4-5 Solfege/Rhythm Preparation Activities
1.Ti’
Stage One: Developing Kinesthetic Awareness
1. Sing and point to a representation of the melodic contour at the board.
2. Sing and show the melodic contour of the entire song
3. Sing with rhythm syllables and show the melodic contour
Stage Two: Develop Aural Awareness
Sing while keeping the beat before asking each question. Review Kinesthetic activities
Determine the number of beats per phrase and the direction of the melody
Determine the solfege syllables from the lowest to highest note
Determine the minor second intervals
Sing the entire phrase on solfege and show hand signs
Stage Three: Develop Visual Awareness
Assess Kinesthetic and aural awareness by allowing the class to perform several of the kinesthetic and aural
awareness activities
1. The instructor hums the target phrase and asks the students to create a visual representation of the
melody of the target phrase. The students may use manipulatives
2. The students share their representations with each other
3. The instructor invites one student to the board to share his or her representations.
4. The students sing with a neutral syllable and point to their representation
5. Sing the phrase with rhythm syllables
2.
TW begin singing the Birch Tree, reviewing the song learned during the two previous lessons. TSW begin
singing with the teacher.
1. After, singing the Birch Tree twice, TW ask “how many different pitches did we sing in the first
phrase?”
2. TSW answer five
3. TW ask the students to sing the five pitches on loo”
4. TSW sing the five pitches on “loo”
5. TW ask the students, “ Does anyone know the name of the lowest pitch in solfege syllables?”low
la”
6. TW ask, if low la is the name of the lowest pitch, what is the solfege syllables for the highest
pitch? “mi”
7. TW review the solfge syllables the students know” la,so, fa, me, re, do, low la” Tell the students
to sing our new solfege syllable using “loo”
8. TSW will sing mi-re-do-loo-la
9. TW ask the students “ how would you describe our new sound in relation to la?” “Higher”
10. TW ask “how would you describe our new sound in relation to do? “lower”
11. TW tell the students that our new note is called “ti”. TW will show the hand sign.
12. TW sing the first phrase of Birch Tree using solfege and hand signs. TW signal to students to echo
phrase one, signing Birch Tree with solfege and hand signs.
13. TW present the position of la on the solfege steps
3.Eighth note followed by a dotted quarter note
Focus Song: Billy Boy
Stage One: Developing Kinesthetic Awareness
1. Sing and point to a representation of the melodic contour at the board.
2. Sing and show the melodic contour of the entire song
3. Sing with rhythm syllables and show the melodic contour
4. Sing Billy Boy while performing a rhythmic ostinato
Stage Two: Develop Aural Awareness
Sing while keeping the beat before asking each question. Review Kinesthetic activities
Determine the number of beats in phrase on.
Determine the number of sounds on each beat
Sing the phrase with rhythm syllables and short long.
Stage Three: Develop Visual Awareness
Assess Kinesthetic and aural awareness by allowing the class to perform several of the kinesthetic and aural
awareness activities
1. The instructor hums the target phrase and asks the students to create a visual representation of the
melody of the target phrase. The students may use manipulatives
2. The students share their representations with each other
3. The instructor invites one student to the board to share his or her representations.
4. The students sing Billy Boy with a neutral syllable and point to their representation
5. Sing the phrase with rhythm syllables
4-5 Solfege/ Rhythm Presentation Activities
4. Ti’
Stage One: Label the sound
The teacher and student sing the eight pitches of the major scale from low to high with solfege
syllables. The teacher specifically names it a major diatonic scale.
The teacher hums the major diatonic from low to high. The students echo with solfege syllables
and hand signs
The teacher hums that major diatonic scale from high to low. The students echo with solfege
syllables and hand signs.
Stage Two: Present the Notation
Present the pattern for the major diatonic scale and note the position of the half step intervals.
When we write the pitches of Johnny is Gone for a Solder in ascending order, we discover that
there are seven adjacent pitches. We can label these pitches with solfege syllables, do-re-mi-fa-sola-ti-do’. This scale is called the major scale. Mark the half steps between mi-fa and ti-do.
5.
Introduce a harmonic scale to the students by writing up on the board the solfege syllables do, re, mi, fa,
sol, la, ti, and do. Sing together the major scale along with do-mi-sol patterns while using hand signs.
Switch out sol with si and explain that in harmonic minor, the solfege starts on la and continues in the same
way, but stops on la. Switch the solfege syllables around on the board. Have students sing a harmonic
minor scale as well as la-do-mi patterns while using hand signs.