Carmina Burana Short and Long Lesson

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Carmina Burana by Carl Orff is the perfect piece to listen for short and long sounds. I love the sharp rhythm patterns that start in measure 5 and repeat throughout the first couple of minutes. It is highlighted in this YouTube video (complete with sound and score!): CLICK HERE.

So what can you do with it in a short period of time?

First Class for 10 to 15 minutes

  • Listen to the beginning 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the piece with class
  • Ask what movements would go really well with the sounds they hear.
  • “Let’s try it out!”
  • “How about another movement?” (you can keep this part going for as many classes as the kids would like!)

Second Class for 10 to 15 minutes

  • Review chosen movements and music from last class
  • Now listen to it and ask kids to raise their hands when they hear the long sounds (such as in mm 10, 11 and 12)
  • Ask what movements kids can do to show when they hear the long sounds?
  • “Let’s try it out”
  • “How about another movement?” (you can keep this part going for as many classes as the kids would like!)

Third Class for 10 to 15 minutes

  • “Let’s show our short sounds in Note Knacks. Which one should we choose?” (Don’t worry if they choose the sixteenths or the eighths. The idea is only to be able to distinguish between long and short)
  • Determine number of short sounds we hear in the first phrase ~ put chosen blocks in a row in front of children to show them
  • “Where does the long sound go?” (the end), Ask which block can show the long sound? (They will most likely show the whole note. Again, that is fine.)
  • Put the long block at the end of the row of short sounds.
  • Do the same for the second phrase

At this point you can ask kids to work together to trace the blocks and show the 2 phrases on paper or you can leave it at that.

For older kids, showing the score will be fun, as the time signatures are quite cool! This piece is perfect for getting kids out of their comfort zone and seeing that a quarter does NOT always equal 1 beat!!

I hope you have a lot of fun with this lesson! Let me know how it goes by commenting below!

Teaching Tools We Love!

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When one thinks of Orff Schulwerk, two major instrument groups come to mind: xylophones and recorders! Both are “instrumental” in teaching with this method! Here are some tools worth checking out!

[jbox color=”white” title=”Aulos 3 Piece Student Soprano Recorder”]product-student$4.99
This recorder has the great quality of an Aulos for less money! We can’t believe how easy it is to play lower notes!




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[jbox color=”white” title=”Recorder Fingering Magnetix”]product-student$54.95

~ Includes Low C to Hi D (Diatonic), F# and Bb. 6″x15.5″

These are the coolest things EVER!! We love how each magnet uses Boomwhackers ® colors and each is clear on which recorder holes need to be covered!




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[jbox color=”white” title=”Recorder Fingering Assessment”]product-student$15.95

~ Blank Recorder Fingering Chart with 9 magnetic finger hole covers. 6″x15.5″

…and then when it is time to assess…




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[jbox color=”white” title=”RBI ® Orff Stands by Tough Carts ® “]product-studentChoose from the High or Low Stand. Each are $169.95

~ Both width adjustable from 19″ to 33″

~High Stand Height: adjustable from 17″ to 29″ (ideal for smaller instruments)

~ Low Stand Height: adjustable from 5″ to 15″ (ideal for larger instruments)

To create a little height in our Orff ensembles, these carts are fantastic! When we tried them out, we knew our instruments weren’t going anywhere!!


Sizes

 


Click image to enlarge.

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Top 5 Facts: Carmina Burana

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1435010683245-z2vbp7k8jbzp-73175a5287d7f1199c203733043b1588 This work is one of my favorites! I enjoyed researching it and was quite amused at the subject matter I uncovered! Click on the NPR story at the end of the article for the fun details!

  1. A secular oratorio written in 1937
  2. Based on a manuscript of medieval poems
  3. Intended to be staged with dance
  4. Part of a trilogy: Catuli Carmina, 1943 and Trionfo de Afrodite, 1953
  5. The work is divided into three parts: The first part, “Primo Vere” (“In Early Spring”), presents youthful, energetic dances; the second part, “In Taberna” (“In the Tavern”), evokes drunken feasting and debauchery; and courtship and romantic love are the subject of the third part, “Cour d’Amours” (“Court of Love”).

“I think the word excess probably captures this piece. And I think that again draws people in, because there’s something about talking about the excesses in life and the edges that is very appealing.” – Conductor Marin Alsop, Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Resources:

Happy Birthday Mr. Orff!

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Coming up on July 10th is Carl Orff’s birthday; he would have been 120 years old! In celebration of his life, I wanted to highlight the great work he did and how it pertains to the challenges of today! I did a little digging and found a speech he made at the opening of the Orff Institute in Salzburg on October 25, 1963. It was published by B. Schotts and the translation was done by Margaret Murray. It is a great read: http://www.vosa.org/index.php/about-orff/10-orff-schulwerk-past-and-future! Here is a quote that I felt embodied his philosophy and the spirit of his work:

“I encouraged the activation of the students by the playing of their own music, that is, through improvisation and composing it themselves. I therefore did not want to train them on highly developed art instruments, but rather on instruments that were preferably rhythmic, comparatively easy to learn, primitive and unsophisticated.

My idea was to take my students so far that they could improvise their own music (however unassuming) and their own accompaniments to movement. The art of creating music for this ensemble came directly from playing the instruments themselves. It was therefore important to acquire a well-developed technique of improvisation, and the exercises for developing this technique should above all lead the students to a spontaneous, personal, musical expression.”

I love this!! Give kids the raw materials and celebrate what they create! In an age of tests and so called accountability, this is a wonderful reminder that children are not without knowledge; they certainly are not clean slates, as John Locke once thought. Rather, it is our job as educators to help children realize their fullest potential! They are capable of so much more than our current school systems allow!

So how can we do this today with the great demands that are placed upon us with virtually no resources?

Allow children to create! Any time there is an opportunity for kids to add or change a given rhythm, vocalization, song or movement, go for it! Encourage students to offer thoughts and ideas on what they are learning. Because time is always an issue, it may only start out as taking one student’s idea and embedding it in one small part of your lesson. This can happen on the spot or in a future class for one that needs a bit more planning. Either way, this experience will be invaluable to your students. It’s also the kind of thing that always helps with behavior! Kids are more likely to cooperate if they know they matter.

Here are just a couple of ideas, but presently I am working on an updated set of Note Knacks lessons that will inspire lots of new ideas and tricks to get creating in your classroom…and the best part is you can do it in 20 minutes or less! Look for a preview lesson next week!

Resources:

  • Encyclopedia Britannica
  • NPR
  • Vosa.org

One Composer’s Thoughts on How To Develop Your Aural Imagination

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untitledSome time ago, I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful local composer! Nick Demos, who is a professor of composition at GA State University, sat down with me and let me in on his composition process. Not only was it fascinating, but so inspiring! Here are his ideas for developing your aural imagination through immersion so that you have more to pull from when you begin to compose your own compositions!

  1. Listen like crazy to everything!! …even music you hate because you never know when inspiration will hit. You may not like the piece, but you may like a passage or technique etc…
  2. Look at the score while listening to a favorite piece of music to gain insight on how exactly the sound was produced
  3. Choose a passage that is most important to you and copy it down verbatim in the manner by which you compose (finale, pencil to staff paper, etc…)
  4. Write an imitation of the piece
  5. Write a composition

I love his term “aural imagination”. We speak so often about developing a child’s aural abilities, but rarely do we mention a need for a creative pool to draw from. This is yet another argument as to why we need to encourage our kids to explore and experiment with sound and recording those sounds through technologies AND actual notation ~ inventive or otherwise!

Here is a link to his website. I encourage you to check it out! http://nickitasdemos.com/

Practice Makes Perfect!

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11474303315_f8659cb588_cI belong to a Toastmasters club in Alpharetta, GA. If you have never heard of it, it is something you might want to check out! It is a club where people go to improve their public speaking skills. A couple of weeks ago, a question was asked to a participant that resonated with me and the work we do as educators. It was “How would you get your child to practice an instrument on a consistent basis?” or something to that effect. Afterwards, a few of us discussed parenting styles and offered suggestions on how to proceed. This question has been on my mind ever since! How do we get our kids to value the work that is involved in mastering a skill?

Today we live in a fast paced world! We can have almost anything we want immediately. Fast food delivers hot meals within minutes, while we are on our smart phones ordering the latest and greatest from an online store. How can we ask our children to wait for gratification when our world is encouraging us to demand what we want NOW? Bluntly put, why wait for a steak dinner when we can go to McDonald’s now?

Experience. The experience one has eating a fast food burger and fries is drastically different than eating a carefully prepared steak with a potato gratin and a side of grilled asparagus. It is like night and day, especially when you have put in the work yourself!

So what do we do? We can help our parents instill the process of going from novice to master in their children by encouraging discipline and practicing the art of taking an instrument. Discipline is simple to know how to do, but difficult to do consistently! Kids excel when routines are put into place:

  1. Practice the same time everyday
  2. Create a routine for every rehearsal
  3. Keep a running record of all days practiced and create a reward at the end of a certain amount!

As far as learning the art of an instrument, well… that takes some time! It helps to know your kids! Just like in a classroom, every child is different.

  1. Sometimes you can talk to a student in a straight forward manner and sometimes you need to go through the back door. I have a violin student that is more excited about composing then playing violin, so instead of demanding she play throughout the whole lesson, we do some composing, assign different notes and then play it in the violin.
  2. Get kids excited about their instrument by looking up historical facts that correspond to the time period their instrument was invented or when the piece of music they are playing was written.
  3. Let your kids know your goals and let them know that you don’t always feel like working or have had set backs, but you know that consistent hard work will pay off.

When we model how to do something, it is an opportunity to show students how we, too, struggle and more importantly, how we push through it. It is important to show kids our vulnerabilities, as well. This will not diminish our capability to lead, rather, it will strengthen it. This is the perfect time to illustrate that perseverance and dedication out gun talent every time! We are all learners and we are working together to find solutions!

Not all parents have an idea of what it takes to master an instrument or why it will benefit their child, but for the parents that do ask our advice, it is an opportunity to educate. Perhaps with a little more knowledge, more parents will see that studying an instrument will require the same discipline that it takes to master any other skill and that in turn will again remind society why music is so valuable to a child’s education!

 

Photo credit: JeremyOK / Source / CC BY-NC-SA

Use Social Media To Promote Your Program!

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In this month of advocacy, we want to get the word out. Your parents and administrators need to know what you are doing and why it is valuable to educating the whole child. Social media has become the perfect outlet to do this: posting takes little time and reaches almost all. An added benefit is that you are able to show yourself as the expert in your field. Your readers get to know you and begin to understand how you are helping their child not only learn music, but also excel at all other subjects! The three most popular sites are Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. All three are easy to use and are well known enough to get parents to buy into following you on each of them.

So how do you do it? First and foremost, it is strongly recommended that you create an account in one or all solely for professional use. It is never a good idea to post weekend activities in a place where parents might see them! Second, invite all of the parents of your students, classroom teachers, your administrators and district level administrators who would benefit from seeing your posts. Make sure to check your school’s policy for posting pictures of students. Some parents are not ok with their child on any social media sites, regardless of it being closed to those outside the school community.

What do I post? This is when the fun begins! You can take videos of students singing their concert songs, playing their own compositions and/or dancing a favorite folk dance. Let parents know a thoughtful insight their child had on a particular topic or a funny quote that was said during class. Show parents the day to day activities of what you do and how you do it; post a “behind-the-scenes” look at how you prep for classes. Encourage viewers to ask questions. Post surveys and communicate how important parents are to what we do. Give them ideas on how they can bring music making into the home. What are their kids doing at home that is music related? Hold contests! Invite parents to post photos or pictures of their kids playing, practicing or performing music. Ultimately get them invested in your program. Parents can be our best ally when cuts are on the horizon.

Social media is also an opportunity to promote the Arts on a whole. What concerts, art exhibits, plays and performances are going on in your community that would be beneficial for just parents or for the whole family to attend? Are you performing in any of them? Let your parents know what wonderful activities are happening around town. Remind them that what we promote is fun and benefits the whole community!

Finally, find some times in your schedule that would be convenient and post consistently. Remind parent to check your page in case it doesn’t show up in their news feeds. You can also tag parents when it is a post that you want them to see. They will be so excited to see what their kids are doing in your class! Rarely do they understand all that their kids accomplish in a day! Now is your chance to show them!


The “Oh No, It Is MIOSM and I Haven’t Planned Anything Yet” Cheat Sheet!

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kids singing

It is hard to believe, but “Music In Our Schools Month” is already here! This month is all about advocacy ~ so let’s take some time to show the community what we do! Here are 3 last minute concert ideas that you can easily execute without a lot of work! You can highlight all of the wonderful music your students have been working on all year in various settings, as well as connect parents, other faculty and staff to your classroom. Here they are:

  1. Have oldest grade level sing/ play for younger students/ vice versa
  2. Have the choir sing during morning entrance and/ or afternoon dismissal
  3. Create a short video concert for some or all of your classes and email the link to parents.

Have oldest grade level sing/ play for younger students/ vice versa. Invite an older class to one of your younger classes during the week. The benefit of this is to have your older students show your younger students what is possible and to have your younger students remind the older ones how far they have come! Set aside class time to discuss what they have heard ~ a great time to cover the critiquing portion of our music standards!

This is also a GREAT opportunity to set up a mentor program for those pumpkins who are more challenging. The younger children benefit because they look up to the older students and your older children are given a leadership role. I have seen the toughest students act so sweetly when given the responsibility.

Have choir sing during morning entrance and/ or afternoon dismissal. This one is fairly easy to set up and takes little effort to execute. (Also, it can be done outside, as many schools are not singing inside these days!) Parents are able to see what their children have been doing in your class, as well as teachers and administrators. Unfortunately, we also need to advocate to those in our building. For more visibility, email district level administrators and local reporters!

What to sing or play? A monthly theme can be set up, if there isn’t one in place already, or kids can practice music for upcoming performances. It is always a good idea to give concert repertoire a run through once or twice before a performance!!

Create a short video concert for some or all of your classes and email the link to parents. (Perfect for virtual learners!) This eliminates all kinds of issues, as it can be done when and where it is convenient for you! You also have a lot of flexibility in what you tape! Here are a few ideas:

  1. Kids can videotape their favorite song or composition that they have written and perform it on camera.
  2. Each class can give a tour of their music classroom and a tutorial on how to use all of the instruments that are showcased. If kids are virtual, they can either create an instrument at home to share or share an instrument that they play outside of school.
  3. Students can teach their parents a music lesson on camera they have learned, either as a class or individually.

As March “marches” on, I hope these few simple ideas will help! We always need to build awareness of how important learning music is to a child’s overall education!! Thank goodness for MIOSM!!

Photo credit: woodleywonderworks / Foter / CC BY

How To Facilitate Effective Small Groups

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INSP MON Photo Music class is not the usual place for students to work in small groups. We don’t see them very often or for a long period of time, so we cram in as much as we can in the time we have. Usually, the fewer the transitions, the better! So why bother trying it out?

Having your kids work in small groups has many benefits. First and foremost, it is great for the kids! They learn to work together without the direct involvement of an adult (this allows the space for students to explore the activity, make mistakes and discuss with their peers what is happening), behavior problems are diminished because every student has a job to do (the opportunity to “zone out” is lessened) and there is time to either work with kids that need a little extra help or taking a moment to observe your kids. We rarely get these opportunities, so I cherish them when they arise!

The key is to set it up so that a quality learning experience occurs. In some cases, your kids will come to you already with a complete understanding of how to work in small groups. When this happens, you can give them the assignment and just send them on their way. For everyone else, follow the procedure below to make it easy and fun!
1. Tell students that they will be working in groups of 3-5.
2. Give them an assignment, such as “create a 4 mm rhythm and orchestrate it with non-pitched percussion”.
3. While you are still in the large group, ask 4 students to volunteer to model. (For the demonstration, ask them to create a 1 mm rhythm just as a short example)
4. As students come to the front, ask everyone what should happen first. Let them figure out the procedures as you write them down on the board.
5. Also ask students what problems might come up and ways to fix them.
6. (I have found that students that have never been asked to offer an opinion have a hard time expressing themselves. Your room may be the first and only time this has occurred. If students are having difficulty, ask an easier question. Put yourself in the demo small group and ask “What should Suzy do if I just took this instrument out of her hand?” Students will say to tell the teacher, but ask them if there is a way for them to work it out themselves. This conversation will give you a good indication of 1. how well they will work in small groups and 2. how much you will need to work with them on it. This may seem like a waste of time, as our time is limited, but once you cover this in Kindergarten, you will only have to do a refresher course every fall for the newcomers. The others will remember the culture of your room and it will run smoother because of it!)
7. Have kids demonstrate the activity in its entirety. Be very explicit about what is acceptable behavior and what is not. Encourage all to voice their opinion!

When your students have the procedures and culture down, the sky is the limit! I have used small group work for a variety of activities from exploration on instruments to having groups create full blown compositions that will later be performed. Students always amaze me with what they create! Click HERE to see a couple of easy lessons to get started! Choose from “Students On A Roll”, “The Rhythm Game” or “Practice Makes Perfect”!

How Can We Help Our Students Feel Smarter?

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MH900431110Confidence comes from doing what you thought was not possible….or so the woman on my workout video says who also screams at me that I can indeed stay in a plank position for 45 more seconds as I am yelping in pain. When I am in said pain, I can’t imagine being confident about anything! All I know is that this hurts and I am not AT ALL convinced that I can stay up for 5 more seconds, much less 45!! …yet when she yells out 3 more seconds and I am still planking (is that even a word?), I know I will finish and of course she is correct. I am beaming because I just did what I thought was completely impossible!

When students come into our room, how can we help them feel more confident about who they are and what they are capable of? Since confidence comes from doing something you thought you couldn’t do, what are we giving our students to do that is challenging, but within their grasp?

This is the perfect time of year to explore this! We are all busy getting ready for winter programs and things are crazy! We are pushing our students to sing better, to remember lyrics, to play their part in time on the xylophone etc.. We are asking a lot of them and they feel the pressure!

They have only been with us for 3 months (give or take) and look at how far they have come!! We have taught them a great deal in such a short span of time (yes we can give ourselves a pat on the back for that!!) and they are about to showcase some of it in the upcoming concert! Why not point this out to them?

We know as educators that helping students feel smarter entails pushing them beyond their limits. They won’t believe us when we tell them that they can accomplish almost anything with hard work until we show them. That is my favorite part of this job! I love the look on a student’s face when he/ she turns to me and smiles because he/ she finally got it! This, in turn, builds my confidence (really? You remember what I taught you last week??) and makes it enjoyable for everyone!

As the year comes to a close and we are in the height of the giving season, I must remember to tell my students what has been learned thus far! It isn’t so much about me saying “aren’t you great”, rather, it is getting the students to congratulate themselves, for this is the greatest gift we give our students every year!