Transcript Stuck in the Middle

Stuck in the Middle
…strategies for Middle School General Music
that won’t break the bank…
NNMEA All-State Music Conference
workshop presented by
Jan Delgado,
APS Music Teacher
[email protected]
Stuck in the Middle With You
Gerry Rafferty & Joe Eagan - Stealers Wheel, 1972
Well, I don't know why I came here tonight. I got the feeling that something ain't right.
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair, and I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs.
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you, and I'm wondering what it is I should do.
It's so hard to keep this smile from my face - lose control, yeah, I'm all over the place.
Well you started off with nothing, and you're proud that you're a self-made man,
and your friends they all come crawling, slap you on your back and say,
”Please? Please?”
Oh, I'm trying to make some sense of it all, but I can see it makes no sense at all.
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor? ’Cause I don't think I can take it no more.
Inspiration for the workshop—
•Keynote address at NM All-State 2012 by Scott Schuller, NAfME President
•Big three (BOC – Band, Orchestra, Choir) attracts only 20% (on average) of
secondary students. Guitar is growing (NM is a pioneer!) but there is still a
huge percentage of underserved students.
•Even though a General Music course is an elective, students are often not
volunteer. Student motivation and assessment are different than BOC.
•However, by actively making music, General Music can be a positive musical
adventure for both students and teacher.
•Classroom management can be incorporated into the curriculum within the
process of what to teach and when to teach it.
Problems
Middle School
Students:
General Music
Class:
Want to be
accepted, to be
“cool,” but
adolescence
makes them
unsure
Listening
Notation
Composition
Instruments
Singing??
Movement??
Will avoid
embarrassment
Assessment
No budget
Often do not have
musical skills
Possible Solutions
Middle School
Students:
Want to be
accepted, to be
“cool,” but
adolescence
makes them
unsure
Will avoid
embarrassment
Often do not have
musical skills
Gain trust –
Provide safety net
of consistent class
rules and routines
Choice of curriculum–
music and activities
focus on manipulatives
rather than self
Be flexible –
learn when to let
students “hide”
General Music
Class:
Listening
Notation
Composition
Instruments
Singing??
Movement??
Assessment
No budget
Technology
Hardware Sound system and LCD projector
Laptop computer/iPad
Students have iPod, cell phones
Document reader, overhead projector
SmartBoard/Promethean
Software Internet resources:
YouTube (download)
iTunes (application is free, purchase songs)
Always preview songs and video!!
Invoke school rules of profanity, etc.
Composition and recording:
Audacity, Noteflight (URL on website)
Garage Band (on Macintosh computers)
Teaching Beat and Rhythm •Start with Speech (mnemonics)
•Add Body Percussion (snap, clap, pat, stamp, etc.)
•Combine two rhythms as soon as possible.
•Add instruments as soon as possible.
•Teach written notation after aural rhythms are learned
Flavors of the Southwest
by Luis Delgado
Teaching process for Southwest Flavors
Say the words first, then add body percussion:
Snap for line 1, clap for line 2, pat for line 3
Students should learn all lines
Divide class into 3 groups (ABC) and assign each group one line
Perform piece, all parts starting together.
Rotate parts so all students have chance to perform lines 1, 2, and 3.
Variations:
Layer in one line at a time
“A” group starts with line 3 (dessert is first!).
Note: starting with line 1 is hard, as it starts with a rest
They perform the whole line and will repeat it many times.
“B” group (line 2), comes in when A group is starting their second pass.
“C” group (line 1) starts when B is starting their own second pass.
Variation:
Layer in parts, starting after only 2 measures.
No instruments? No problem!
Look in the recycle bin!
After students have a rhythm vocabulary
and can perform with Body Percussion,
experiment with sounds in recycled materials.
How to tap is as important
as what to tap with.
Remember that music is organized
sound and silence.
Check out what STOMP does with trash…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8ra8mjZljA
Replace body percussion in Southwest Flavors speech piece with recycled instrument sounds.
Guided Listening activity:
In the Hall of the Mt King, by Edvard Grieg
Form
intro
a a b b a a’
a a b b a a’
a a b b a a’
ca’ca’c…!
Timbre
Dynamics
Tempo
Articulation
Meter
Tonality
On the board, draw a grid, label the categories and write in the the form on the first line,
as above. What to put in the categories on the left column depends on what the
teacher wants to emphasize in listening.
Students copy the grid and categories onto their own piece of paper.
While listening to music, students write what they hear.
Guided Listening activity:
In the Hall of the Mt King, by Edvard Grieg
Form
intro
a a b b a a’
a a b b a a’
a a b b a a’
ca’ca’c…!
Timbre
brass
Low inst
high inst
full orch
cymbals, drum
Dynamics
-
mp
mf
f
ff
Tempo
-
medium
a bit faster
much faster!!
way fast!
Articulation sfz
short
pizz
tremelo
sfz
Meter
-
duple
same
same
same
Tonality
-
minor
same
some major
minor
Afterwards, students report and discuss how to describe music and use
musical vocabulary. Above text is possible answers.
From here, it is only one more step to create a Listening Map.
Many listening maps are available in the MacMillan, Spotlight on Music,
and Silver Burdett, Making Music curriculum series.
Movement activity to “Ghostbusters,” by Ray Parker, Jr.
Teach “musical stepping,” which is short steps and keeping weight over feet to enable quick directional
change. A: step 4 steps forward (or to right) 4 steps back, B: roll hands, C: free dance D: robot motions.
Examples of Assessment
Start from here and plan backwards…
Skill
Written: based on number of correct
answers or following directions (rubrics)
Performance: based on
rubrics/expectations posted before activity
Listening
Reading
Identify/Choose/Label: Timbre, Meter,
Rhythmic values, Pitch, Intervals, Form,
Articulation, Dynamics, Style
Demonstrate recognition of elements by
performance or signals
Composing Create composition within specific parameters Create movements that correspond to the form
of a piece of music.
Playing
Singing
Perform a rhythm from written notation.
Perform own and others’ compositions.
Maintain own part in an ensemble.
Sing a 5-pitch melody in own singing range.
Strategies for Middle School GENERAL MUSIC:
Characteristics of MS
Instruments
Technology
Classroom Management
 MS students want to be
cool, but the vagaries of
adolescence make them
unsure of themselves
 Gain their trust - provide
safety net of rules and
consequences, consistent
classroom routines
 Avoid embarrassment learn when to let students
“hide” (or not)
 MS students want to create
music but often don’t have
the skills (in spite of great
Elementary programs)
 Teach beat, rhythm,
listening, and vocal skills in
a way that is easy, but
likeable
 Choice of curriculum - kinds
of music and activities - is
very important
 MS students need
something to manipulate
 Recorders, ukuleles,
guitars, and keyboards
require money and
time/effort to learn. Use
them if you have them,
though
 Access to Band percussion
needs high level of
supervision, but marimbas
are really cool
 Thanks to STOMP, found
sound is fun!
 Sound system and projector
#1.
 Students already have their
own technology - iPod, cell
phones, knowledge of the
internet.
 However, always preview
songs and video before
presenting in class
 Follow school rules: no
profanity, references to
drugs or sex, and be
politically correct/neutral
 Composition and recording:
Noteflight, Garage Band,
Audacity
 YouTube - download
 Play instruments ONLY if
know the part in speech and
BP (assess before going
on) “If you can say it, you
can play it.”
 Not enough instruments?
Seat in alternating order –
some do BP, some play
instruments, rotate
 2 or 3 kids hand out
instruments or 1 person per
group get them.
 Rotate personnel of small
groups – don’t let students
choose.
 Avoid unsupervised time.
Have several small time
increments of specific
activity. After each task,
students share in each
small groups or elbow
partners. Students get new
ideas and refine in next time
increment
Other
 Overhead projector,
document reader
 SmartBoard/Promethean
Strategies for Middle School GENERAL MUSIC:
Listening
Notation/composition
Singing
 Listen to various styles of
music
 View pictures, video of
various instruments being
played, live performances
when feasible
 Listening activity (template)
- start with something short,
simple orchestration,
commonly known
 Listening Maps - letters
(ABA), icons and pictures,
students create their own.
 Listening maze game
 Identify music
characteristics of form,
tempo, meter, tonality,
dynamics, articulation, style,
 Identify major instruments
and families (orchestral,
folk/pop/jazz, world)
Rhythm  Provide opportunities for
 Notate quarter, eighth, 16’s
students to explore own
and dotted rhythms in 4/4
voices
and 3/4
 Chant poems (rap), echo,
 Notate simple rhythms and
call and response, question
perform them within a
and answer
steady beat
 Identify duple and triple (4/4
vs. 3/4, and 2/4 vs. 6/8)
Movement
 Use manipulatives - paper
plates, cup passing,
ribbons/streamers/scarves,
tennis balls (strict rules).
 Musical stepping: short
steps and keeping weight
over feet to enable quick
directional change.
 Movement vocabulary: locomotor and axial motions,
quality of movement, levels.
Pick from a basket of
words.
Pitch (if have access to
 Sing a 5-pitch melody in
 Create movement to a
pitched instruments)
own singing range and pick
piece of music.
 Identify musical alphabet on
out the pitches on a piano
 Demonstrate a Line or folk
piano keyboard.
(usually G1 to C2)
dance - really a way of
 Notate diatonic pitches of
 Identify major vocal timbres
listening and stepping to the
treble clef
(Women: high Soprano, low
beat
 Identify step, skip, leap
Alto. Men: high Tenor, low
intervals
Baritone/Bass), falsetto
 Identify Major and Minor
tonalities