gets two copies of a picture with children, and one copy of a picture of a train. I don't insist that the two "children" pictures be colored alike, although in true ABA form, they should be. Your instructions to the sub should say that after coloring, each child should show "children/train/children - in that order. Then I let the kids take the papers home, sing the song for mom and dad, and explain why two pictures are the same. For Variations, I give 5 or 6 pictures of T-shirts to color. One must stay plain white. The others may be colored any way they want to. (I keep a large tub of old, broken crayons in my closet. The sub will put several hand-fulls on the floor, for the kids to huddle around and share.)
----------------------
I love to use the "March of the Siamese Children" from the King and I. There is a great lesson in Music and You grade 2 along with the Rondo Songto the tune of "Bingo".I use a clothesline for teaching form and we hang up my "laundry" ( shirts, shorts, pants made of laminated paper) as we listen. For Rondo, we havethe shirts with "A" on them, the pants with "B" on them and the shortswith "C". It's a hoot and the kids can tell their parents they learned touse a clothespin in music class.
----------------------
I had a card catalog with categories (ABA, slow/fast,changes, etc. etc.) and names of listening examples so that I could easily find a piece to supplement our lesson activity.
----------------------
To help the kidders (7th Grade) understand the "formation Concepts" - repetition, rep with variation and contrast, we first (BS) brainstorm "things" that repeat, "things" that are different and "things" that repeat but have some changes in them when they repeat. Then we try our hand applying the concepts to simple "things" like geometric shapes, flowers, letters, anything the kids can come up with. "Draw a repetition of your first "idea". "Draw a contrast to your second "idea". ETC.
Then the kids are free to create a picture with the following ideas in it. The second idea is a rep with var. of the first. The third idea is a contrast. And fourth idea is a repetition of the second idea.
They can become very creative with their spacial intelligence, and that's all I'm having them do is use another intelligence to grasp these three concepts. I'm NOT integrating ART into the music class.
The big question is "What do you know that has these same ideas?" Answer - the Ode to Joy theme they are playing and "composing."
---------------
How about Jefferson Starship's "We Built This City"? "In the House of
Stone & Light" "Winchester Cathedral" "In My Room" (Beach Boys - kids
could draw their room to scale) "Our House" CSN&Y
"Our House" (lyrics - Our house - in the middle of the street)
--------------
I used the Olympic Fanfare in the grade 2 Share the Music book this fall because the sections were so clearly deliniated. I have also used "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel. I identify the A section for them and have them raise their hands whenever thay hear it, writeing all of the A's on the board and leaving room for the other letters.
We go back and listen again, this time, for anything that is NOT A. B is easy to identify, and C isn't really even too hard, if I just ask them if it's either A or B.
Then we put a dance step to each section...when they hear the section switch, they have to change their dance step.
Not ABA...either one of them, but good for teaching form in general.
----------
I also had a student teacher who taught ABA form with oreo cookies. After a standard 2nd grade form lesson on same and different sections, she played a piano piece, I believe she used Minuet in G. They had to listen once and determine the form, then she passed out oreo cookies and they ate their cookies in ABA order, cookie, frosting, cookie while they listened once more. The length of the song is just about perfect. Those classes knew what ABA form meant!!
--------------
When I have taught form, I put movement to it. With 1st grade, I've taught Binary form (AB), doing different movements to songs that we are singing in that form. Also, I'll have recordings of songs with a particular form that I'm teaching and will introduce a dance that will fit in the A section, and something different in the B section. You can also add classroom instruments- different ones for each section. Once the students get the hang of it, they can invent their own movements to songs or listening selections. I also have them identify the sections (and with first grade, I'll introduce the song, then the movements, then ask them, "were the sections the same or different" then, we label it). With the older grades, you can also introduce phrases and cadences to figure out form (making it more complex). I do some fun things, as well as classical listening selections...i.e. Mozart's Rondo for Rondo form, but I may throw in the Chicken Dance for Binary form. A favorite that I did last December was the Shoemaker's Dance with 2nd grade...they absolutely LOVED it and it taught them form!. I hope this helps for starters.
-------------
I use Oreos to teach ABA. I use live student models with various shirt colors, shoe colors, hair colors etc.... to create human rondos. This bulletin board can be used to introduce the concept of form. I use aluminum foil for the lake and cotton balls for the snow. I use patterns of ice skates (larger than normal) that have the names of several forms introduced in class: rondo, theme and variations, ABA form, etc... Sometimes I arrange snowflakes around the skates in ABA , rondo, whatever form. One year I tried to add shoestrings with a pattern for each form. It didn't work as well as I hoped. :-) I haven't got any other form bulletin boards posted on my site, but I'll be watching this list closely for some ideas. :-) Tracy Bulletin Boards for the Music Classroom http://members.aol.com/jasontracy/bulletinboards.html
--------------
When I teach ABA form, I say "It is the same on each side and different in the middle." We then look around the room for ABA forms (wall, chalkboard, wall - etc.). They can usually find plenty! I tell them my favorite ABA things are Oreo cookies and ice cream sandwiches. We then look at a simple chart such one containing a triangle, circle, triangle. Next we listen to a short, simple ABA piece. We talk about it sounding the same at the beginning and at the end. We listen again and I might have them raise one hand when they hear the A section and two hands when they hear the B section. Sometimes we listen again and they get to demonstrate or act what they hear - but they have to do the beginning and the end the same. Inevitably, they are able to tell me what an ABA form is the next time they come to music. You could also pass out any kind of sandwich cookie as reinforcement as you talk about ABA.
-------------
Have you ever seen the overhead math shapes? Squares, triangle, octagons, etc. They are great for showing form. The kids love it because it puts all kinds of colors on the wall. I let them come to the overhead and place the shapes in the order of the form: Square, Triangle, Square = ABA Etc. You can get these at school supply stores.
-----------
One of the biggest concepts in education today is that children need to learn and distinguish patterns. In most schools students will be studying all kinds of patterns even in kindergarten. If you approach form from the concepts of a pattern most students will get it quickly. I have my students create the pattern of the music using pictures, instruments, movement, and even composing. I think you will find that this is a much easier concept for our students to get then we use to make it. I also continue the pattern into dynamics, articulation etc.
-----------
For form, I use a page from the Music Teachers Almanac. They have a page of 2 slices of bread, a piece of cheese and a slice of ham. The kids get to color and cut out the pieces. The bread is always "A" and you can decide what parts the cheese and ham should be. Sometimes I have them make another slice of bread to get ABACA form. I then play music on the piano or a recording and go over the form t0gether making sure they have the sandwich in the correct order. Then I have them do it on their own. I've done this with 2nd grade and they seem to love it. I tell them we are learning "Sandwich music". On a later lesson, we go over songs they already know and learn the form using our sandwiches.
--------------------
I photocopy about 3 front/back pages from the local phone book, including the X and Z pages and at least one Yellow Page. The kids are broken into groups of 4, and are told they have 30 minutes to write, edit, rehearse and perform a short (30 - 60 second minimum, depending on grade) rap using nothing but sounds from the pages. Anything on the page is legal - names, streets, numbers, companies, even the NYNEX copyright notice. The piece must show ABA form. (or whatever we're on at the time) It must follow our content guidelines - classroom appropriate- no physical violence/danger, actual or implied It must show repeated sounds. (M-M-M-M-Mayzog)-It must show contrasted sounds between parts.- it must be well rehearsed. - Everyone must participate. Kids spend 5 minutes brainstorming sounds from the pages. 10 minutes putting sentences together - 15 minutes rehearsing and editing. They then perform for taped playback and critique.
---------------------
Sometimes I have my younger kids color pictures related to a song we've learned recently. No, this is not just busy work: after they color the pictures, they must arrange them in the order that suits the form of the song. Even a non-music person can check a pattern. Example: I use "Get On Board, Little Children" for ABA. So, each kid gets two copies of a picture with children, and one copy of a picture of a train. I don't
insist that the two "children" pictures be colored alike, although in true ABA form, they should be. Your instructions to the sub should say that after coloring, each child should show "children/train/children - in that order. Then I let the kids take the papers home, sing the song for mom and dad, and explain why two pictures are the same. For Variations, I give 5 or 6 pictures of T-shirts to color. One must stay plain white. The others may be colored any way they want to. (I keep a large tub of old, broken crayons in my closet. The sub will put several hand-fulls on the floor, for the kids to huddle around and share.)
----------------------
After the students know what Introduction, A, B, C, Bridge, and Coda mean (or as an introduction to Form), I give them a worksheet that I have created. It is a listening lesson using several of the well- known pieces of music, such as William Tell, Fur Elise, Can Can, etc. Each piece of music has been analyzed on the paper in order with A, A, B, B or whatever all written out, with each A, B, Intro, or sketch of a bridge enclosed in a rectangle. Each student chooses 6 crayons. At the top of the page are 6 rectangles with one section name (A, B, Coda, etc. ) inside each rectangle. The student colors each rectangle a different color. For example, one student's Intros might be red and his A sections blue. Then after each student has decided on a color code, you start playing the music, with the instruction that they can't color in the rectangle until that section is being played; then they have to wait until they hear the next section before they color it in. It keeps them focused on hearing the form changes, not to mention all the fumbling around with the crayons really keeps them occupied!!
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************AB FORM
01/07 AB = Yankee Doodle, Jingle Bells, Old Joe Clark --- Artie Almeida-------------------------
05/21 We also start VERY easy with form with music that you can't MISS noticing the difference. In fact, I give all students (and this worked from 1st-5th gr) pretty colored scarves. For one of th pieces, we started with an introduction and they just had to hold the scarf at both ends and make little circles (in rhythm of course!) until "A" started. For "A" we made very large movement "number 8" movements holding only one end of the scarf. For "A1" We did the same movement, but used a different hand, to symbolize that the theme was the same, but another instrument was playing it -- slight variation. Then for "B" we used a completely different up & down movement. The tempo was also faster, so they could pick this out easily. Then it went back to "A," etc. They loved the scarves. Next we wil do something a little harder and they will be put into groups so that one group will actually be the "A, main theme," and one will be "B," etc.
---------------
05/21 If you're using an instrumental piece, make up words for the A section so the kids can sing along every time they hear it. I do this when I teach The Moldau and it really helps. Also, Shoo Fly is a great one to sing and make up a dance to show the ABA form. Maybe they could then do their Shoo Fly dance to another instrumental piece and see that it matches.
----------------
05/21 I just did a successful lesson on form with my 1/2s. I used Aquarium from "Carnival of the Animals" and a bunch of fish from the Hefty Zoo Plates. I hot glued a paint stick to the back of each fish and handed them out to all the kids. I told them that in the music sometimes the fish swim, and sometimes they rest (descending pattern on piano), then we listened and made our fish swim and rest at the proper times. After that I diagramed it on the board---swim, rest, swim, rest. etc. The kids followed me but next time I will choose one of them to be the leader. They picked it up very quickly. At the end (coda) we held our fish still and used our other hand to make the sun shine down through the water onto the fish.
----------------
Movement is a great way to teach form, even to the little guys. I attended a great workshop by Jacque Schrader this past fall, and while the focus was movement, she also worked in teaching form. It goes something like this (with all credit to Jacque!!!): -spend some time discussing locomotor (travelling) motion versus axial (around-a-joint) movement, practicing each category -make two big spinners-one for locomotor, one for axial. Fiddle around spinning for motions, and kids practice the one that comes out -spin each dial to get a locomotor AND an axial movement. Kids get eight beats to do one, then eight beats to do the other. Depending on how you like to run your classes, kids can move to their own internal beat, or you can play it on a hand drum (I prefer the former-it gets kids thinking, allows them to have some power, and looks REALLY cool). -As they get comfortable with this, have them plan their OWN combinations of locomotor and axial movements. I like to do this in groups of 5-6 so the other kids can observe and describe what they saw (i.e., what movements they saw, who was moving to a fast beat, who was moving to a slow beat, etc.) -this leads SO nicely into AB form! Discuss it in terms of same/different at first, then use the letters. I call it a "code"-kids love these little "secrets" I invent. But I did have one astute 2nd grader begin referring to it as Plan A and Plan B-perfect! -I like to back all this up with an AB folk dance from Phyllis Weikart, like Irish Stew.
Sometimes, I have the kids listen first and we discover the sections, other times I teach just the A section movement, and have the kids move to the music and wait during the B section, teaching the B section after we practice A alone a few times. Either way-by this point, they pretty much have it. We also again observe and compare the movement patterns in each section, and perhaps even the melodies (instruments, contour, etc.) to find out Plan A and Plan B.
With the older kids, just build on this and use increasingly complicated forms. Also, Jim Solomon has a GREAT book called "The Body Rondo" (I got it from...West Music!;-) that covers the rondo form in many different body percussion pieces. Jeff Kriske and Randy Delleles give many pieces to be performed in various forms in their book "Second Rhyme Around" too.
While classical music of course covers every form imaginble, I find it difficult to use it to teach form in the elementary grades. It takes so long (in kid time) for the sections to return, they tend to forget what A sounded like in the first place! Folk music, on the other hand, is great because each section is fairly short, and REPETITIOUS. Bingo!
----------
I got this idea at a workshop: Everyone has rhythm sticks. During the A section of a recorded selection, everyone has to do the same pattern with their sticks (I created one tapping on the floor then tapping sticks together) - on B section everyone does their own pattern.
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************************************AABA
07/11 Mozart: Turkish March (first section)Brahm's Hungarian Dance (up to interlude)
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************************************D.C. al fine, al coda, etc.,
03/03 REPEAT SIGNS: I had one of those spur of the moment inspirations during class today when talking about repeat signs, and repeating what was in between the 2 repeat signs. One student asked why you didn't repeat between :l and l: I got four students up in front of the class and had the first two face each other and the second two face each other. Then I had them put their hands in front of their eyes like spy glasses (those were the dots on the repeat signs. I told them you only repeat what's between the signs that are looking at each other. You don't repeat between the two that have their back to each other. They got it right away. And another student said, "Didn't you tell us one time that if it's just one repeat sign, you repeat the whole thing?" (A+ for her!) I said, yes, that one looks all the way back to the beginning, so you repeat it all.I did this with 2 other classes and they got it too! Having kids up there representing musical signs held their attention also.-- Contributed by Jaree Hall
----------------------
D.C. al Fine, D.S. al Fine, & D.S. al Coda - The lesson began with the definition of each of these terms, and the fact that they are musical 'road signs'. In order not to get 'lost' in the music, you have to know them! Yeah,.. well,... you know how much they were probably listening to all this! So....I got them on their feet and had them stand in a semi-circle so they could see everyone in the class.
I gave a sign that said 'Beginning of song' to the 1st person in the line, and I gave a D.C. al Fine sign to the last person in the line. A sign with Fine on it went to a person somewhere in the middle. I told them they were all the human notes of a song, and we were going to follow the song from beginning to end. I pointed to the 'Beginning of song' and scanned all the way around to the D.C. al Fine. "This LOOKS like the end of the song, but it's not - this sign tells us to go back and repeat. Where are we supposed to go?" (Back to the beginning) So I point again from the beginning and asked them where I should stop - and most of them knew to stop at FINE. We did the same thing w/D.S. al Fine (I added a "sign" sign) and D.S. al Coda (adding a 'To Coda' sign and a Coda sign).
Then I chose 2 students to be the 'song travelers' and one of the signs (D.C.al Fine, D.S. al Fine, D.S. al Coda) was displayed. They looked at it and 'travelled'along our song line, going back and forth as needed between the different symbols. When they got 'lost' or went the wrong direction, the class helped them out. We did this with all three symbols, and hopefully, they will remember the difference until the next time I see them!! By eliminating the 'clutter' of the musical page, and focusing on the symbols, I THINK they understood the idea better. Oh...and the best part? They were really glad to sit down after this!!! :) ----Contributed by Suzanne in OH
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************************************EMOTION
06/07 SONG: “I Got a Letter This Morning” - (trad. spiritual) I use [this] song each year. I make a shoe box "mailbox", take envelopes, put an emotion or mood on a card inside each envelope. The children come one at a time, pick an envelope, read the mood on the card to themselves, pretend to be reading the letter (card) as they go back to their seats. They have to portray that mood as they leave the mailbox and go back home (their chair, etc.). The other children guess what mood they were portraying, what kind of letter might have caused it, etc. I don't have my book. This may be written up in the plans. I can't remember. There aren't enough moods to go around a whole class, and I don't do it all in one lesson, but the children put their envelope back in the box. Someone else will get it, but they will act out the mood differently. - Kaye Atwood---------------------------------------
After Princess Diana's funeral, I showed the procession twice - once with music and once without. The difference was amazing. I was teaching sixth grade at the time and we had a wonderful discussion about how music affects the emotions. -- Contributed by Delynne West
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************************************
FERMATA
06/07 SONGS: "I've Been Working on the Railroad""The Star-Spangled Banner"
"I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" (and variations)
"Erie Canal" (on "Buffalo")
Shoo Fly
John Kanaka
Sorida
------------------------------------
06/07 This seems rather simple, but what I do is display a familiar song -either something we sing (just lyrics) or an easily-accessible recorder piece like Hot Cross Buns, etc. I have a fermata drawn on a sticky note. The first time I get to place the fermata and direct. Then for two or three more times I choose a student to place it and direct. It makes the point quickly and everyone remembers the definition of a fermata, even if the name still gives them trouble. -- Artie Almeida
-------------------------------
06/07 Something I do that's fun is to have them sing a song they already know, but they have to follow my directions and I will add a fermata or two to the song. For instance, we sing "Twinkle, Twinkle..." but I direct them and have them insert a fermata or two. They think it's funny to sing like that and it teaches the concept. -- Cheryl in Milwaukee
---------------------------------
06/07 "Shoo, Fly" (don't bother me)...is my favorite. We do the movement where you turn the circle inside out...and raise hands and turn back around during the fermata...as you return to A. -- Dan Fee
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************************************
FUGUE
06/06 Brief explanation for kids:-----------------------------
My favorite fugue for teaching the form is the one found in Peter Schickele's "P.D.Q. Bach on the Air." It's a fugue on the Volga Boatmen song - hysterically funny and very clear. -- Erica on Longisland
--------------------------------
06/06 Class #1-Listen to the music & determine the number of times the theme enters. WITH EYES CLOSED, create a steady beat or continuous motion. Each time the theme reenters, the motion changes.
Class#2-Establish partners & who leads first. The first leader creates a motion to be mirrored by the partner. Each time the theme reappears, roles switch.
Class #3-Groups of 3 or 4. Establish first leader and the sequence of leadership thereafter. Those not leading will need to copy the leader as closely as possible.
5. Following classes-build up (or go directly) to groups with the same number as theme entrances. It is quite a challenge if the group in really invested. Have fun-Linda Abbot
---------------------------------------
06/06 I sang (or actually spoke) "Geographical Fugue" with my university chorale. Can't remember who composed it, but "Lake Titicacca" (sp?) is mentioned, and I'm sure middle school kids would have an absolute field day with that one!
J.W. Pepper # 0101618: Geographical Fugue by Ernest Toch
Julie Rhodes
------------------------------------
06/06 Place water and a few drops of cooking oil in a clear Pyrex bowl. Place bowl on an overhead projector. Use various colors of food coloring (I use tubes for better control) and add a different color to the water bowl each time the theme comes back. Students can visually see the food coloring expanding and the patches blending together. Bach's "Little Fugue in G minor" works well for this activity. -- Linda Roberts 10/04 I just finished a week of using this fugue as my listening/journal activity. After the 3-6's copied the information-title, composer, definition of fugue-from the board, we talked about the idea of a subject. I wrote a sentence on the board, and they found its grammatical subject. I compared it to the concept of a musical subject. I played the first 16 seconds of the fugue from the recording, then played it on the piano, and then played it on the recorder. We sang it on "doo", shades of the Swingle Singers. I was so proud that many in all my 12 classes through those grade levels could listen to the whole fugue and count how many times they heard the fugue subject. Some of my 3rd graders did as well as the 6th graders! I'll have to share those words with them and have some fun with them. -- Monica in TN
--------------------------------------------
10/04 Here is a great movement activity for this wonderful piece which I picked up someplace years ago. There are, I think, NINE or TEN entrances of this melody within the piece. NINE groups are formed and each group represents the entrance of the melody - Group 4 for example has 4 people in it, Group 7 has 7 people in it etc.
At each entrance of the melody the group moves to the rhythm of the piece. Now whomever you have as "Group"1 - which of course is only 1 person, you must be sure that they are brave (perhaps one with dance experience) and willing to do 9 DIFFERENT moves (stationery - in that we don't move around the room in any way but you can move in place or within your space). That's the idea - for each entrance of the melody, the group(s) who have already entered, have to change their movement and therein lies the challenge. Group 9 with the 9 people, only has to come up with 1 move but it should be grandiose and large. Group 5, with 5 people eg. has to come up with 5 moves. Our one and only person in Group 1 has to come up with 9 different moves. By the time of the 9th entrance the room is alive with movement.
I ONLY do this activity with the Stokowski arrangement of the Little Fugue in g minor" with full orchestration. Can I tell you how much the kids love it and they really understand the concept of what a fugue is. During the bridge passages, they freeze - no mvt. whatsoever. There is only movement during the playing of the melody (theme).
Groups meet to figure out, plot and try out different moves and then we put it together. We have other children who are the observers. (I usually have to combine classes to do this and we always have a few left overs. ) They can tell us if visually it works or not. At first, the kids tend to choose safe, simple moves, but the more we get into it and with feedback from the observers, it usually moves to a new level. This is an excellent activity that I usually do with 5ths. This is one of my pieces in my quiet listenting time and I have kids actually ask if we could listen to the "Little Fugue.." when they walk in the room! -- Kathleen Bragle
-------------------------------------------------
08/02 P.D.Q. Bach/Peter Schickele has a wonderful fugue that is based on the song "How Dry I Am." There are a few other silly songs thrown in. I'm not sure of the name of the piece, but it is hysterical and a perfect example of the construction of the fugue.
----
Fugue comes from the Latin word fuga which means "flight" Kids may not relate to fugues but they certainly know about flying. Relate the parts of the fugue to the parts of flight (take-off, soaring, landing etc.) After some discussion and listening, get out four different colored balloons or groups of balloons. Have the first color group "take-off" with the first entrance (Little Fugue in G), 2nd with the second entrance...etc. Use different flying instructions for different parts of the fugue. The ending with all theballoons landing at once is very impressive. My kids really love this activity and have no problem recalling Fugues.
----
The publication "The Music Teacher's Almanac" has a listening map for Bach's "Little Fugue in g Minor".
----
I've used this in 5th grade many times and it has worked very well:
Little Fugue in G minor
1st Listening: Play the theme several times before playing the piece. Students listen with eyes closed. Children create & perform a steady beat or continuous motion for the first entrance of the theme. This motion continues until the 2nd entrance when students make up a different motion. The process continues until the end of the piece. There are 9 TRUE entrances-an additional one is only partial. (The idea for closing eyes is to cut down on the feeling of self-consciousness.)
2nd Listening: Students sit in pairs facing each other. Determine who leads first. With the 1st entrance, leader #1 creates a motion that the partner mirrors as exactly as possible.
With the 2nd entrance, their roles change. Leadership continues to alternate with each entrance.
3rd Listening: Repeat 2nd listening, but with 3-4 students sitting in circle. Determine leader and which way around circle the turns will go. The tricky part here is that copying is more difficult when the leader chooses to do a right/left motion. Children ACROSS in the circle tend to mirror while neighboring children tend to use the same side as the leader.
4th Listening: Repeat as above with 8-9 in a group if possible.
----
I usually start my Bach unit with a spoken fugue for 3 voices from the grade 7 Share the Music. The three voices on the recording are female, children, and male, so the kids have a really easy time hearing the 3 voices throughout the song. I usually have the kids listen to it the first day and try to "sing" it the next day. I also have used Bach's Flight for Freedom, but as I recall, it doesn't touch on fugue at all. It portrays Bach as an improviser and innovator, rather than a master of fugue.
-----------------
Fugue Freeze Frame for Bach's Little Fugue in g minor
Class Period One
1. Familiarize students with the fugue subject
2. Listen to the fugue together and find the subject entrances
Class Period Two(part of the period)
3. Listen again and hold up a card each time the subject is heard
Class Period Three
4. Find a space of your own in the room each time you hear the subject freeze in the shape of something that begins with the letter G. Try to come up with enough G words that you can be something different for each entrance.
Possible extensions- a different fugue, freeze with a partner in the shape of something that begins with G
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************QUESTION AND ANSWER
01/07 Today I introduced Q/A improvisation to some classes starting with language as you suggested. I always did start with language, but only gave one example, the "How did you get to school today?" question, and the "I brought my lunch from home!" answer example. Your idea of expanding it and showing several options of answers and discussing how they relate/don't relate to the question was great. We just had a few minutes left to try out some BP Q/A improv's and the results were awesome. From here we will do some more teacher/class Q/A's with BP, then partner up to do some with a partner before moving to unpitched percussion. - Martha Evans OsborneBACK to Form topics
***************************************************RONDO
07/11 I used to use Ronda Alla Turca & Shania Twain's "No One Needs to Know" as a rondo compare/contrast lesson. I think I might've also used Police's "Every Breath You Take." Did this with 5th graders. ---- Tina Morgan-----------------------------------
Fur Elise – Beethoven
------------------------------------
I like using "Syncopated Clock" with Brain Gym moves. For the A theme, we use sitting or standing cross crawl. For section B, we go into Lazy 8s. For section C, we use the Elephant. ---- Karen Stafford
-----------------------------------
10/08 Celebration from Copland's Billy the Kid is in Rondo form. -- Stephen Wight
-------------------
Dance of the Comedians from the Bartered Bride--Smetana. Very up tempo and exciting, and the rondo form is very clearly defined, making it much easier for the kiddos to identify. Mine always loved this one. --- Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana E. Luane Campbell Elementary Music Instructor & Talented and Gifted intervention specialist Mt. Gilead Schools, Ohio
-------------------------------
10/08 I've always heard this called Dance of the Comedians. It's also a tune which has been used frequently as cartoon background music, if that helps. The A theme goes like fury on a whole lot of 16th notes, played by full orchestra, strings dominating, then in a few measures there are 3 loud strong chords, top notes being LA, high DO, SOL. then back to the 16ths. First major change in theme shifts from major to minor, trumpets dominating, (starting on a pickup) low Mi La Do Mi, low Mi La Mi La Do Mi, low Mi La Mi La Do La Do Mi, low Mi La Do low Mi La.... Clear as mud? I just checked my encyclopedia of music themes, and this Dance of the Comedians from BBride is from Act III, first theme. Hope this helps. It's a dandy rondo and very lively! --- Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana E. Luane Campbell Elementary Music Instructor & Talented and Gifted intervention specialist Mt. Gilead Schools, Ohio
------------------------
01/07 Another thing that helped quite a bit with my classes when we would begin to do q/a at barred instruments was for me to demonstrate by using good and BAD examples. After my giving them some general instructions, I would proceed to give them a bad example. I would play a question (8 beats), and without breaking the beat, say "here's the answer" as I would play a few very rushed notes. While the kids were giggling, I'd ask them what was wrong? IT'S TOO SHORT!!! TOO FAST!!! Yep. Then I'd give them another one, which they thought was going to be ok, but it just kept going on, and on, and on, and on... They knew exactly what that problem was too. I would say, reminds me of some people who don't know when to quit talking. Then I'd do one which was exactly the right length but would hop skip and jump all over the bars of the instrument. What's wrong with this one, I'd ask? It's not too long, not too short. This gave them the chance to see that the notes need to make some sort of sense together. Then after reviewing that they needed to play their answers 1) different, 2) make sense, and 3) about the same length as mine, we'd start in, usually answering by groups before as individualstudents. Maybe all the xylos would answer first, then the metallophones, then the glocks, then tutti. -- Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana
-------------------
06/06 My kids' favorite Rondo is undeniably "Animal Action" by Greg & Steve. I love those guys. -- Kate Bright
---------------------------------------
06/06 Brief explanation for kids: http://web.empire.k12.ca.us/capistrano/Mike/capmusic/form/form.htm
-----------------------------
Dance of the Comedians from the Bartered Bride (Smetana). Form is ABACADA I think. Very easy and clear to hear when the A theme returns each time! This one used to show up on Bugs Bunny cartoons (I think that was which cartoon it was...) Louise Eddington
------------------------
06/06 I like to use this analogy with kids.
I draw a picture of a house with rooms and I tell the kids that their favorite room is probably the family/living room, since it has the TV. It'll be A. You're watching TV, and decide to have a snack, so you go to the kitchen (B), then you return to the living room (A). You drank too much soda, so now you need to use the restroom (C), then you return to A. You want to have your Gameboy with you while you watch TV, so you go to your bedroom (D), etc. - Karen Stafford
----------------------------------------
I let my kids sit in a circle. Then I give each a letter......2 kids are A, then 1 is B, 2 are A, 1 is C, 2 are A , 1 is D (etc.) Then I teach the A section (a simple, but cool body percussion usually 2 bars). Then I tell the others B,C,D (etc) that when it's their turn they have 2 bars to do ANYTHING they want....rules? They cannot do anything they have seen or heard before during this game.....They can clap, say their names over and over, etc......Then I conduct....point to A, then B, then the next group of A, then C, then the next group a A, etc. Then we label it a rondo (it moved a ROUND the room) and they seem to get it and remember it. -- Elissa Reichstein-Saperstein
---------------------------------
03/03 Book: Hutchinson, Pat. Rosie's Walk - The book unfols in a simple rondo form. Use the form of the story for student created composition.
-------------------
02/03 For Rondo, I tell them to think about a house, then a draw a picture. They re in their family room watching a video. That's A. They go to the kitchen to get a snack (B) go back to the family room, go to the bathroom (C), go back to the family
------------------------
02/03 For a rondo, I always make the A section a piece of bread, and the B, C, etc. sections are different kinds of food. I do variations with American Salute in Grade 2 and in grade 3 they play variations on Hot Cross Buns (see Carol King's book, Recorder Routes - at least the original version). They get the idea without any other analogies.
---------------------
02/03 I drew a "blueprint" on the board and started by plotting my own path through the house (kitchen, living room, kitchen, bathroom, kitchen). We talked about the pattern (what was similar, what was different). They came up with their own paths (as long as they fit the patterns). We then assigned alphabet letters to it and started to put it in musical context. I wrapped up by playing Fur Elise, which is a textbook example of rondo form!
--------------------
01/03 We sang "Dancing On the Rooftop" (MK8 & Share The Music) and discovered the form was ABACABA coda. Before class, I had strung up a clothes line, and now, out came the laundry basket full of clothes. (Their curiosity was aroused!!) I told them we were going to show the form by hanging up my laundry. I hung up a white shirt and told the class this was the A section. Next up was a yellow T-shirt, and then I asked the class what I should hang next (another white shirt). We proceeded to pick clothing out of the basket that would fit the form (hawaiian pants was C! I forgot a scarf which was going to be the coda,tho'). In every class someone noticed the pattern of white shirts, allowing me the opportunity to teach them the term rondo form. I took off the laundry and had different students come up and hang clothing in other form patterns.....AB, ABA, AABA, etc. They seemed to grab onto the concept of form by seeing it...and it certainly 'grabbed' their attention for a while!
Contributed by Suzanne DeVene
---------------------- 05/21 One of the Young People's Concerts that Bernstein did on form: He played a Mozart symphony and had people in the back with huge signs that labeled each of the sections. I once saw a concert where the bass players had different colored hats that they changed during the different sections. They did this while they were playing!
--------------------
05/21 I use a piece of music that they will really get into for starters. First I sing "Twiinkle Twinkle Little Star." As I sing each section, I draw a star for A, a diamond for B and another star for A. I then translate these into letters. Then I tell them that I am going to play for them the intoduction and the A section of "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel. Once they can ID the A melody, we listen to the whoe thing, and every time the hear A they raise their hands, and I put the A's on the board, like this:
Intro A A A A Coda
Next I tell them to listen for anything that is NOT A, and raise their hands when they hear that. In this case, they have to differentiate between B and C. As they listen, I fill in the diagram, like so:
Intro A B A C A B A C
Once they've heard it twice and know where each section falls, we improvise a different dance step for each section, and change our motions when the section changes.
-----------------------
8/01 Vince Guiraldi's "Linus and Lucy" is also a rondo. You know....the one they
are dancing to in "Charlie Brown Christmas" It's on the soundtrack CD.
------------------------
8/01 Mozart's "Rondo Alla Turca" and
Shania Twain's "No One Needs to Know."
------------------------
8/01 Another great rondo is "Every Breathe You Take" by Sting. It is in a ABACABA
form.
------------------------
6/01 Good rondos are Fur Elise by Beethoven, and Blue Rondo by Dave Brubeck is
really catchy.
-----------------------
6/01 I like to use the March of the Siamese Children from the King and I.
It is in MacMillan Music and You second grade.
There is a Mozart French horn concerto in the older McMillan Music and
You series, gr. 3.....that is in rondo form....in fact, they use it to
teach rondo form.
Also in Mac. 2 is Anderson's Sleigh Ride, MacDonald, Children symphony(3rd
mvt ); Meyerbeer Waltz, Viennese Musical clock from Hary Janos Suite, Kodaly
------------------------
6/01 Following are classical selections in rondo form. Most of these come from
the Adventures in Music records. I'm sure you could find these songs in
other resources.
Jack-in-the-box (from Mikrokosmos Suite No. 2) - Bartok
Viennese Musical Clock (from Hary Janos Suite) - Kodaly *
Fairies and Giants (from Wand of Youth Suite No. 1) - Elgar
Waltz on the Ice (from Winter Holiday) - Prokoflieff *
Romanze (from Eine kleine Nachtmusick) - Mozart
Waltz (from The sleeping Beauty) - Tchaikovsky
Waltz (from Masquerade Suite) - Khachaturian
Spanish Dance No. 1 (from La Vida Breve) - Falla
Dance of the Comedians (from The Bartered Bride) - Smetana
The *ed #s are the songs with the most clear cut examples which are very
audible to children.
--------------------
The song Linus and Lucy? (do do do do do do Doo doo...) Listen to it. It is in Rondo form. ABACA and a coda. It is on A Charlie Brown Christmas CD or tape.
----------
I have a chant that I got out of a book (it's at school and I have no idea of it's title). The chant is "Watermelon" and my 5th graders love it! I think it's the only thing I've ever used out of the book, but I guess it's worth it! Anyway, during one lesson, the kids learn the chant, and about rondo (ABACA) form. During another lesson, I play Mozart's Rondo Alla
Turca, followed by Shania Twain's No One Needs to Know - both are rondos. We then create a Venn diagram comparing/contrasting the 2 selections. This year I followed up by asking the kids to give me examples of 3 nursery
rhymes (I thought they'd be turned off by this, since they are so "old" but turned out, they loved it!). We then created a rondo using the nursery rhymes - would've been great to add instruments and movement, but ran out of time...
---------
BOOK: Rondo in C. III. J. Wentworth. New York: Harper & Row.Fleischman, P. (1988)
----------
We use Pease Porridge Hot on the barred instruments as well. It's great with teaching improvisation. We create a little Rondo using the rhyme. We improvise the rhythm of the words on the bars for the A section, then the unpitched improvise for a phrase for the other sections of our Rondo. I have the instruments set up in a circle with every other one being a barred instrument, then we rotate around so everyone gets to play every instrument. It's one of the favorite lessons for my 1st and 2nd graders! I use it with first grade in the Spring and in 2nd grade when I introduce "Rondo" form. [email protected] (Henry & Joy Quinn)
"Pease Porridge Hot" is also good in canon. The 2nd group begins after the first says, or plays, "Pease Porridge..." It's always my first canon. I learned this from someone else long ago. I start at 8 beats, then 4 before starting after 2 beats, as described above.
---------------
I used the following lesson in 3rd grade. Materials needed are: The Jolly Postman by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, classroom instruments, and a tape recorder (optional) Concepts taught are: rondo form and simple composition with instruments. I would begin the class defining what the rondo form was in simple terms, explaining that the story I was going to read to them is a "rondo" book. (If you have never read this book, the kids love it because there are real "letters" in envelopes throughout the book and they get a kick out of it). I would then read the book, and after each different letter (or character) the class would assign a letter to that character. The Postman was "A" and he was a constant throughout the story. Each additional character became B, C, D, etc. with the postman going in-between each new character. ( I can't remember offhand, but I think that there are 6 or 7 characters in the book total). After reading the book to the class, I would ask students to talk about the mood of each letter I had read - was it happy? angry? serious? excited? I then assigned students to individual groups with each group being a different character. Their assignment was to come up with some simple musical composition or pattern using rhythm and melody instruments that would capture the feeling of their character and the letter they were assigned to. The groups would split up all around the room and work together for 5 or 10 minutes practicing their composition. I always composed the Postman part and I would play his part on the piano in-between each group's character. The class comes together and we "perform" the book as a class. Occasionally I would tape-record the lesson because they did like to hear themselves. I hope that what I just wrote makes sense! If you have any questions, please e-mail me and ask.
I've found that listening is the best experience when:
1. it grows out of a (or within) lesson; ABA form after we've sung,played, moved with ABA etc., etc., etc.
2. kids really like lots of different styles and will love 'classical' music when presented & experienced with their total involvement
3. listening MUST be guided and set up so that it's natural to hear the selection many times
EXAMPLE: 1st time, listen for dynamic levels 2nd, listen for melody direction, 3rd listen for like parts, 4th, listen for specific instruments, etc.,etc.
I try to set up the listening so that kids HAVE TO HEAR IT again to be sure of the answer to my question
4. figure out ways to have kids ACTIVELY involved: counting how many repetitions, naming instruments having solo parts etc.; moving differently for different sections, etc. etc.
5. Maps are GREAT to use......kids can even make their own When I do the above things, I find that kids request to hear music over and over.
-------------
I use "Les Toreadors" from Carmen to introduce rondo form. We do movements for the different section--march, wave arms, and skip--lots of times until they are comfortable and can hear when the changes occur. Then we map out the form using circle, square, and triangle cards with A, B, and C on them. As follow up, I wrote a Halloween "poem" in rondo form which we read, add instrumental accompaniment, and create movements for.
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************SONATA
06/06 Brief explanation for kids: http://web.empire.k12.ca.us/capistrano/Mike/capmusic/form/form.htm-----------------------------
06/06 Pick whatever piece you want to use for your listening lesson on sonata form. I think most pre-Beethoven (even some of his) symphonies have a movement in this form. The other materials you'll need are sheets of drawing paper, pencils, crayons and markers. I usually get my students to bring their own crayons and markers, then have several crayon boxes available for those who don't have their own.
Have your students fold their paper in half twice so it creates 4 squares on the paper. Then, have them draw lines on those folds. At the top of each square have them write the words for each part of the sonata form: 1) exposition, 2) development, 3) recapitulation, 4) coda. Give a brief explanation of each of these, then have a "free" listening as you guide them through and show them what to listen for.
For the second listening they get to draw! I still guide them from one box to another though. You can really use your imagination with this. For a Beethoven piece I gave them a simple picture of Beethoven. In the "exposition" box they drew his picture, plain. In the "development" box they were allowed to "develop" Beethoven any way they wanted: sunglasses, mustache, earring, Mohawk haircut, funky clothes, etc.
For the "recapitulation" box they had to draw Beethoven again, plain.
For the "coda" box they could draw something than indicated an ending. My students mostly drew Beethoven's gravestone or something silly about him not having heard any of the piece, or the back of his head. You can repeat the listening and see if the students can tell when each part ends and another begins by pointing to their drawings. It's difficult for me to tell sometimes, even with a trained ear, so I don't get too upset if they don't get everyone. Some sonata forms will likely be easier to distinguish than others. -- Meredith Harley Inserra
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************STYLE
Another activity to add to your "Hush" unit is the Yo Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin arrangement of "Hush Little Baby". It's a great opportunity for discussion of style and contrast.BACK to Form topics
*********************************************THEME & VARIATIONS
12/11 LESSON: Display some of Monet's "Haystacks" paintings; I used Wikipedia's entry, because if you scroll down, they have a grid of about 18 paintings. 6 fit on my screen at once at a reasonable size. Questions written next to paintings: (I have a promethean board, so I was using the "annotate over desktop" feature.)- What would you say is the _theme_ of these paintings?
- What are some differences between the paintings?
Discuss questions. Accept all reasonable answers; hide haystack.
Rote Song: Simple Gifts; I taught it by first having them listen and try to tell me what the title meant, then by echo.
Listening: Appalachian Spring (Simple Gifts section) – Copland
Accept all reasonable answers, but of course listen for theme-and variations-related answers.
Listening: Appalachian Spring; this time, stopping after theme and each variation.
- Directed Listening Question: What is the theme of this piece of music? Do you recognize it?
- Directed Listening Question: In the next little section, what did the composer change?
Vocabulary: Tell students the name of the form, "Theme and Variations"
Have students give you examples of other things in life that come in "Theme and Variations" form. Some good answers I received today were:
Donuts, Pizza, Clothes, and several others. It was possibly the best 5th grade lesson I've ever had! ----Stephen Wight
----------------------------------
PUPPET SAYS "YOUR TURN". As the children chant the saying, I point the puppet to each child in the circle on the beat. They are patting their laps. When we get to the phrase, "I declare that you are out" that child steps out of the circle and goes to a rhythm instrument area and picks up an instrument and instead of patting their lap, they are keeping the beat with the rhythm sticks. (I like to start with sticks!) ---- Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
-----------------------
10/08 VARIATIONS ON A SONG: Have your kids pick a favorite song and sing it in unison. That's your theme. Then assign small groups to perform it - played on orff instruments, body percussion, drums, movement with scarves, sometimes a child can play it on piano or recorder --- whatever they can come up with. I am always amazed at their creativity. I do this every year with "Jingle Bells" at Christmas time. At the same time, I post a big Santa cutout on the bulletin board as the theme and have the kids bring in Christmas card Santas to post as the variations. It's amazing how many different Santas there are!!! I video the results and watching all the videos is our last class before break. ---Judy Schneider
---------------------------------
SIMPLE GIFTS: I do this the lesson after I teach the Simple Gifts song and a lesson on Copland. Without any explanation we listen to the orchestra play Simple Gifts-- behind the piano I have different kinds and sizes of Coke products--I bring them up one at a time and put them on the piano as we hear each section --then when the last big loud part starts I bring up the big liter of coke and they all smile--(it really surprises them to see the big bottle)--Then we discuss theme and variations. This lesson is easy and impresses administrators. Oh, one year after the lesson I put all the coke products in a bag in a cupboard and the generic coke can leaked---many months later I found the moldy mess!!! So I put a hole in bottom of the other cans and emptied them so that wouldn't happen again!! Jan Ringstmeyer in SD 10/08 SHIRTS: I like to use the kiddos shirts as examples of theme and variation. I have a plain white t-shirt that I display and then have several students come up to the front of the class. We compare and contrast the shirts they are wearing. The white t-shirt being the theme and the students’ shirts as the variation. If your school has school uniforms, this might not work for you. We have uniforms here but it is a polo style shirt of any color, no logos. Then I usually then play a simple example on the piano such as Hot Cross Buns or another easily recognizable melody and vary it in several ways. I like using the visual examples and the aural examples before we dive in to a more intense listening lesson. American Salute is a personal favorite with all the fabulous dynamics and how every family of the orchestra at some point carries the melody. --- Todd in Santa Fe
---------------------------------
10/08 LISTENING: Use American Salute by Morton Gould. Theme is When Johnny Comes Marching Home. We also talk about T&V in things like Theme - Potato - Variations - baked, mashed, fried, etc. lots of possibilities --- Jayne in MI
---------------------------------------------
10/08 HALLOWEEN: My favorite example of Theme and Variations is Halloween costumes. Yourself, plain and ordinary, then dressed up in one disguise or another. Same you, inside, much harder to recognize. I'm sure I've posted this before, probably in the archives or idea bank.--- Louise Eddington
--------------------------------------
10/08 For 5th grade I would use Copland's Appalachian Spring - if you have the Share the Music series, there is a nice listening map that shows each variation in a shaker type of house and village. --- RaeAnna Goss
----------------------------------------
10/08 ART CONNECTION: I use [the song] Simple Gifts and the T/V on it from Appalachian Spring. We sing Simple Gifts, then we count the variations and discuss them - what the composer varied (instruments, tempo, key, etc.), what the effect of the variation was, etc. There's a listening map in the book, but I don't tell them about it until after we've been through it once.
For an Art connection, get a hold of prints of a few of Monet's Haystacks paintings. Theme: Haystacks. Variations: Different seasons, different lighting, seen from the other side, etc.
Another idea is to have a student go to the door and walk to a different location in the room along the straightest path. Next have the student return to the door and this time find a different way to move, e.g. hopping, skipping, etc., along the path. Then have the same or another student take the longest most complicated path to get to a given point in the classroom, e.g. in and out of desks, over chairs (with safety instructions, of course,) and any other exciting and inventive way that they can move. My students have come up with some pretty cool ideas, and there is always loads of piqued interest as to who will go next and how creative that person will be. My kids love these lessons and seem to grasp the idea of theme and variation pretty quickly, as well as having a lot of fun and being fully engaged as they plan out they will move through the classroom. We usually do a compare and contrast after that. --- JoAnne Kucerak
------------------------------------------------------------
10/08 LISTENING: I like Charles Ives' "Variations on America" as a musical example of T and V form. - Louise Eddington, Muncie, Indiana E. Luane Campbell Elementary Music Instructor & Talented and Gifted intervention specialist Mt. Gilead Schools, Ohio
-----------------------------------
02/03 QUILTS are another example of variations on a theme. All quilts have basic similarities, but can vary in many ways (size, pattern, colors, etc). Fabric quilts could be brought in, or students could illustrate their own variation on a quilt. Lots of possibilities for integration with art, social studies..........There is also a great lesson in Music Teacher's Almanac using the idea of fish as a theme (listening to "The Trout") and having students draw variations of fish.
-------------------
02/03 T-SHIRTS: Five outlines of T-shirts drawn on board with numbers 1-5 over the drawing
? Do these all look alike?
Let's change number 2 in one way - how can we make it a little different? etc.,
--------------------------
02/03 WIGS: On theme and variations, do you have wigs? Use the wigs to show them that, even though you're the same person, there's something that's just a little different, even though the kids recognize you as the same person. I use that analogy a lot with theme and variations. Then, hvae the kids act out the theme of whatever selection you plan to do. Divide into groups. One group takes the theme, one Variation One, and so on. They have to freeze unless their section is up. They get about 10-15 minutes to plan their moves before performing it. That can pretty well take up one whole class time!
----------------------
02/03 I have a clothesline strung across a corner of the room, clothespins and a basket with various colored tee shirts (made from laminated paper each with different patterns). We hang them up as we detect each variation. I also use the clothes idea for other forms i.e. plain tee shirts have an "A" on them, "jeans" have a "B" on them, shorts have a "C" on them. This works great for rondo form and other forms. Kids love it. (Many have not handled a clothepin before!)
--------------------
01/03 I start with several versions of The Three Liitle Pigs and The Bears then we go on to listen to Mozarts Variations of Twinkle Twinkle and end with Variations of America. With familes of Orchestra- I always show a filmstrip or video of the orchestra then we go on to study each section in detail separtely. MacMillian has a good listening selection called Montage of the Orchestra in the 5th grade book I think.
Contributed by Dee Truelove
--------------------
01/03 CHRISTMAS TREE: use [this] concept for teaching variations visually. The plain pine tree is the theme and as each type of decoration is added, they become the variations. I have also used t-shirts as another very visual, very basic variation idea. Bring two children up to the front of the room and compare their t-shirts: what's the same? what's different? Then bring up a third child and so on.
I use this same idea of what they are wearing when I teach ABA form, only I try to use completely different kinds of clothing, like "A", child with long pants and a shirt, "B", child with a dress, and "A" another child with long pants and a shirt.
This is a really easy way to make a "star" out of a child who never gets any other positive recognition.
Contributed by Rita
-------------------
01/03 CLOTHES: I choose 2 different clothing styles from the class, say jeans and no-jeans to represent section A and B and at other times to represent C or so on for a Rondo or A Variant. Then when they line I to leave I ask all the section A to go first then section B. It would vary according to the form that I am teaching. I haven't done a round like that, it would get really confusing to line up:)
Contributed by Barbara W.
----------------------
LISTENING: I do Copland in November. We sing 'Simple Gifts', listen to the excerpt from "Appalachian Spring" and study theme and variations.
Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Schubert Symphony #2 Rondo
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************TONE COLOR, TEXTURE
HOMEMADE PERCUSSION: http://www.rhythmweb.com/homemade/SOUND EXPERIMENTS: http://www.galaxy.net/~k12/sound/index.shtml
06/07 When I talk about texture I use a weaving board- just a cardboard with "teeth" in either end. I stretch one thin piece of yarn on the board and play a solo instrument sample, I keep adding different colors and thicknesses of yarn as the texture gets thicker --until I have a "woven" yarn sample of texture that has grown with the music. -- Dianne Park President, San Diego American Orff Schulwerk Association, Visit our SDAOSA website at
--------------------------
01/07 I first label 8 white pieces of paper 1, 2, 3, etc. Then each group of 4 gets a set of construction paper. Some teams get 4 papers, some get 5, 6, 7, or 8. Then they come up and put their color across under the # cards. So like the team that has 4 papers can only pick 4 #s to put it under. The numbers are taped on the wall horizontally and the color cards go horizontally as well. So then there are 5 lines of colored cards. When you read the grid vertically, there are some #s that have all 5 groups playing, some #s with 2 groups playing, etc. They must play an 8 beat pattern. On the line with only 2 groups playing ,we listen for the thin texture. On the # with more groups playing, the texture is thicker. -- Heather Augustine
--------------------------------
06/05 Tone Color Unit (Orchestra Sounds)
I always emphasize the sound producers, sound starters and sound amplifiers for each family. After a few tries the students become very good music detectives and can identify each of these for a variety of instruments. For example: guitar: producer=string, starter=plucking, amplifier=hollow body. I treat this whole unit more like a physics unit with lots of experiments. I use a slinky held parallel to the floor by two students and then gently push one end to show how sound waves travel through the air and through their recorder or wind instrument. We experiment with many objects to explore size pitch relationship with different lengths of 2X4s, boomwhackers, glasses or bottles filled with water and even playing a recorder while submerging the end under water and having water fill up from the bottom of the recorder.
The children discover that when water goes into the recorder it fills it up and makes it smaller which produces a higher sound.
Another experiment we try to explore vibration we use a tuning fork and listen after it is struck.
To see vibration in action take slat or uncooked rice and place it on a thin skinned drum or tambourine. then place it near the speaker of your stereo and play the music loudly. You will see the salt or rice dance on the skin of the drum. You can also play a woodblock closely to the drumhead and it will work also. If you want, you can make a drum from a balloon stretched over a small coffee can.
There are so many cool experiments to try with vibration you could do several different ones each year.
Below are a few object lessons I use to help students understand how sound is produced in the symphony orchestra. After each exploration, we have students demonstrate on their real violin, trumpet, clarinet, flute or snare drum and we listen to recordings of these instruments in an orchestral work as well as go on a field trip to the local Symphony Orchestra for a concert.
For string family: I have 30 3 foot lengths of kite string. Students wind a bit of string around their pointer finger and stick that finger next to or in their ear. The other end goes on the floor under their foot. They use the other hand to pluck the string. Then they experiment with shortening the string by placing more string under their foot. They get all the way down to about 6 inches of string being plucked and discover that the shorter the string the higher the sound. I do this with grade 2 and again in grade 4.
For the woodwind family: For no reed (open hole) I use soda bottles and they blow across them like a flute. We then fill the bottle with water and blow across the mouth of the bottle. Then we dump some water out and blow again. What happened? (The pitch got lower). Sometimes I demonstrate this and sometimes we all go outside with our water bottles and pour the water on the grass as we experiment with pitch. For single reed: I pass out small pieces of ditto paper about the size of a post it note. They grasp it tightly between their fingers and hold the edge of the paper (parallel to the floor) close to their lips and then blow. It makes a high screeching sound, which they love much like a blade of grass.
For double reed: I also pass out straws and borrow the scissors caddies with scissors from the art teacher. Each student has a straw and scissors. Flatten one end of the straw by pinching it between your fingers. When it is flat, cut a point on the end of the straw shaped like this ^ Gently place it between your lips and by gently pressing down and breathing firmly into the straw, they will produce a double reed sound much like the inside of a party horn. Now take the straw away from your mouth and cut it to make a shorter straw. Now play your homemade oboe. Is it a higher or lower pitch? (higher)
For the Brass family: I use a wrapping paper tube or an empty laminating paper tube and blow into it which gets no sound. Then I buzz my lips into it and it makes a great fog horn sound. I ask the students what I did to make the sound. They guess buzzing my lips. Then they try it. You can use paper towel tubes, toilet paper tubes, old garden hose, boomwhackers or give each child a 4 x 6 index card, have them roll it into a tube and buzz into that. They love it and get the idea of buzzing. I made a French horn from about three feet of garden hose and the brass threader that you screw into the faucet make a great mouthpiece. Then attach a funnel to the other end and you have your French horn. I play taps on it for the students. I give each student a balloon and they inflate it but don't tie it off. Then by pinching the open end with both hands and changing the tightness of looseness of it the air escapes the balloon and makes low and high pitches and squeals according to how tightly or loosely you stretch the open end. This shows the students about buzzing your lips tightly or loosely to get high and low pitches. The students just love this unit and are experimenting around home with sounds. They also create their own homemade instruments with guidelines given as an assignment. I emphasize classroom instruments and vocal tone colors with my first graders. Second graders explore the percussion family and strings. Third graders explore the wind instruments, woodwind and brass. The fourth grade reviews all four families and explores keyboard instruments as well. The fifth grade reviews vocal tone colors as well as the symphonic families and explores the lesser know instruments like the bass clarinet, variety of trumpets, saxes and multicultural instruments in each family. -- Angela Reisler, NBCT Jacobsville Ele. Pasadena , MD
------------------------------------------------
When I intergrate with K or 1st grade for colors, I work on tone color. The kids are used to having the percussion instruments organized by metal sounds, wood sounds, and drums. We might use graphic notation with shapes, or ta-s and ti-s written in different color markers to create a composition of color. If you start with the primary colors for the major sound groups, you can use combinations to create the secondary colors, and experiment with timbre in the process.
-----------
Eric Carle's I See a Song works well. It's a wordless book in which a violinist picks up his violin and begins to play. Out come colors and fancy patterns that change with each page. At the end he stops playing and his once
colorless body is covered in bright colored patterns. I play violin music while I'm showing the book. Talk about how even though music's invisible, it can make you imagine things while you're listening. Then give the kids big paper and crayons and let them make their own designs while they listen.
-----------
I think one of the quickest ways to give students an audio impression of differences in textures is to use rhythm instruments (maracas, sticks, etc.,) Play a 1-2 bar rhythm together, separately then together. Have them briefly speak of the impression each instrument gave. HOW it sounded different. Then listen to combined textures (maracas with triangles, etc.,)
THEN transfer this exercise to the voice. Sing a phrase together, separately, in different combinations, etc.,
THEN listen to some music which has contrasting tone colors. (suggestions?)
-----------
Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Some of my favorite "sure-fire" teaching ideas had to do with books and music. Every year I had a lesson with the Kindergarten class that dealt with tone color. I used the book Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle along with classroom instruments (rhythm instruments) and a tape recorder. I would begin the class by naming different animals and asking the students to make the corresponding animal sounds. I would ask them why each animal sounds different, and what would happen if every animal sounds the same? I would then read the book out loud and ask the class to think of animal sounds in their heads, but not to say them out loud the first time through.
Then I re-read the book and after each animal the entire class could make whatever animal sound they thought sounded good. The third time I read the book, I would tape record the class making the animal noises and then play it back for them - they loved that! Finally, I would list the animals on the board (more for my own sake than for theirs since some students still couldn't read them) and ask students to pick out rhythm instruments that might sound good in place of each individual animal sound.
Everyone would then get an instrument and I would read the book one last time with the students playing the instruments in place of the animal sounds. They really enjoy this lesson and they are quick at identifying differences in tone color.
-----------
My students attend the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra performances 3 times a year. Last year they performed a Bach piece (I can't remember exactly, but if your interested I will look it up) written for Organ and transcribed for Orchestra. They performed both arrangements! In the discussion on these before the concert the students wrote down colors that came to their minds during the organ. On the other half of the paper they wrote colors during The Orchestra arrangement. We compared the Colors for example, many students said black or gray for the organ, but then said yellow or pinks for the Orchestra. Remember it's the same song! Each instrument had it's own "color" -That was an intro to tone colors.
I do this with the keyboards in the room as students "pick out" the "cool sounds" there is a column for color association. I'm using CA in the study quide for the symphony concerts since the theme is "Music is Sound Science" and focuses on sound production.
------------------------
There is an article in JRME 1987, Vol 35, No. 2 Pages 78-91 describing Robert Cutuetta's study of CA. There is synesthesia, chromesthesia and color association. You might be interested in reading this.
-----------
See *Listening Ideas for a lesson in texture.
-----------
I separated girls/boys and then put the entire class together Basically what we were doing was putting the students' natural speaking voices in a range from highest to lowest. Each student had to say the sentence "Today is Monday, October 2" or whatever the date really was that day. If the girls were in front of the class, then the boys had to try to put them in order. Each girl would say it as the boys compared the sound of each girls' voice. Once they thought they had them in line properly, each girl would say the sentence in the row and we (hopefully) had a high to low formation.
Then the boys changed places with the girls and the girls had to put the boys in order. Once the boys were in order, then we tried putting the class in order.
During this time, some good observations were made about the sound of voices, changing voices, etc. and not all of it came from me! This also took two 45 minute classes. We followed up these classes with Bobby McFerrin/Manana, Iguana from the 5th grade Share the Music or Over My Head and subsequent listening lesson from the 6th grade STM (I think that's where it is...could be 4th grade). add my note: Tone color (sent to plank rd)
BACK to Form topics
**********************************************ONLINE, INTERACTIVE
12/09 SOFTWARE: TCHAIKOVSKY, MOZART, VIVALDI music games: http://www.interactiveclassics.com/features.htm“All our games are geared toward both younger and older children. The age range is 4 to 10, but our customer feedback indicates that children older than 10, as well as adults, enjoy the games equally well. The Nutcracker and Magic Flute are single player games, Alice in Vivaldi's Four seasons is a multi player game where up to 25 players can have their individual games happen simultaneously. Every game, in addition to primary gaming elements, features interactive encyclopedias of musical instruments (here is an example: http://www.kidsmozart.com/learn-instruments.html), listening rooms (http://www.kidsmozart.com/listen-to-mozart.html), composer biographies (http://www.kidsmozart.com/mozart-bio.html) and many other extras.
BACK to Form topics
*********************************************
GENERAL FORM IDEAS
11/13 FORM: My students LOVE the song "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz. I get them to do a pictograph of the form -- i.e., we will draw hands on the part that says "I throw my hands up in the air", a rock for "rock this club", etc. -- and then they get to suggest actions to go with each part, and we do body percussion to it. I've used this with 1st graders on up. ---- Nikki Febinger--------------------
12/09 GAME - MUSIC JEOPARDY: Try downloading it from here first: http://www.box.net/shared/rz4gr0obrm This link should send you to my PPT download folder. --- Brian Weese
---------------------------------
12/09 DICE I have a big set of two foam dice (that I never have really used...) – I would say about two inches that were blank and I drew music notes on them with a sharpie. I also have a set of small dice-sized blank cubes that came with stickers to put whatever you wanted on them for whatever game you needed. You can see the small blank cubes here:
DICEhttp://teacherstrunkonlinecatalog.com/blank_dice_with_stickers-p-40752.html A set of four blank dice made out of whiteboard stuff - magnets will stick to them and you can also write on them with dry erase markers.
DICEHere is where you can get the natural wood ones (100 in a set): http://tinyurl.com/ld3xqj
http://teacherstrunkonlinecatalog.com/magnetic_writeon_wipeoff_dice_set_of_4
_small_dice_in_assorted_colors-p-155097.html
I used foam (6 inch thick) to make my giant "Music Walk" dice. Make a giant foam dice and draw symbols that you want to review with your little people on the outside. Make a set of cheap paper plates with same symbols on them - one plate for each student. Place in circle on floor. Play music, have students walk around the circle. Stop music - kids stop on a plate. Roll the giant die. What ever comes up, those kids are out (or get to do the happy dance, or whatever you want). It is a nice quick review. --- Ann Wells
12/09 BRIAN’S HOMEMADE DICE GAME - Random Song: I made 10-12 pairs of dice, 1 has note values (quarter note, half note, etc) and 1 had note names (B, A, G, etc). I got a 1x1 peioce of wood at Home Depot and had them cut it into 1' cubes for me. I painted them white and drew on the notes and note values. I used them to create "random" songs for my recorder players. I had several different sets for different lessons, grade levels, etc. The basic rules: I put the kids in teams of 2 or 3. They rolled their dice and wrote that note value with that note name in the measure. They kept going until 4 measures (or 8 or whatever) was filled up. If the note value didn't fit into the "current" measure they were rolling for, they had to reroll until they got a result that fit. The last note had to be the tonic of the key (they could take the value rolled and just make the note a "G". I usually had some pattern for the measures, like AABA or ABAC or ABCD or whatever. If they followed AABA for a 4 measure song (like "Hot Cross Buns"), measure 1, 2 and 4 where exactly the same and 3 was different (except for the last tonic note). That provided a little consistency to their random song. Then we played our songs.
DICE: I think the teacher store ones are made out of the same plastic that regular dice are made of. I actually made my Music Yahtzee dice out of small (3/4") wooden cubes I bought at the craft store. I just drew the notes on with an extra-fine Sharpie. I think if I were making Yahtzee for elementary age students I would try and get smaller cubes - trying to roll five of the 3/4" ones would be tough for little hands. If you are playing a game that uses less dice, though, the 3/4" ones are nice. (Yahtzee idea/score card comes from here: 12/09 http://laytonmusic.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/musical-yahtzee/) ---- Cara Swenson
12/09 They are wooden. They come in natural wood color or assorted colors (e.g red, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, white, brown, black). They have 1 inch squares and I think 1/2 inch squares. ---- Tami Mangusso
-----------------------------------------
BALLOONS: In the past I have taught an AB form song with balloons; carry them in the A section, bounce them around in the B section. (You are "Out" for the next cycle of AB if you let the balloon touch the floor in the B section.) I have also used them for vocal stretching: inviting children to follow the balloon with their voices, up, down, around, bouncing, pinging, etc. it's a very free-form game. Then we simply dance to some high-energy music with the balloons, passing them around to each other, with again the added challenge of never letting the balloons touch the floor.
FORM LESSON:
Materials needed: several boxes of different simple rhythm instruments several sets of laminated form cards: in each set include about 4 each of A, B, and C, plus a "coda" card if you want. You need one set of cards for each box of instruments.
Note: I pick two students to do it with me in front of the class first before I assign anything.
1. Put students in groups of 3. This can get noisy, so I do this outside, weather permitting. (They love going outside!!) Each student in each group is assigned a letter: A, B, or C. You can even make little A, B, C stickers to stick on the students shirts. I usually assign student A as team captain to be in charge of their team's materials and finalize team decisions.
2. Give each group a little box of instruments (nothing they're likely to fight over though). I use those rubbermaid boxes that are a little bit bigger than a shoe box. Each group also gets a stack of laminated cards with letters - several each of As, Bs, and Cs. You could even throw in a "coda" card so they can make up an ending.
3. First they arrange the letters any way they want on the floor/ground/table or wherever they are. (The coda has to go at the end of course.)
4. Each child picks an instrument and makes up something short and simple to play each time his letter occurs in the form. They can all play together at the end or agree on something special to do for the ending.
5. When they finish, they can make up another form, pick a different instrument and do it again!
Note: If you see a particular group doing well, take time at the end of class to let them perform their piece for the class. I suggest demonstrating the entire process before letting them loose. Monitor them well once you let them loose. It seems there are always one or two students in each class that take this as an opportunity to simply bang on instruments as soon as they sit down with their group. I tell them if I catch them doing this, they're OUT and won't be able to participate that day. I make them sit on a bench or the short patio wall and watch the others. And I give them a U (unsatisfactory) in my grade book for conduct AND participation that day. Most students are very responsible and enjoy the activity. You'll have to decide if your group can handle this much freedom. I've had a couple of 5th grade classes that probably could not handle this activity. -- Meredith Harley Inserra
-------------------------------
VIDEO: Marsalis on Music series, Listening for Clues: Wynton on Form (1995), Find it on amazon. -- Dale Mize
------------------------
06/05 PAPER CHAIN: I hit upon the idea of using a paper chain to talk about how music has form. I compared each section of the music to a link in the chain. Then, I took the links apart. We listened and decided, with some guidance from me, where the first section ended, and labeled that piece of paper "A".
Then, I fastened the ends together and turned it back into a link. I asked if the music had ended when I had stopped it at the end of the A section, and they all said "no." I put another paper segment on the board, and we listened some more, with me stopping the music at the end of the next section. I asked whether that was the same or different from A.
Almost everyone from K-6 could tell me it was the same. I asked, "If it's the same as the A section, does it get a new name or does it keep its old name?" They told me to name it the same. I fastened that link to the other A link.
With the younger ones, I picked a student each time to hold the link or links while we listened to the next section. We did that for each section until we had a chain with four links.
After we had the 4-link chain, I asked if there was anymore music to which to listen, and they told me "no." Then I said our pattern was complete and told them that they had analyzed the form of the SSB. I told them we could do that for any piece of music, no matter how long or short. It seemed to make sense to them. I guess it was having that visual of the links in a chain. -- Monica Gelinas
---------------------------
05/21 IT'S LIKE WRITING! With my older kids- I compare form in music to writing. For instance notes are like letters, phrases are sentences, sections are like paragraphs, or chapters, the whole thing together makes up a song, or if we were writing a story! I think this really helps them to understand what it is, and WHY it's important!!
----------------
05/21 RAISE YOUR HANDS! I always start by identifying the A section with the kids...I have them raise
their hands when they hear it, sing it with me, count the number of times they
hear it, stand up, lie down, freeze in a statue...anything to focus their
listening in a fun way. Sometimes, I create a "listening map" of sorts by
dividing a piece of paper into however many sections there are in the piece.
Once we've identified the A section, we write a small letter A in the sections
where it "shows up." Then the kids draw a design (I ask them to choose one
that can be duplicated fairly easily) in each of the A sections.
The one thing I do differently is I play the selection more than twice for
them...for some kids, that's just not enough times.
--------------
05/21 LAMINATED COLOR CARDS: One form activity I started using a few weeks ago that really worked involved making some manipulatives. A friend gave me the idea of assembling packets of laminated, colored note cards. I put a pink, blue, green, and black card in each baggie. I have so far used them in several ways:
1 I had the words for "It Don't Mean a Thing...." on chart paper, with words to follow--written out in a different color for each section (idea from "See Kids Listen"). Kids held up cards which corresponded to word colors as they heard the song--which, of course, didn't exactly match the words. Students can show beat, melodic direction, etc.
2 Write out melodic/rhythmic phrases on staff paper by color---students use cards to demonstrate identification of the phrase--whether in vocal or instrumental music.
These are just a few ways I have used them. They have worked out with different ages, and have been very useful for informal assessment as well.
-----
05/21 CHART THE FORM - For little guys, I recommend playing "Goin' to the Zoo" by Peter, Paul, and Mary fro their "Peter, Paul, and Mommy" album. Have them clap the refrain and act out the animals from their seats. You can chart the form. Next, literally "act" the song with a "car" made out of chairs in the center of the room and animals in each corner. The family "travels" to the next cage during each refrain. They love this, and they really understand the form of the piece.
-
Clarification of above:
1) Each student receives a baggie of laminated index cards. For now I have 4 different colors in each so I am prepared for a couple of different lessons.
2) I made a chart sized version of the words/form of "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"--a great Duke Ellington piece which is available in the MacMillan series). I wrote the first line in blue and the "Doo wah" section in red. That is the A section. I did the "It makes no difference" section in green--the B. I had students read the words first, showing me the color of the words. I then explained that in each repetition of the song the first blue and red lines would be repeated. We then listened to the song, holding up the cards as they heard each section. Of course--due to the scat singing and instruments--the words did not precisely match. However, the words helped them focus on the sections.
Have done a similar lesson with "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, using notated phrase melodies.
3) I wrote out a round on chart staff paper. Phrase 1 in black, 2 in green, 3 in red, 4 in blue. We held up the cards while learning to sing each phrase--showing melodic direction while they echoed me. I then sang each phrase in solfeg--and asked them to show me the color of the phrase which they heard.
4 Use colored sticky dots as note heads on chart staff paper. Ex. Make E black, G green, A red, B blue. Have them show you pitch patterns from each melodic phrase. We were doing "Blue Eggs over Easy" from Music K-8.
----------------
05/21 BUILDING BLOCKS: I refer to it a lot on pieces they are learning to sing or play. This way they get accustomed to hearing the terminology and seeing how music is designed. They use it as blocks to build with or even as an aid to organization and memorization rather than a puzzle to decipher. We design our own forms for pieces. We change the form on pieces. And I use LOTS of visual cues. I think that having them analyze just from listening is a far more advanced skill that will grow as they develop, but maybe not until middle school or beyond.
----------------
COLOR THE SHAPE: After the students know what Introduction, A, B, C, Bridge, and Coda mean (or as an introduction to Form), I give them a worksheet that I have created. It is a listening lesson using several of the well- known pieces of music, such as William Tell, Fur Elise, Can Can, etc. Each piece of music has been analyzed on the paper in order with A, A, B, B or whatever all written out, with each A, B, Intro, or sketch of a bridge enclosed in a rectangle. Each student chooses 6 crayons. At the top of the page are 6 rectangles with one section name (A, B, Coda, etc. ) inside each rectangle. The student colors each rectangle a different color. For example, one student's Intros might be red and his A sections blue. Then after each student has decided on a color code, you start playing the music, with the instruction that they can't color in the rectangle until that section is being played; then they have to wait until they hear the next section before they color it in. It keeps them
focused on hearing the form changes, not to mention all the fumbling around with the crayons really keeps them occupied!!
----------------------
QUILTS: When I started having students use QUILT journals (I took away the S, one of your ideas) I related it to a real quilt. I laid down a quilt in front of them and asked if they squares were organized or unorganized. They recognized they were placed in a diamond pattern. We also talked about how the colors in each of the squares related to one another. I then showed them another quilt that was made from t-shirt panels from track invitationals. I asked if they saw any similarities between any of the squares. Eventually, they we able to come up with the theme. Finally I asked them if we were to make a music quilt what would be in it. Most of the things they told me were visual, but they did a good job. We then briefly talked about the elements of music and I used the "Listening Journal" supplied by someone in the list. They have been doing journals for about 8 weeks now. We spend 10 minutes a week on them. We have listened to many different styles of music including classical, Broadway tunes, and jazz. (Mostly classical) I plan to have the students listen to popular Christmas melodies in Dec. We can discussed different styles of presenting a single melody.
BACK to Form topics
11/13 FORM: My students LOVE the song "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz. I get them to do a pictograph of the form -- i.e., we will draw hands on the part that says "I throw my hands up in the air", a rock for "rock this club", etc. -- and then they get to suggest actions to go with each part, and we do body percussion to it. I've used this with 1st graders on up. ---- Nikki Febinger--------------------
12/09 GAME - MUSIC JEOPARDY: Try downloading it from here first: http://www.box.net/shared/rz4gr0obrm This link should send you to my PPT download folder. --- Brian Weese
---------------------------------
12/09 DICE I have a big set of two foam dice (that I never have really used...) – I would say about two inches that were blank and I drew music notes on them with a sharpie. I also have a set of small dice-sized blank cubes that came with stickers to put whatever you wanted on them for whatever game you needed. You can see the small blank cubes here:
DICEhttp://teacherstrunkonlinecatalog.com/blank_dice_with_stickers-p-40752.html A set of four blank dice made out of whiteboard stuff - magnets will stick to them and you can also write on them with dry erase markers.
DICEHere is where you can get the natural wood ones (100 in a set): http://tinyurl.com/ld3xqj
http://teacherstrunkonlinecatalog.com/magnetic_writeon_wipeoff_dice_set_of_4
_small_dice_in_assorted_colors-p-155097.html
I used foam (6 inch thick) to make my giant "Music Walk" dice. Make a giant foam dice and draw symbols that you want to review with your little people on the outside. Make a set of cheap paper plates with same symbols on them - one plate for each student. Place in circle on floor. Play music, have students walk around the circle. Stop music - kids stop on a plate. Roll the giant die. What ever comes up, those kids are out (or get to do the happy dance, or whatever you want). It is a nice quick review. --- Ann Wells
12/09 BRIAN’S HOMEMADE DICE GAME - Random Song: I made 10-12 pairs of dice, 1 has note values (quarter note, half note, etc) and 1 had note names (B, A, G, etc). I got a 1x1 peioce of wood at Home Depot and had them cut it into 1' cubes for me. I painted them white and drew on the notes and note values. I used them to create "random" songs for my recorder players. I had several different sets for different lessons, grade levels, etc. The basic rules: I put the kids in teams of 2 or 3. They rolled their dice and wrote that note value with that note name in the measure. They kept going until 4 measures (or 8 or whatever) was filled up. If the note value didn't fit into the "current" measure they were rolling for, they had to reroll until they got a result that fit. The last note had to be the tonic of the key (they could take the value rolled and just make the note a "G". I usually had some pattern for the measures, like AABA or ABAC or ABCD or whatever. If they followed AABA for a 4 measure song (like "Hot Cross Buns"), measure 1, 2 and 4 where exactly the same and 3 was different (except for the last tonic note). That provided a little consistency to their random song. Then we played our songs.
DICE: I think the teacher store ones are made out of the same plastic that regular dice are made of. I actually made my Music Yahtzee dice out of small (3/4") wooden cubes I bought at the craft store. I just drew the notes on with an extra-fine Sharpie. I think if I were making Yahtzee for elementary age students I would try and get smaller cubes - trying to roll five of the 3/4" ones would be tough for little hands. If you are playing a game that uses less dice, though, the 3/4" ones are nice. (Yahtzee idea/score card comes from here: 12/09 http://laytonmusic.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/musical-yahtzee/) ---- Cara Swenson
12/09 They are wooden. They come in natural wood color or assorted colors (e.g red, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple, white, brown, black). They have 1 inch squares and I think 1/2 inch squares. ---- Tami Mangusso
-----------------------------------------
BALLOONS: In the past I have taught an AB form song with balloons; carry them in the A section, bounce them around in the B section. (You are "Out" for the next cycle of AB if you let the balloon touch the floor in the B section.) I have also used them for vocal stretching: inviting children to follow the balloon with their voices, up, down, around, bouncing, pinging, etc. it's a very free-form game. Then we simply dance to some high-energy music with the balloons, passing them around to each other, with again the added challenge of never letting the balloons touch the floor.
FORM LESSON:
Materials needed: several boxes of different simple rhythm instruments several sets of laminated form cards: in each set include about 4 each of A, B, and C, plus a "coda" card if you want. You need one set of cards for each box of instruments.
Note: I pick two students to do it with me in front of the class first before I assign anything.
1. Put students in groups of 3. This can get noisy, so I do this outside, weather permitting. (They love going outside!!) Each student in each group is assigned a letter: A, B, or C. You can even make little A, B, C stickers to stick on the students shirts. I usually assign student A as team captain to be in charge of their team's materials and finalize team decisions.
2. Give each group a little box of instruments (nothing they're likely to fight over though). I use those rubbermaid boxes that are a little bit bigger than a shoe box. Each group also gets a stack of laminated cards with letters - several each of As, Bs, and Cs. You could even throw in a "coda" card so they can make up an ending.
3. First they arrange the letters any way they want on the floor/ground/table or wherever they are. (The coda has to go at the end of course.)
4. Each child picks an instrument and makes up something short and simple to play each time his letter occurs in the form. They can all play together at the end or agree on something special to do for the ending.
5. When they finish, they can make up another form, pick a different instrument and do it again!
Note: If you see a particular group doing well, take time at the end of class to let them perform their piece for the class. I suggest demonstrating the entire process before letting them loose. Monitor them well once you let them loose. It seems there are always one or two students in each class that take this as an opportunity to simply bang on instruments as soon as they sit down with their group. I tell them if I catch them doing this, they're OUT and won't be able to participate that day. I make them sit on a bench or the short patio wall and watch the others. And I give them a U (unsatisfactory) in my grade book for conduct AND participation that day. Most students are very responsible and enjoy the activity. You'll have to decide if your group can handle this much freedom. I've had a couple of 5th grade classes that probably could not handle this activity. -- Meredith Harley Inserra
-------------------------------
VIDEO: Marsalis on Music series, Listening for Clues: Wynton on Form (1995), Find it on amazon. -- Dale Mize
------------------------
06/05 PAPER CHAIN: I hit upon the idea of using a paper chain to talk about how music has form. I compared each section of the music to a link in the chain. Then, I took the links apart. We listened and decided, with some guidance from me, where the first section ended, and labeled that piece of paper "A".
Then, I fastened the ends together and turned it back into a link. I asked if the music had ended when I had stopped it at the end of the A section, and they all said "no." I put another paper segment on the board, and we listened some more, with me stopping the music at the end of the next section. I asked whether that was the same or different from A.
Almost everyone from K-6 could tell me it was the same. I asked, "If it's the same as the A section, does it get a new name or does it keep its old name?" They told me to name it the same. I fastened that link to the other A link.
With the younger ones, I picked a student each time to hold the link or links while we listened to the next section. We did that for each section until we had a chain with four links.
After we had the 4-link chain, I asked if there was anymore music to which to listen, and they told me "no." Then I said our pattern was complete and told them that they had analyzed the form of the SSB. I told them we could do that for any piece of music, no matter how long or short. It seemed to make sense to them. I guess it was having that visual of the links in a chain. -- Monica Gelinas
---------------------------
05/21 IT'S LIKE WRITING! With my older kids- I compare form in music to writing. For instance notes are like letters, phrases are sentences, sections are like paragraphs, or chapters, the whole thing together makes up a song, or if we were writing a story! I think this really helps them to understand what it is, and WHY it's important!!
----------------
05/21 RAISE YOUR HANDS! I always start by identifying the A section with the kids...I have them raise
their hands when they hear it, sing it with me, count the number of times they
hear it, stand up, lie down, freeze in a statue...anything to focus their
listening in a fun way. Sometimes, I create a "listening map" of sorts by
dividing a piece of paper into however many sections there are in the piece.
Once we've identified the A section, we write a small letter A in the sections
where it "shows up." Then the kids draw a design (I ask them to choose one
that can be duplicated fairly easily) in each of the A sections.
The one thing I do differently is I play the selection more than twice for
them...for some kids, that's just not enough times.
--------------
05/21 LAMINATED COLOR CARDS: One form activity I started using a few weeks ago that really worked involved making some manipulatives. A friend gave me the idea of assembling packets of laminated, colored note cards. I put a pink, blue, green, and black card in each baggie. I have so far used them in several ways:
1 I had the words for "It Don't Mean a Thing...." on chart paper, with words to follow--written out in a different color for each section (idea from "See Kids Listen"). Kids held up cards which corresponded to word colors as they heard the song--which, of course, didn't exactly match the words. Students can show beat, melodic direction, etc.
2 Write out melodic/rhythmic phrases on staff paper by color---students use cards to demonstrate identification of the phrase--whether in vocal or instrumental music.
These are just a few ways I have used them. They have worked out with different ages, and have been very useful for informal assessment as well.
-----
05/21 CHART THE FORM - For little guys, I recommend playing "Goin' to the Zoo" by Peter, Paul, and Mary fro their "Peter, Paul, and Mommy" album. Have them clap the refrain and act out the animals from their seats. You can chart the form. Next, literally "act" the song with a "car" made out of chairs in the center of the room and animals in each corner. The family "travels" to the next cage during each refrain. They love this, and they really understand the form of the piece.
-
Clarification of above:
1) Each student receives a baggie of laminated index cards. For now I have 4 different colors in each so I am prepared for a couple of different lessons.
2) I made a chart sized version of the words/form of "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"--a great Duke Ellington piece which is available in the MacMillan series). I wrote the first line in blue and the "Doo wah" section in red. That is the A section. I did the "It makes no difference" section in green--the B. I had students read the words first, showing me the color of the words. I then explained that in each repetition of the song the first blue and red lines would be repeated. We then listened to the song, holding up the cards as they heard each section. Of course--due to the scat singing and instruments--the words did not precisely match. However, the words helped them focus on the sections.
Have done a similar lesson with "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, using notated phrase melodies.
3) I wrote out a round on chart staff paper. Phrase 1 in black, 2 in green, 3 in red, 4 in blue. We held up the cards while learning to sing each phrase--showing melodic direction while they echoed me. I then sang each phrase in solfeg--and asked them to show me the color of the phrase which they heard.
4 Use colored sticky dots as note heads on chart staff paper. Ex. Make E black, G green, A red, B blue. Have them show you pitch patterns from each melodic phrase. We were doing "Blue Eggs over Easy" from Music K-8.
----------------
05/21 BUILDING BLOCKS: I refer to it a lot on pieces they are learning to sing or play. This way they get accustomed to hearing the terminology and seeing how music is designed. They use it as blocks to build with or even as an aid to organization and memorization rather than a puzzle to decipher. We design our own forms for pieces. We change the form on pieces. And I use LOTS of visual cues. I think that having them analyze just from listening is a far more advanced skill that will grow as they develop, but maybe not until middle school or beyond.
----------------
COLOR THE SHAPE: After the students know what Introduction, A, B, C, Bridge, and Coda mean (or as an introduction to Form), I give them a worksheet that I have created. It is a listening lesson using several of the well- known pieces of music, such as William Tell, Fur Elise, Can Can, etc. Each piece of music has been analyzed on the paper in order with A, A, B, B or whatever all written out, with each A, B, Intro, or sketch of a bridge enclosed in a rectangle. Each student chooses 6 crayons. At the top of the page are 6 rectangles with one section name (A, B, Coda, etc. ) inside each rectangle. The student colors each rectangle a different color. For example, one student's Intros might be red and his A sections blue. Then after each student has decided on a color code, you start playing the music, with the instruction that they can't color in the rectangle until that section is being played; then they have to wait until they hear the next section before they color it in. It keeps them
focused on hearing the form changes, not to mention all the fumbling around with the crayons really keeps them occupied!!
*********************************************
GAMES
01/16 DON'T BREAK THE ICE: I use for various things (e.g. note identification, rhythm, notes on the staff, classroom instruments identification, and orchestra instruments). I make 1" squares that I tap onto the blocks of ice and then I make my own set of cards. I have also used it to tap rhythms.DON'T SPILL THE BEANS: I use for note value. I made a set of cards with all the known notes. Students roll a dice to determine how many cards to take, then add all the note values up.
JENGA: I use it manly for rhythm reading. I also use it for various other activities other than the Jenga game itself. I use return labels to print the rhythms onto and then paint a couple of coats of Mod Podge onto them. I have several sets of Jenga to cover all the different rhythms (e.g set 1 is ta titi and rest, set two adds the half note, set 3 adds 4 sixteenth notes, set 4 has the eight and two sixteenth notes, etc.)
PLAY DOUGH: students make the notes out of play dough. I buy the small containers. They usually go on sell around Halloween time. The small containers have plenty of play dough to use. Students just have learn to use small amounts instead of a whole glob at one time.
MR. POTATO HEAD: I use it to assess singing voices. I will sing on SML "who has the eyes". The student with the eyes sings back "I have the eyes" and then places it on Mr. Potato.
CANDY LAND: music alphabet and identify the pitches of the treble clef. I made my own cards for this and I glued the letters of the music alphabet onto the board (you can also just write on the board with a permanent marker).
I have made my own version of sequence. One is for the classroom instruments and one for the instruments of the orchestra. You can get these on my website for free (I need to update my website, but it will have to wait until winter break).---- Tami Mangusso
------------------
12/07 GAME: Kids sit in a circle, and each student gets a tennis ball. on the A section, they bounce, catch, and pass the ball (or just pass, whatever fits the music) and on the B section, they roll the ball across the circle. You have to set some ground rules, ie; no leaning forward to reach for balls, no leaving the circle or crawling anywhere to get balls-if the ball wanders off, let it. Kids love this game. The perfect piece to use for it is Norwegian Dance by Grieg. -- Dana Wessel
---------------------------------
I let my kids sit in a circle. Then I give each a letter......2 kids are A, then 1 is B, 2 are A, 1 is C, 2 are A , 1 is D (etc.) Then I teach the A section (a simple, but cool body percussion usually 2 bars). Then I tell the others B,C,D (etc) that when it's their turn they have 2 bars to do ANYTHING they want....rules? They cannot do anything they have seen or heard before during this game.....They can clap, say their names over and over, etc......Then I conduct....point to A, then B, then the next group of A, then C, then the next group a A, etc. Then we label it a rondo (it moved a ROUND the room) and they seem to get it and remember it. -- Elissa Reichstein-Saperstein
---------------------------------
PUPPET SAYS "YOUR TURN". As the children chant the saying, I point the puppet to each child in the circle on the beat. They are patting their laps. When we get to the phrase, "I declare that you are out" that child steps out of the circle and goes to a rhythm instrument area and picks up an instrument and instead of patting their lap, they are keeping the beat with the rhythm sticks. (I like to start with sticks!) ---- Caryn Mears, Kennewick, WA
-----------------------