Music 310 – Music in the Elementary Classroom
Instructor - René Ferrell, Ph.D.
Office - Music Building 104
661-664 –2279
rferrell@csub.edu
REQUIRED TEXTS
1. Music Fundamentals, Methods, and Materials for the Elementary Classroom Teacher, Fourth Edition,
w/CD, ISBN 0-205-44964-6, by Michon Rozmajzl and René Boyer.
2. Let’s Read and Write Music: A Kodály Approach Music Workbook for Children, Book 1,
by Gervacio E. Brondial.
3. Folk Song Collection, ed. Gervacio E. Brondial.
4. Content Standards for California Public Schools: Kindergarten through Grade Twelve
Locate http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/mumain.asp. Click on Music.
Make a paper copy of all grades through fifth grade.
OFFICE HOURS
Monday and Wednesday – 2:30-3:30, Tuesday and Thursday – 3:30-4:30
Or by appointment.
PURPOSE The purpose of this course is to prepare liberal studies majors and other non-music majors to
teach music either in the context of the elementary music class or to include music as a factor in the context
of the elementary academic classroom.
OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this course, the student will have:
A. Knowledge of the two principal methodologies currently used to teach music to young
children, the Kodály Approach and Orff-Schulwerk.
B. A basic knowledge of the fundamentals of music.
C. Knowledge of the value and benefits of music education for all children.
D. The ability to utilize sequential music instruction for the elementary child.
E. The ability to prepare, present, and practice music fundamentals as they are used in the
Kodály Sequence.
F. Performance ability on and appropriate use of simple classroom instruments, both pitched and
non-pitched, in the elementary classroom.
G. A general understanding of the characteristics of the child’s voice in both primary and upper
elementary levels.
H. A basic knowledge of orchestral and folk instruments.
I. A novice ability to sight read music.
J. An awareness of multicultural music.
K. Knowledge of music resources for the classroom teacher.
L. An awareness of the California Content Standards for Music Education.
PRIOR MUSIC EXPERIENCE The content for this course is primarily based on a difficulty level of
kindergarten through fifth grade. The pedagogy level for this class is upper division college level. Prior
musical experience is helpful, but it is not required and is not necessary in order to succeed in Music 310.
Previous experience in music will not be factored into the testing or grading for this class.
TIME CONFLICTS WITH OTHER CLASSES Students will not be excused from class to participate
in activities or exams of other classes or ITV classes. If you find that you have a class that conflicts with
Music 310, please drop one of the courses.
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MUSIC 310 LESSON – PRE-READING SCHEDULE
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 determined necessary by the instructor. All changes will be announced in class.
Keep track in the syllabus of topics currently being covered in class. This will identify where we will go next, and thus
what you are to prepare for upcoming lessons. You might consider checking off topics as they are taught in class. If at
any time you are unable to keep track in this syllabus, please consult Dr. Ferrell.
Introductory activities: Orff, Kodály, and movement activities
Rote teaching (Text 195-197)
Introduction to the Kodály Sequence
Beat (Text 5-7)
Classical examples of steady beat: e.g., Haydn’s Clock Symphony
Classical examples of music having no beat: Gregorian chant
CD: Band 44, Gregorian chant
Classical examples of unsteady beat: e.g., Copland’s El Salon Mexico
Rhythm (Text 5-7)
ta/rest/ti-ti – quarter note, quarter rest, eighth notes (Text: 8-11, 20)
Classical e.g.: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony
Orff instruments (Text: 218-219)
These instruments will be used in various activities throughout the quarter.
Indonesian Gamelan
Percussion instruments (referred to in the CSET as classroom instruments) (Text: 207-213)
These instruments will be used in various activities throughout the quarter.
Introduction to the fundamentals of music
Introduction to form:
Same/different, A/B/C/D, through composed
Speech chorus: round, ostinato, form, introduction, interlude, coda (Text 143)
Timbre
Play “rhythm ensemble” by reading rhythm and performing on furniture, walls, 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 Espaniol
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
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Instrumentation (the concerto):
Guitar: Rodrigo’s Concerto in la menor
Horn: Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2 – Rondo
Piano: Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini
Absolute and Programmatic music (Prepare to teach orchestral instruments)
Classical examples:
Absolute:
Bach: Brandenburg Concerti
Bach: Little Fugue in g minor (orchestral setting)
Text CD: Band 45: Little Fugue in g minor (organ setting)
Programmatic:
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of Animals
Holst: The Planets
Villa-Lobos: Little Train of Caipira
Mussorgsky: Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
Dynamics (Text 116-117)
Presentation and practice: songs, games, movement
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Beethoven: Moonlight Sonata
(Discuss instrumentation)
Vocal ranges (Text 101)
The child’s voice (Text 188-194)
High-low pitch (Text 46-48)
SOL-MI (Text: 199-201) Hand sign chart (Text: 199)
Handout: “Ten Steps to Music Literacy”
Present hand signs/ tonic solfa/ staff/ staff notation, etc.
Sight sing sol-mi songs and exercises w/hand signs, staff notation, etc.
Intervals: primes, thirds
Absolute letter names (Text: 51-55)
Sight sing songs and exercises with letter names
Notes and Stems (Text 55-56), direction of stems on the staff
LA: hand signs, staff notation, etc. (Text: 202)
Intervals: seconds, fourths
Emphasize fourths: M-L/L-M
DO: visuals, hand signs, tonic solfa, etc.
The Pillars (I chord)
Tetrachord: DMSL: solfege hand signs, tonic solfa, staff notation
DO clef
Form: strophic (Text 142-143) “America the Beautiful”
verse-refrain (Text 136) “Shoo Fly”
Tempo (Text: 110-112)
Presentation and practice: songs, games, movement
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Classical examples:
Moonlight Sonata
Sabre Dance
Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
Text CD: Band 37, Flight of the Bumblebee
Meter (Text: pp. 12-17)
2-ta meter: Kodály Five Steps to Teaching Meter
Accent marks, bar lines, double bar line, repeat sign, measure,
meter signature
2/4 meter – Simple duple meter (Text 27)
Conducting gestures (Text 16)
Half note, half rest
4/4 meter
Whole note, whole rest
3/4 meter – simple triple meter
Dotted half note, dotted half rest (Text: 24)
Ti alone, 1/8th rest
Syn-co-pa (hidden syncopa)
Improvisation: Throughout the practice of melodic and rhythmic concepts, students will improvise vocally and on
percussion and Orff instruments.
Form: binary, rounded binary, ternary (Text 135, 134)
Form: Rondo
Speech activities: “Witch’s Brew,” speech choruses, etc.
Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 2 – Rondo
Form: Theme and Variation
Visual examples: sneakers, clothing, etc.
Copland: Simple Gifts
Lecture: The Shakers, American history painted in music
Re
Visuals, hand signs, staff notation, songs, games, etc.
Orff arrangements w/barred instruments, percussion, voices
Pentatonic Scale (Text: 80, 202)
Extract tone set from “Rocky Mountain”
Intervals in the pentatonic scale: primes, seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixth
Improvisation: Improvise on Orff in DO pentatonic
Augmentation-Diminution
Concept song: “Rocky Mountain”
Britten: Old Abram Brown
Compound meter (Text: 28, 31)
3/8 meter
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6/8 meter
Monophonic texture (Text: 152-154)
Polyphony (Text: 154-160)
How to teach children to sing harmony:
Melodic ostinati (Text: 168)
Rounds (Text: 155-156)
Quodlibets (i.e., partner songs) (Text 156-157):
e.g., Three Blind Mice/Row Row Row Your Boat/Are You Sleeping
e.g., Rocky Mountain/Great Big House/ Dinah, Dinah
Homophonic Music (Text: 160-162)
The use of multicultural music in the academic class:
Demonstration of book and CD: Roots and Branches by Patricia Shehan Campbell,
ISBN 0-937203, 53-X
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: publications by Calicanto Associates
High DO – Extended pentatonic scale
Anacrusis (i.e., pickup, upbeat) (Text 39, 84, 241)
Teaching process based on “The Five Steps of Teaching Meter”
Low SOL
Low LA
Phrase (Text 124)
Question-answer (Text 228)
Classical period
16th note rhythmic units
tiri-tiri (Text 135, 283)
ti-tiri
tiri-ti
FA
Hand signs, staff notation
Scale passage - Do-La
DO hexachord
Guido d’Arezzo - The six note gamut
The Guidonian Hand
Ti (i.e., leading tone)
Major scale (Text 69)
Whole and half steps (Text 64)
Accidentals (Text: 65-66)
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Formula for the major scale (Text 68)
Scale passage
Key Signature (Text 70)
How to locate the tonic based on the key signature (Text: 71-74)
Relative minor scale– LA minor (Text: 74-76)
Dotted quarter and 1/8th, 1/8th and dotted quarter notes (Text: 26)
Dotted 8th/16h and 16th/dotted 8th
Musical sequence
Example: “Blow the Winds Southerly”
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