I’ve got rhythm, I’ve got music . . .

A few weeks ago, I explained how we begin teaching pitch, and the signs we use for those. This week, kindergarten will continue to read, write, and practice singing combinations of sol and mi. First grade has added la.

Sol, mi, and la are the first building blocks of pitch (how high or low a sound is). Our next building blocks are durations (how much time the sound occupies). First, we talk in simple comparative terms: short and long. As an example, consider the children’s song “Rain, Rain.”

Listen to “Rain, Rain”

The children sing this or a similar song, and we discuss which words or syllables have LONG sounds and which are SHORT sounds. We can tap a steady beat with our feet and decide that the long sounds take up one beat, but the short sounds come two on each beat. Then we name the long sound “ta” and the short sound “ti-ti.”

Now, it is time to introduce the new musical symbols: the quarter note (ta) and the eighth note pair (ti-ti).

The quarter note, which we name “ta” for the purposes of clapping and counting rhythm, gets one beat.

One eighth note gets half of one beat. A pair of eighth notes, like the symbol shown above, create two short sounds on one beat. We call this pair “ti-ti” when we clap and count rhythms in class.

We then practice reading these quarter notes and eighth notes in various combinations. One favorite game we play is a multiple choice game: I write several rhythms on the board, then clap one of them. The students try to guess which rhythm I was clapping, then we practice the rhythm together.

Over the next week, ask your students to write some simple rhythms for you using ta and ti-ti, and write some simple rhythms for them. For kindergarteners, these need only be four beats long. For older or more advanced children, you can create longer rhythms, but try to keep them in multiple of four beats (more on this later). Perform them together. Next week’s blog will share new rhythmic symbols for practice.

Lesson Plan: K-1 Music 9-24-2012

Of thee we sing

September’s patriotic song is “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” also known as “America.” The lyrics of this song were written by young seminarian Samuel Francis Smith at the request of Lowell Mason, one of the the early proponents for music education. The melody is actually a 17th-century English tune that we often hear as “God Save the Queen.”

There are several verses, but for September we will focus on the first verse for kindergarten and first graders.

My country, ’tis of thee,

Sweet land of liberty,

Of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died,

Land of the pilgrims’ pride,

From every mountainside

Let freedom ring!

Listen to My Country ‘Tis of Thee (America)

Lesson Plan: K-1 Music 9-17-2012

Getting into music

Many parents ask me, “What can I do to get my child into music?” For many, the most obvious answer is to enroll your child in private lessons. That’s a great idea, and it’s certainly on this list, but there are other options that are just as important to explore and implement.

1.) LISTEN to music.

We all spend so much time in the car these days. Take advantage of this time to listen to some great classical works. Just like introducing a new food, we have to taste the music several times to become accustomed to the sounds and patterns. Pick a CD that includes music from a composer we have been studying. Play it often, and ask your students if they can sing, hum, or whistle parts of it. If you listen to something every day for a week, your child should be able to hum some of the principal themes (the most prominent tunes) of the work.

There is an important component to this activity: YOUR attitude towards the music. If you convey that this music is something distasteful or boring to be  “gotten through” before listening to the “fun stuff,” you do your child’s education a great disservice. Classical music may not be your cup of tea, but the most important thing you can do to encourage your child to love and appreciate music is to share classical music with them with an attitude that conveys a great openness to and appreciation for the great works.

2.) ASK about music class.

When you ask about your child’s day, you might ask them about their various subjects. Don’t forget to ask about their specials! Always ask if their class did PE, Art, Music, or Spanish today. Ask what they learned, and ask them to sing you one of their songs. When students know that you are going to ask about the song of the month, they will make sure to tell you as the months change which new patriotic song they are learning. Ask them to write and perform a rhythm or melody for you, using the rhythms and pitches they’ve learned in class. You can always check the lesson plan I post each week to see that your child is learning the songs and skills we are covering. If you make it a priority to ask about music, they make it a priority to learn it!

3.) ATTEND CONCERTS as a family.

Of course, your child is going to be part of music concerts at Archway, and it is required that they attend. If you want to really pique your child’s interest in music, however, make time to attend concerts, ballets, and operas given by local arts organizations, outside the required concerts at school. The Phoenix Symphony offers a series specifically for families, but that doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself to only that sort of concert. Many of the community colleges, ASU, and local music schools offer concerts that are low-cost, or even free. Worried about behavior during the concert?  Have the concert on the family calendar well ahead of time to build anticipation for the event, and make it special. Take the time beforehand to discuss what is appropriate concert behavior. You can have the concert etiquette conversation several times, whenever you talk about plans for the event. Sometimes we underestimate how well a child can do in new situations. Preparing them for what to expect will go a long way to having a smooth and enjoyable concert experience. Not sure about concert etiquette yourself? Read this guide from the Phoenix Symphony before the big day (or evening) so that you and your family will feel comfortable knowing what to do at the concert.

4.) TAKE music lessons.

This last suggestion is wonderful, not just for kids, but for adults as well. If your child shows an interest in studying piano, strings, or percussion at an early age, it is encouraged that you enroll them in private lessons. For woodwind or brass instruments, you should first contact a private teacher to have them evaluate your child to make sure they are well-suited to and physically mature enough for the instrument they wish to play. Some things you need to consider: Age four or five or six is not too young for some kids, but it is for others. Your child needs to be able to sit still for at least 15-30 minutes. This does not mean sitting still in front of a TV or computer; it means sitting, engaged and absorbed in a meaningful learning or creative activity for 15-30 minutes. Lessons involve a real time commitment EVERY day, not just Tuesdays at 5:30. Your child needs to practice at least 5 days a week outside of lesson time, for the time prescribed by the private teacher. Inevitably, the newness of lessons will wear off, and some children want to quit when they encounter a skill or exercise that is not easy. Once you make the commitment, you must follow through, or the only thing your child will learn is that quitting is acceptable. The MOST important part of music lessons is to teach your child many of the best things in life require discipline, perseverance, and responsibility.

 

Lesson Plan: K-1 Music 9-10-2012

Masterworks in the Music Curriculum

To what kind of music do you typically listen? To what kinds of music do your children hear you listening? For some of us, our heart is truly in rock and roll, or country, or hip hop, or other world musics. At Great Hearts schools, however, we dedicate our music listening time to exposing students to the time-tested great works of the Western canon, the genre often referred to as “classical music” or “Western art music.”

This is not to say that there is not truth and beauty to be found in more modern works. As a composer of modern works, I listen to a broad range of music and compose in eclectic styles. Why, then, do we limit the scope of study in music class at Great Hearts?

The answer is twofold: First, we are a classical academy focusing on the great works of the Western canon. We live in the Western world, and it is important for students first to understand the culture in which they live. If Great Hearts was in Mumbai, we would focus on beautiful literature of the Veda, the history of the Gupta empire, Sanskrit, and the ragas and jatis of Indian classical music. Here, we choose western literature, history, and Western classical music.

The second part of the answer is that we want to expose students to the best. Other composers lived and worked in the time of Mozart, but we do not often hear the string quartets of, say, Leopold Kozeluch, because his works do not have the same properties and history that make Mozart’s music such an important reference point for Western culture. Instead of exposing students to a dizzying panoply of music of varying degrees of importance and masterful composition, we select a field of masterworks of great beauty and importance to Western culture. We study these works deeply, not cursorily or referentially. We study symphonies, operas, tone poems, songs, sonatas, and concerti. Sometimes we take only a portion of the work; other times we take extra time to study the whole work.

Last year, first grade took the time to study and watch Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. Does that sound intimidating? It’s not! Elementary students do not approach opera with preconceived ideas that involve fat ladies in horned helmets (a very narrow stereotype based on photos from a single early production of one of Richard Wagner’s operas). They do not think that classical music is for an upper-class elite that drinks champagne beforehand and eats oysters after the opera. They approach classical music with all the wonder and verve of new discovery and embrace it as a birthright.

Teaching someone to love great classical music is less about persuading a reluctant public and more about catching that public when they are young, with great, wide, open hearts.

Lesson Plan: K-1 Music 9-4-2012