1
Music 310 – Music in the Elementary Classroom
Fall 2003
California State University - Bakersfield
Instructor - René Ferrell, Ph.D.
Office - Music Building 107
661-664 –2279
rferrell@csub.edu
SCHEDLUE
Section .01 – Tuesday and Thursday - 3:30 – 5:55 p.m.
Midterm exam – Tuesday, Oct. 7
Term project due – Tuesday, Nov. 4
Concert reports – Due the second class meeting following the concert, except for
those concerts taking place after November 10, which will be due the next
class day. No concert reports will be accepted after Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Final exam – Tuesday, November 25 – 5:00-7:30 p.m.
Section .02 – Monday and Wednesday – 6:00 – 8:25 p.m.
Midterm exam – Monday, Oct. 6
Term project due – Monday, Nov. 3
Concert reports – Due the second class meeting following the concert, except for
those concerts taking place after Nov. 10, which will be due the next class
day. No concert reports will be accepted after Monday, November 17.
Final exam – Friday, November 21 – 5:00-7:30 p.m.
OFFICE HOURS
Monday through Thursday – 2:30-3:30
Or by appointment.
Required Text - Music Fundamentals, Methods, and Materials for the Elementary
Classroom Teacher, Third Edition, by Michon Rozmajzl and René Boyer-Alexander
THE KODALY SEQUENCE
This outline follows a basic Kodaly melodic and rhythm sequence. It utilizes the
Kodaly principles of Prepare, Present, Practice in which the Prepare phase provides the
students with activities, songs, musical examples, games, and movement activities that
contain the musical concepts that are to be presented in the future. This initial step creates
a foundation upon which the presentation of new concepts will be placed. The Present
phase names a specific musical concept and provides the students with auditory and
visual examples. The third step, Practice, provides many activities over a period of time
that reinforce the concepts and facilitate their internalization and mastery. Every phase
1
2
involves a variety of activities including: singing (folk songs, children’s songs, sight
singing, pedagogical actives, etc.), movement (Dalcroze-Orff moment activities and folk
dances), playing instruments (Orff barred instruments and percussion), and listening
activities that include CDs of classical, jazz, folk, multicultural, and a variety of other
styles.
The following syllabus is not dated because this course is student-centered in that
it progresses at a pace determined by the students’ needs and their comprehension and
mastery of each concept. The order in which the some of the topics are presented may
change as needs arise during the quarter.
The classical examples provided below are examples of what will be included in
the lessons. Additional examples will be played and discussed during the lessons.
Lesson Schedule
Introduction
Orff movement activities and vocabulary
Discussion of syllabus
Introduction to Kodaly sequence
Prepare beat, rhythm
Present beat/ ta/ rest/ ti-ti
Prepare high-low pitch
Lecture on child development, learning styles, and basic psychological
principles of learning as they apply to children.
Musical growth of children (Text: pp. 3-5)
Discussion of latest findings in brain studies as they apply to children.
Practice beat
Classical examples: e.g., Haydn’s “Clock Symphony,” Tchaikovsky “Dance of
the Sugar-Plum Fairy.”
Examples of music having no beat: Gregorian chant
Present ta/rest/ti-ti
Classical e.g.: Beethoven’s Seventh
Introduce form: same/different, A/B/C/D
Rhythm dictation
2
3
Improvisation: From this point, during the process of practice of rhythmic and melodic
concepts, students will improvise vocally and on percussion and Orff instruments.
Introduce timbre
Play “rhythm ensemble” by reading rhythm and performing on furniture, walls,
etc.
Present high-low pitch
Vocal timbre
Prepare Sol-Mi
Present Sol-Mi
Present “Ten Steps to Music Literacy”
Present hand signs/ tonic solfa/ staff/ staff notation, etc.
Sightread sol-mi song with words from a score
Practice sight singing sol-mi w/hand signs, staff notation, etc.
Present and practice intervals: primes, thirds
Absolute letter names (Text: 56-60)
Prepare La
Present LA: hand signs, staff notation, etc.
Present Intervals: seconds, fourths
Prepare Do
Practice Intervals, emphasize Mi-La/La-Mi, fourths
Present Do: visuals, handsigns, tonic solfa, etc.
Present “Pillars” (I chord)
Practice DMSL: solfege hands, tonic, staff notation
Present Do clef
Speech chorus: round, ostinato, form, introduction, coda.
Meter (Text: pp. 13-17)
Kodaly: Five Steps to Analyzing Meter
Accent mark, barlines, double barline, repeat sign, measure, meter
signature
3
4
2/4 meter
Reading activities
Conducting gestures
Present half note, half rest
Practice activities for 2/4 meter
Present 4/4 meter
Present whole note, whole rest
3/4 meter
Dotted half note, dotted half rest
Classical example: Strauss waltzes
Identify duple and triple meter:
e.g. “Comedian’s Gallop,” “Sleeping Beauty,” etc.
Note values (Text 20)
Discussion of use of multicultural music in the academic class
Several resources will be suggested to the class, e.g.
Book and CD: Roots and Branches by Patricia Shehan Campbell,
ISBN 0-937203, 53-X
West Music Catalogs will be distributed to the class and discussed.
Present ti alone, 1/8th rest
Present syn-co-pa
Present phrase, question-answer
LECTURES ON MUSIC FUNDMENTALS AND MUSIC LISTENING
Beat – steady, unsteady, music with no beat
Rhythm – even, uneven
Tempo (Text: 123)
Melody (Text: 376)
Solo vocal music
Choral music
Harmony (Text: 376)
4
5
Monophony
Homophony
Polyphony
Form: Rondo, theme and variation, song
Dynamics (Text 123)
Absolute and programmatic music
Instruments of the orchestra (Text: 112-118)
Dynamics (Text 123-127)
Presentation and practice: songs, games, movement
Copland - “Fanfare for the Common Man”
Beethoven – “Moonlight Sonata”
(Discuss instrumentation)
Tempo (Text 123)
Presentation and practice: songs, games, movement
Classical examples: “Moonlight Sonata,”
“Sabre Dance,”
“Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks”
Etc.
Absolute and Programmatic music (Prepare to teach orchestral instruments)
Classical examples: Bach “Brandenburg Concerti,”
“Little Fugue in g minor”
Holst “The Planets’
Copland “El Salon Mexico”
Sweet Honey in the Rock “Mystic Oceans”
Etc.
Instruments of the orchestra (timbre) (Text: 112-118 and Text CD)
Lecture and visual aids
Classical examples: Britten: “Young Persons’ Guide to the Orchestra”
Rimsky-Korsakov: “Capriccio Epsilon”
Sousa: “Stars and Stripes Forever”
Etc.
Instruments used in jazz
Book w/CD: The Jazz Fly, by Matthew Gollub (ISBN 1-889910-17-1)
Dave Brubeck “Blue Rondo a la Turk” w/ puppets
Guitar: Rodrigo “Concerto in la menor”
Rondo
Speech activities: “Witch’s Brew,” speech choruses, etc.
Mozart: “Horn Concerto No. 2 – Rondo”.
5
6
Theme and Variation
Visual examples: sneakers, etc.
Copland: “Simple Gifts”
Lecture: The Shakers, American history painted in music
Present Re
Visuals, hand signs, staff notation, songs, games, etc.
Orff arrangements w/barred instruments, percussion, voices
Intervals involving DRM SL
Present Pentatonic Scale
Extract tone set from “Rocky Mountain”
Improvisation: Improvise on Orff in DO pentatonic
Augmentation-Diminution
Use “Rocky Mountain”
Britten: “Old Abram Brown”
Polyphony
Partner songs: Rocky Mountain w/Great Big House w/ Dinah, Dinah, etc.
Rounds
Ostinati
Arranging and performing:
Students divide into groups: Arrange a pentatonic song using the techniques that
have been taught up to this point. Notate the song and perform it in class.
Use of California folk songs in the fourth grade California history class:
Resources: All the books, tapes, and CDs published by Calicanto Associates,
6416 Valley View Road, Oakland, CA 94611.
Days of Gold available from West Music.
Present High Do – Extended Pentatonic Scale
Present anacrusis (Text 43, 99, 100, 78)
Refer to “Five Steps of Teaching Meter”
Present Low Sol
Present Low La
6
7
Present 16th note rhythms
tiri-tiri (Text 307, 144, 20)
ti-tiri
tiri-ti
Present Fa
Hand signs, staff
Scale Passage - Do-La
Present Ti
Major Scale - solfege, auditory, singing (Text: 96)
Whole and Half Steps (Text 69-70)
Formula for Major Scale (Text: 70)
Accidentals (Text: 20, 73-75)
How to locate the tonic using a key signature (Text: 76-79)
Present dotted quarter and 1/8th, 1/8th and dotted quarter
Present relative minor – La minor (Text: 79-85)
Present dotted 18th/16h and 16th/dotted 8th
Present musical sequence
Example: “Blow the Winds Southerly”
7