The second part of your assignment is to find a piece of music (and a good recording) that you think would be compelling and appropriate (in terms of length, clarity of musical dimension(s), etc.) for the elementary general music classroom.
- What in your opinion is the best "doorway in" to your piece of music?
- What is your best guess as to the appropriate age/grade for your piece/"doorway in?"
- What would students have to understand musically/conceptually in order to engage with your piece of music? What prior classroom musical experiences might they need to have?
- Once students have "entered" the piece, what other dimensions might the students also notice?
- How do you envision involving students in experiencing the dimension you selected as your doorway in? Movement, drawing, performing, composing, improvising, listening, graphing, etc?
16 comments:
The piece that I chose was "Commissioning a Symphony in C" by Cake on the Comfort Eagle album. the main doorway in that i would use would be to get the students to point out chord changes in the piece which are very obvious by a very forward bass part that is in the front of the sound the entire song. To help the students visualize the piece, I would likely give them lengthy pieces of paper and ask them to start in the middle of the piece of paper and draw a line across the paper throughout the song, moving their pencils up or down with the bass part of the piece, which would give a rough outline of the bass line and the general chord progression of the piece. After the students are into the piece using the bass line, there are other aspects of the piece that i could have the students listen for like tempo and instrumentation. One more important thing i could do with the piece is go through the lyrics and explain some of the history that would go along with the lyrics of the piece. Students at a pretty young age should be able to understand the concepts of this piece and the lesson should be able to be accomplished i'd say as early as 2nd grade perhaps, students can hear what is higher or lower, so i don't think that they would have too many problems with it, it would just be something that they would have to listen and think more critically about.
The piece I would use would be the overture of Cosi fan Tutte by W.A. Mozart. The recording is with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alain Lombard. I think this piece would be useful in many ways within the elementary classroom.
Introducing this piece at all age levels and then challenging the students to find different aspects of the piece depending on their developmental level. The best doorway at first is the contrasting sections within the piece...the slow vs. fast sections. The ideal age would be a more advanced student, such as the third, fourth, and fifth graders...however, the younger students would be able to incorporate dancing quickly with the fast sections and slower movements with the slow sections. An understanding of classical music might be necessary for comprehension of this piece. I think the most interesting aspect of this is the deceptive cadences. The fourth and fifth graders might be able to hear that the music is leading to something "different" then they are accustomed to hearing. This could lead to conversations on cadences and various form concepts within music.
This piece contains many aspects that as the student becomes more familiar with the piece, they will be able to address. Certainly, how the story of the opera is depicted through an all instrumental overture at the beginning of an opera is great. They might be able to see how Mozart expressed these themes through music while learning about an interesting plot!
Movement would be an interesting way of incoporating the sections of this piece. I would also have them divide into groups like the 6 main characters within the opera. They could tell a story while the overture is playing in the background on how they interpret the story of the opera. They could base the story strictly off of the dialogue, or they could make up something different and exciting that happens to the characters based on how they interpret the music.
I really like this piece called Steam Heat. The recording that I have is my J. Ross and R. Adler and arranged by K. Shaw. It's performed by one of the St. Louis Children's Choir. The first doorway into this piece for me would be the jazzy bass line. It's really catchy. I think you could do this piece with any age group, you would just need different doorways in and adaptation of the lesson plan.
The musical understanding would depend on what your accomplishing. I would want the children to be able to follow the bass line. And for the younger groups (K-3) you could have them dancing to the beat to find out if they can find the beat even when the music is being swung.
I'm pretty sure the children would also notice the different sounds made by the choir and the drum set in the back. I tried to pick a piece that might not be too "simple" but that didn't have too much to listen to so that picking out different sounds wouldn't be too difficult.
Plus it's a really fun piece with lots of opportunity to explore jazz beats and the like.
Jennifer Boone
Finding a song for use in the elementary classroom has proven much more difficult than for the middle/high school setting, but I think I've found one that I'm happy with. It is called "The Olympic Spirit" by John Williams and can be found on a CD called "Summon the Heros." This is a performance by the Boston Pops Orchestra and conducted by John Williams. I think this song would be a good choice for this age level because there is a lot of repetition. The introduction fanfare and the fanfare at the end are almost identical. The main theme is a bit long but recognizable. The doorway for me would be the register changes of this same melody throughout the piece. The melody moves from a low voice, to a middle voice, and then to a higher voice. In a middle contrasting section, there is a call and response between high and low voices, which I think that even young elementary school students would be able to recognize. I say this because the concept of high and low is among the most basic elements in my opinion anyways. I think the students would need to have had some hands on experiences with instruments to discover high and low for themselves before listening to this piece.
Other dimensions we could discuss are instrumentation, dynamics, form, style, beat, and texture. I think I would have students listen to the piece several times and make a drawing and see what those drawings show and have the students explain their drawings to each other and to me. Hopefully, they would be able to pick out high and low sections and depict them especially if that has been the topic for a few class periods already, but if not, I would nudge them in the right direction.
Amanda Writtenhouse
I chose The Heavens are Telling, a movement from Haydn's Creation. There are a couple of doorways in that I could use, de pending on what grade level I would be teaching. If I were using this piece for younger students, I would most likely focus on the steady pulse of the music by asking students to clap or march around the classroom in time to the beat. For older students, I would ask them to notice the difference between the solo and choral sections, the texture changes, or the changes in dynamics. For the older students, I would have to expect them to first have a basic understanding of what texture means, or how to tell the difference in dynamic levels. For the younger elementary students, this piece could be used as a nice introduction into musical pulse or beat.
The piece I chose was Tainted Love by Billy Idol. The "doorway" into the piece I would use would be to learn about bass lines. I think the most appriate age for my doorway would be the fifth or sixth grade. I don't think the younger kids would be able to separate the bass line from the melody in some cases. It may be more difficult for them to distinguish. The students would have to understand the difference between a bass line and melody. They would need to know a difference in timbres. Once the students have listened to the piece they might notice that the beat of the song is very steady and unchanging. As far as experiencing the doorway, I would have students figure out what the repeating bass line actually was, and then have them raise their hands or do some kind of movement when they hear the bass line. I might also have the students listen to the track and individually determine how many times they may have heard the bass line.
The song I would choose to use would be "Human Stuff," which is a song from the upcoming Broadway Musical version of Disney's "The Little Mermaid." This piece first caught my attention because it is very appropriate for young kids. The doorway in would be a discussion of registration (probably without that word, though). There are many occurances in this piece of chords repeated an octave higher. The kids could easily notice the difference between high and low. I would probably do this with very low grades, K, 1, or maybe 2. Maybe a plain explanation of high and low could be established with this piece as an example. There are other aspects to the piece. The students may notice an ostinato bass running through a lot of the piece (do-ti-la-so). Also, there could be a discussion of made up names of things...maybe the students could suggest fantastic names and uses for everyday items. Maybe a new verse could be created with these new items. For younger grades the fantastic names and uses could be suggested by the students while I put them to music for them. Students could also follow the "instructions" in the song and see just how fantastic these descriptions are.
I chose to use Hungarian Dance no.5 by Johannes Brahms. This is just a really fun piece to begin with. But when you can get a recording of a large orcestra playing it and crank up the volume in your classroom and get about 20 little kids running around the room like little Hungarians it's got to be just that much better. This could be used with younger elementary children to explore tempo. A student must first at least be familiar with beat. This exploration could be done through movements throughout the room. The children could either march, do some great hungarian dance [ :) ] or could do an assigned movement. This could all be done in kindergarten or1st grade depending on where your students are musically.
I would choose a piece called "Breathe Into Me" by Red (from the CD "End of Silence" 2007). There is a short intro ("End of Silence") to the piece that is piano and strings, and then the song starts - it's hard rock. There would be a great contrast example (timbre, tone, dynamics), as well as naming the different instruments used since there are all kinds used. Also, tempo changes are pretty evident in the first track. No prior knowledge would really need to be present. Such basic ideas can be taught using the piece.
The piece of music i chose is "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. I think the best doorway into this song is the many different styles that are worked into it, as well as how much fun the song is to listen to. I think the appropriate age/grade would be 4th at the earlist, maybe 3rd grade. Students would have to be able to hear the differences in different styles of music, as well as the differences between fast/slow, soft/loud, etc. I don't think there are really any prior classroom experiences necessary, except perhaps listening to different types of music. Other dimensions that the students will probably notice are the differences within each section, such as dynamics, tempo,instrumentation, vocal timbre, etc. In order to involve my students in the doorway in I could have them use movement, composing/performing, and maybe even drawing/graphing.
The theme song to the TV sitcom "Two and a Half Men" is the piece I chose. The best doorway into this song is in the aspect of texture. There are different voices coming in at several different times, and this can be a good example of "layers of sound" when explaining texture. I would use this in a third or fourth grade class because at this age they are watching some sitcoms along with cartoons, and theme songs are in everythings they watch. The students would have to understand the concept of melodic lines and how they can be layered within a piece of music. Students could also look at the dimensions of rhythm and pitch once into the piece. The students would begin with textural mapping and eventually move in the realm of creating their own "theme song" with differen t textural levels.
Richard Barker
I chose Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt. This piece is great for tempo. It is also a good piece to use because it is used on cartoons pretty often as well. You could have the students moving with the speed of the beat which would be fun for them considering it varies pretty often. You could also do a lesson on texture with a piece like this as well because there are specific parts that are clearly in the lower register, middle register, or higher register. You could maybe have the students use a pad of paper and trace a line to what they are hearing in terms of a melodic line.
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