LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR LIFELONG MUSICAL ENGAGEMENT
Cynthia Crump Taggart
Michigan State University
taggartc@msu.edu
I. Introductory activity
Love Somebody (1) Major/Duple, American folk song
•Establish tonality using syllables and identify the tonality
•Find pattern (Use tonal syllables)
•Have students sing pattern (first group, then individuals)
•Create a new pattern
•Include that pattern in the context of the song in place of old pattern
II. Goals in the early grades
Lay a foundation for lifelong music learning by focusing on the following:
•Sequenced instruction that will provide the necessary scaffolding to
support student learning.
•Engaging students in all kinds of musicking: Singing, chanting, playing
instruments, listening, analyzing, creating, improvising, composing.
•Development of musically fluent students who have their own musical
ideas and can express them.
III. Musical foci of younger grades: Music is learned in the same way that a
language is learned.
A. Immersing children in a rich musical repertoire.
Diverse in terms of origin
Rich variety of tonalities
Rich variety of meters
Learn standard folk repertoire
B. Audiation of tonality (syntax)
Immersion with focus on resting tone
Children’s Lullaby (K) Major/Multimetric, Native American
• Students move with flow as they listen to teacher sing (body parts)
• Sing song with tonic drone
Little Wind (K) Dorian/Duple
• Move using flow with pulsations (tree in wind)
• Sing song and have students sing tonic
• Introduce Hoberman sphere and have the students open and close to V/I
Labeling
Dance of Zalongou (2) Aeolian 7/8, Greek folk song
• Move with flow to recording
• Establish tonality with syllables and identify tonality
• Catch resting tone in hands and move it with flow as teacher plays
recording or sings. Check to see if it is still there when the music stops.
C. Audiation of meter (syntax)
Immersion in many meters while moving with flow
Braes O’Yarrow (K) Aeolian/Triple, British folk song
• Sing song, moving with flow. Pretend to be stirring soup. (Bound/free)
Experience with flow and flow with pulsations
(Already demonstrated through “Little Wind.”)
Macrobeats and microbeats together
Five Cents Have I (1) Aeolian/Triple, French folk song
• Sing song and rock to macrobeats
• Row w/ a partner and ask the student to describe the movement
• Students row w/ a partner to macrobeats
• Students row w/ a partner to macrobeats while doing microbeats w/
syllables
Engine, Engine (1) Duple, Traditional chant
• “Ch” to microbeats
• “Ch” to macrobeats
• Combine, class do one level of beat while teacher does te other
• Split class in half and have half do each for entire chant. Switch.
• Play switching game.
Labeling
Song of the Pirates (1) Phrygian/Multimetric
• Sway to macrobeats as you sing and ask the students to join you.
• Pat microbeats. Students watch and describe what happens.
• Chant Du De in first part because it is Duple meter and Du Da Di in
second part because it is in triple.
D. Development of tonal and rhythmic vocabulary (with and without
syllables)
Listening: Same/different (examples with rhythm patterns, but could
be tonal patterns)
Little Rondo (K) Major/Duple
• Change lyrics: “Baker’s hat, one, two, three. When it’s on your head you
listen to me.”
• Show same and different w/ hands
Echoing:
• Change lyrics: “Baker’s hat, one, two, three. When it’s on your head you
echo me.”
Creating:
• Perform lyrics as is and have individuals improvise rhythm patterns (can
be without or with syllables)
E. Audiation of harmonic function
La Raspa (2) Major/Duple, Mexican folk song
• Show V and I with fingers and have students sing them to macrobeats.
• Sing song while students sing chord roots (show them the answer at first)
IV. Other principles
Keep it fun and playful. Lots of learning in game format.
Children must have opportunities to respond individually.
We need to measure what our students know.
Use of syllables systems help students organize what they hear and perform.
Before performing something on instruments, the instrumental part should have
been sung or chanted and performed on the body.
All activities are drawn from Jump Right In: The Music Curriculum and are used with
permission of GIA Publications.