Human Body Music

We had a great time in Music this month exploring all the different sounds our bodies could make. All groups practiced echoing patterns of "body percussion" - an Orff pedagogical staple to help kids learn and internalize rhythm patterns for composition, playing on the instruments, or just plain fun. The traditional levels include stomping your feet, patting your thighs, clapping your hands, and snapping your fingers.

Kindergartners, at left, worked with partners to see how many different sounds they could make with their hands, then planned, rehearsed, and put on performances for their classmates. I was impressed by the focus these young kids were able to put towards the task. The Ks also enjoyed taking their hands to drums to make a variety of sounds, from smacking them as hard as possible to light tiptoeing around the edge of the drum. The students' favorite moment had to be when I allowed them to take mallets to the drums, allowing them to make much louder sounds. Thankfully, they quickly learned to respond to my conducting cues. We also worked with different ways of using our bodies to express rhymes and poems: singing, speaking, whispering, clapping, stomping, patting, and, the kids' favorite, shouting.

1/2 classes worked on a body percussion composition project. First, they brainstormed things they liked to do in the wintertime, leading to interesting discussions of how different families celebrated different holidays at this time of year. The students then chose their favorite activities to use as rhythmic building blocks, fitting body percussion patterns to the rhythm of the words. The class then voted on their favorite patterns, which we used as a basis to improvise and compose melodies on the barred instruments.
Susan's class chose:

Ice skating

Snowball wars

Spin the dreidel

Bake cookies

Ice skating

Snowball wars

Spin the dreidel

Sleep

while Elaine's class is working with:

Throw snowballs

Build a snowchair

Destroy snowman

Runny nose

We also used an idea of Kit's and learned the traditional song "Dem Bones" using the medical names for the bones (and omitting overt religious references). Here're the first two verses of our adaptation: 

Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
Ezekiel cried, "Dem dry bones!"
"Now hear the names of my bones:

Phalanges connect to the metatarsals,
Metatarsals connect to the tarsals,
The tarsals connect to the tibia,
Now shake dem skeleton bones!

Upper school students echoed more complicated rhythmic patterns using body percussion, including syncopation and Keith Terry's jazzier body percussion techniques and patterns. The 3rd and 4th graders are steadily improving their abilities to echo patterns in 3/4 time, differentiating them from the more common meters of 2/4 and 4/4 time. The students used body percussion to compose ostinati to accompany their recitations of "Slithergadee" and practice hand crossover techniques for barred instrument playing. We also tried out various conducting patterns to help students learn to feel different meters. Most of the students took to conducting immediately, some with extreme vigor, and others with extreme precision and grace.

I also used the human body theme to try some musician's yoga with the 3-6 students. The 3/4 students especially showed immediate improvement in their singing and recorder tone after working through deep breathing exercises.

The 5/6 students put on a performance of their instrumental and vocal piece for the K-2s on Tuesday (the students elected to omit the body percussion element, as they were way more enthusiastic about the instruments). The 5/6s were extremely gracious hosts and hostesses, even inviting the younger students to perform for them at the end. The K-2s were an attentive and enthusiastic audience, with Eli shouting "Encore! Encore!" at the end. Mikey then shared a harp performance with us, and several K-2 students stepped up for a turn at the piano. I was so proud of all! Thanks to the K-2 teachers for taking time out of their busy schedules to give us an audience.

For all grades, I couldn't resist playing parts of the Nutcracker Suite for the children's movement warmups, as one of my favorite seasonal traditions. We also sang traditional songs about the season, Hanukkah, and Christmas, as requested by students. Now, time to enjoy one of the season's best traditions: break!

Poem Recordings

Susan’s class finished recording their poem, Shel Silverstein’s “Tree House” last week. I was impressed with how quickly many of the kids were able to memorize the words. They decided to use whispering, shouting, high-pitched, and “adults telling you what to do” voices for contrast and to convey the meaning of the poem. See if you can pick them out! Elliot inspired us with a rendition of Taio Cruz’ song Dynamite (turns out it’s the favorite pop song of SK K-2, who knew?), and I challenged the kids to put that same energy into their recitation. They obliged: 

Susan's Class Tree house Dec 7 by Cara Music

The kids also made some great decisions about different instruments/timbres to use to accompany the poem. However, we found that when kids had the instruments in front of them, all their concentration went into playing, and they weren’t able to give the poem its due. If we had had more time to rehearse, it could have happened, but they chose to finish and move on. They had a great time and were absolutely in love with how they sounded throughout the process; after hearing their first take, one student said, “There’s no way we can do better than that!” Then they did.


Elaine’s class is taking a bit longer to record their poem, as there was some disagreement about which poem they should do, and they are adamant about using instruments. The students were initially excited about recording their own poems, but ended up voting for Shel Silverstein’s “Magic.” Similarly to Susan’s class, the students are fascinated by hearing their own voices coming out of the music room speakers, and can’t wait to hear how each take comes out. Here’s their December 7 recording, for posterity:

Elaine's class Magic Dec 6 by Cara Music

The 3/4 class is also working on recording “Slithergadee” by Shel Silverstein, to complement our study of triple meters (the poem has a 6/8 feel). They came up with hilarious ideas, but we’ve been so busy working on human body and recorder improvisation studies, we only had time for an informal first take so far:

Chris Slithergadee Dec14 by Cara Music

Author/Illustrator Wrap-Up: Shel Silverstein wins landslide victory

Though I offered a range of choices to each class, the 1/2 and 3/4 classes all chose a Shel Silverstein poem for their recording. Good thing I offered different poems to each class! However, Elaine's class is considering using poems written by students instead ... we'll see how the vote turns out tomorrow! 1/2 classes played with dynamic, tempo and instrumental contrasts to aurally illustrate the meaning of their poems. Their results are shaping up pretty well so far!

3/4s had another magical musical moment with their musical piece based on Japanese haiku and children's games. Some decided to learn the Kagome melody on the recorder, while others sang it in Japanese. We then set the melody to an ostinato (short, repetitive melody) created by two of the children and rounded it out with other ostinati on the low and high barred instruments. The results were lovely. The students were so excited and amazed by the music they created, they exclaimed that they wanted to practice it until Reflections Night in May to share with their parents. I got a little teary-eyed, I'll admit.

5/6s have continued to learn various ways to use their bodies as percussion instruments. They've decided they want to perform an intricate piece involving body percussion and barred instruments for the younger kids at the end of the month. They also decided to add additional body percussion patterns based on the Keith Terry patterns we've been learning. In general, we have been working on ensemble skills, and the kids are improving in their abilities to listen to each other and be considerate ensemble members.

Kindergartners' favorite music activities this week included recording their voices to start their digital portfolios, conducting each other in various locomotor movements (hop, gallop, walk, jump, tiptoe) to a steady beat, and hearing the first half of the story of Whiffle Squeek, sung to the tune of "Aiken Drum."

A Very Special Guest Episode

Nationally-known poet Christine Hume stopped by our 1/2 classrooms this week (full disclosure: she's a parent of one of our first graders, which is how I was lucky enough to get her to come in). She first shared some musical poetry readings done by her and by her college students. The kids were enthralled by the use of electric guitar on one of Christine's poems, and amused by the off-key singing of a college student on "I'm a Nut."

She then invited us to record a poem for One Pause Poetry’s mp3 archive project. The site, to be launched in the next month, will contain a featured audio recording of children and poets reading poetry. A different poem will be featured each day, and all recordings will be forever available in the archive. The website will be at http://www.onepausepoetry.org/. A mockup:

We've read through a few poems in each class. Susan's class voted unanimously for Treehouse by Shel Silverstein and Elaine's class will vote after break. Next up is learning the poem backwards and forwards, then deciding on the characteristics of sound we will use to convey the meaning of the poem, using voices and instruments.

Expressive poetry recitation is not only an important goal in itself, but also improves reading skills and helps children use their voices more effectively in singing. Thanks for this excellent opportunity for an authentic project, Christine!

Body Music!

The 5/6 graders get to start the Human Body theme early, and so have already been learning about all the different types of music that humans can make with our bodies alone. We're so versatile.

Keith Terry heads up the International Body Music Festival, and is a pioneer in performing body music in the US. He gets an amazing variety of sounds from his hands and feet, then combines them with dance and humor. We've begun learning some of his simpler body percussion patterns, which are a great way to combine math and music as well as to continue building rhythmic and ensemble skills.


Keith did an informative segment about body music on PRI's The World:

We've also looked at the African-American art of stepping, and will be looking to Nick Cave's soundsuits and Rahzel's beatboxing as further inspiration to create a performance.

The students were excited to share their budding beatboxing talents, having just learned techniques in Chris' Hip-Hop EB. One student is already able to simultaneously hum a melody and beatbox a rhythm, à la Rahzel. Impressive!

I hope to harness the students' energy and enthusiasm toward creating an effective musical performance...stay tuned!

Author/Illustrator Studies

We're continuing to use books and illustrations to inspire our K-4 music-making. Some highlights:

1/2 classes enjoyed Lizard's Song by George Shannon, both listening to me read and supplying sound effects and singing when necessary (or fun). Elaine recommended the book to me (thanks, Elaine!); it illustrates how satisfying music can be both simple and personal.  Students then composed their own song lyrics based on what was near and dear to them. Subjects ranged from their parents and teachers to video games.

1/2 classes also studied the famous authors "Anonymous" and "Traditional," as collected by Iona Opie and illustrated by Rosemary Wells.
Because of their simple rhythms and interesting subject matter, nursery rhymes make great songs. We used Wee Willie Winkie as an inspiration for movement games and a simple song accompanied by Orff instruments.

Kindergartners have been their own illustrators as we prepare Au Clair de la Lune for their upcoming fête française. Students were especially captivated by Pierrot, the sad clown, and many dictated letters asking him not to be sad so he could tell jokes again. They had some excellent ideas for mood management techniques, as well!

We have been using this and other songs to experience and identify upward and downward pitch movement in music. Students especially loved improvising on the stepped glockenspiel while their classmates followed with movement.

3/4 classes have continued to use their haiku and the song Kagome, Kagome as musical fodder. We experienced a magical musical moment when some students, either by accident or on purpose, began the song a measure after others. Instead of chaos, it sounded gorgeous: the Kagome Canon was born! Students are accompanying themselves on Orff instruments, and learning about ostinati and pentatonic modes in the process.

We also used Opie and Wells' book to aid in learning our next recorder piece, "Cobbler, Cobbler". We will then use this piece as the basis for improvisations in the coming weeks. The kids are super excited about improvising after seeing the Rebirth Brass Band in action at our last field trip.

Why is it dark in the music room?

This week and last, we began our month of Author/Illustrator studies in Music. Our ordinarily light-filled music room was darkened with swaths of fabric hanging in the windows to set the stage for exploring the poems from the book A Pocketful of Stars: Poems about the Night, compiled by Nikki Siegen-Smith and illustrated by Emma Shaw-Smith. Again inspired by lessons designed by Orff educator Brian Crisp, the children first followed a beam of light with their hands and bodies, then later with the sounds of barred Orff instruments in our room. We then read the poem “Night Lights” by Michelle Magorian, and tried to use our conducting and improvisations to illustrate the poem with sound. The students had enormous amounts of fun conducting each other, and discovered characteristics of movement and the different barred instruments as they worked.

The image of a group of children moving as one and slowly stretching toward a beam of light was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in a while. I’m hoping it will be a lasting memory for the children as well as for me.

Our Backyard Wrap-Up

In music classes we've been tying up loose ends in our work exploring the music of our backyard while beginning our month of author/illustrator studies.

Kindergartners finished constructing their instruments and used them to keep the beat to various songs and nursery rhymes we have learned. Instruments ranged from an elaborate "gong" made of sticks and leaves to simply hitting two sticks together (though with great vigor and panache). Many viewed their instrument as a mere prototype of a fabulous instrument constructed in their minds, as they showed when they drew their instruments and instructions in full color. In talking to students about their instruments and drawings, we discovered many interesting observations about the relationship of sounds to vibrations; students talked about "great bangings and shakings" with emphatic interest.

In 1/2 classes, students did an outstanding job collecting a variety of sounds from outdoors, recording them using words and pictures, then deciding in small groups which sounds they wanted to use in a final composition. We discussed as a class how we could use these sounds to make an effective composition by learning about concepts of steady beat, rhythm, melody, and accent. However, we ran into some roadblocks in deciding how to recreate outdoor sounds in the music classroom and realized we needed some additional skill-building in order to create our own rhythm and melody, as students wished to do. So, recordings were postponed while we practice working with rhythms and melodies.

Students in 3/4 music have been exploring connections between nature, instruments, poetry and music. We listened to fragments of NPR's program on connections between music and nature, and have been working on a group project inspired by a lesson by Brian Crisp, an Orff instructor I trained with this summer. Students have been working in groups to create a piece using only their voices, bodies, recorders, and drums to convey nature haiku from: Classic haiku : a master's selection / selected and translated by Yuzuru Miura. We've studied the Japanese children's game song Kagome Kagome as an example of how to compose melodies that sound Japanese. The kids greatly enjoyed the song and have been trying to learn the words in Japanese as well as English translation, at their request. They were thrilled to learn hand drum technique and common patterns. We've also learned valuable lessons on how to work effectively in small groups, and have made great strides in negotiating and cooperation among group members. I have yet to conquer the issue of the enormous amount of noise created by 16 students simultaneously working on recorders, drums, and group negotiations. I'll let you know when I discover the secret (and sell it to music teachers worldwide).

Music field trips

We are extraordinarily lucky to be located within 10 minutes of Hill Auditorium, where UMS brings world-class performers on a regular basis. SK students will be taking advantage of this by going to three of their special youth performances in 2011-2012. We are also in need of chaperones for these events, so please contact me or your child's classroom teacher if you're a parent interested in attending.

The upper school (3-6) will be going to A Night in Treme featuring the Rebirth Brass Band of New Orleans on Friday, November 11 at 11 am. According to UMS, Rebirth Brass Band is "known for combining traditional brass band sound with funk, jazz, soul, and hip hop and for embracing the quintessential New Orleans art form “second line,” whereby the band is followed by jubilant dancing." I'm hoping this will not only be great fun, but also drum up even greater enthusiasm for the SK Winds program that we're working on putting together for the middle schoolers.

Speaking of drumming (couldn't resist), in April the upper school will also be going to see Zakir Hussain, one of the world's greatest percussionists along with the dancing drummers Meitei Pung Cholom. Integrating music and movement is one of the core principles of the SK music program, so it should be exciting and rewarding to see professionals do what we've been struggling toward throughout the year.

The lower school (K-2) will be going to see one of UMS' all-time most popular performers, Sweet Honey in the Rock on Friday, February 17 at 11 am. Sweet Honey in the Rock is an African-American female a cappella group that focuses on exploring social issues and reaching children through music. And boy, can they sing.

Finally, the whole school will be going to the Ann Arbor Symphony's youth performance, Once Upon a Timpani on Wednesday, March 14 at 12:15 pm. The A2SO is a high quality, professional orchestra that puts on a great show. We're also extremely fortunate in having two of the orchestra's musicians, David Ford and Sabrina Lackey, offering private violin, viola, and cello lessons after school right in the SK music room.

The Music of Our Backyard

This week in K-2 music, the weather finally cooperated with my lesson plans and we were able to go outside for parts of music class.

Kindergartners have been tasked with building their own instruments by EcoFair, and had their first materials collection session on Wednesday. Before going out for collection, we had a great discussion about kids’ hypotheses about instrument-making. Ideas about different materials were endless. One of the students’ conclusions was that they could use just about anything to make an instrument … except for poisonous mushrooms and fire. Priceless. Next week, we will continue materials collection, test our hypotheses, and perhaps investigate the properties of flutes. (Kindergartners were especially excited about flutes, perhaps because the older students have started working with recorders.)

Students in the 1-2 classes will be putting together a musical performance inspired by their backyard, to be video-recorded at the end of the month. We’ve already sampled some music and poetry inspired by other people’s backyards. This week we focused on gathering ideas for our performance and collecting sounds in our backyard. This allowed us to explore properties of sound, such as pitch, duration, and timbre. I also read the students excerpts from W.A. Mathieu’s The Listening Book and we discovered how our hearing is improved by closing our eyes. Each student got a miniature composition book to record his or her song ideas. Some students described sounds with words, while others wrote or drew the source of the sound, and still others used creative onomatopoeia. Many heard birds, leaves crunching, buses, their fellow students, and their teacher playing the recorder to get their attention :). 

Recorder mania!

Yes, it's that time again. Each 3rd and 4th grader was given a school recorder on Monday. The Official Recorder Passing-Out Ceremony was accompanied by applause as each student selected their instrument for the year. Returning recorder players impressed the novices with a rendition of "Cambiano," the students' favorite song from last year. During staff meeting, I heard students practicing the song out on the playground, and sounding pretty darn good! Music to my ears.

We have a wide range of recorder skill in our class, so we are beginning with basics of tone production and recorder care. While this may not be the most exciting stuff for our more advanced recorderistos and istas, it offers an opportunity for the experienced to polish their basic technique while letting the novice players try out basic technique. Students will have opportunities to form small groups at their experience level to work on more advanced repertoire as well.

To support home practice and music reading skills, I've ordered an instructional book and CD for each student to borrow. I've found that the easiest way to play an instrument well is to listen to someone else play it well, so selected a method with recordings of each song available. Each song also has an accompaniment track to make practicing more fun (and more rhythmically accurate). Students will receive their books in the next couple of weeks.

If you'd like to enhance your child's playing interest and ability even further, I'd suggest looking into recordings by professional artists, such as Michala Petri and the Pro Arte Recorder Ensemble. The recorder is not only for schoolchildren! It's a genuine musical instrument with a 900-year history. It's a simple instrument to learn to play, but difficult to learn to play well. Good luck on the journey! Those high notes can be ear-splitters ....

What *is* inside a maraca?

Monday in K-2 music, we began each class with a song and dance to give students practice in keeping a steady beat, singing, and being a community. The 1-2 classes seemed to really enjoy singing “Sally Go ‘Round the Sun” and requested it again on Wednesday.

We then explored the world of handheld percussion instruments to prepare for studying percussive possibilities in "Our Backyard." Each student got to choose a handheld percussion instrument, from triangles, cymbals, jingle bells, Claves, Zills, Guiros, a Shekere, and an Agogo. Students put themselves in groups based on the sounds of their instruments, then discussed why their instruments might sound similarly. The kids made many insightful observations about the relationship between instrument sounds, their construction, and vibrations. For example, in Susan’s class, Noah noticed that the small cymbals sounded dramatically different at close range and exclaimed that he could “hear the vibrations.” He then proceeded to demonstrate for every child in class. This led to a discussion of vibrations and distance from our ears. In Elaine’s class, Ella decided that maracas were filled with shells because they sounded so much like her Shekere, which has shells on the outside. I refused to sacrifice my maracas to science, and the students decided they could find out from the instrument makers. Both classes could hear the difference between sounds made with metal and wood, and that differently-sized instruments made different pitches and volumes.

Kindergartners drew their instruments first and were able to categorize instruments with some assistance. They absolutely loved experimenting with the instruments and all show improvement in their ability to keep a steady beat and follow a conductor. I’m impressed! Kindergartners’ favorite rhyme this week was “Little Bo Peep”—almost every child was able to recite it by the end of class. Kindergartners also experimented with finding their “head” voices by making high and low “siren” sounds; sorry to those of you that heard this experiment carried on at home; rest assured that it is the first step toward your child singing in a clear, on-pitch tone.

Hello!

Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year. My name is Cara and I will be your (or your student's) musical tour guide during your Summers-Knoll journey. Keep your seatbelts loosened and be sure to get your head, hands, and feet outside of the vehicle.

I'm excited to begin my first year teaching within the Summers-Knoll community. I've been meeting with the other fabulous faculty for the past few days, and we have such wonders planned ... just you wait.

During the "Our Backyard" theme, students will be encouraged to take a closer listen to the aural environment of SK. We will be sharpening our ears through deep listening activities in and out of the classroom. Also, we will explore how existing musical works have been inspired by composers' natural (and unnatural) surroundings. Finally, we will create our own music and movement pieces inspired by the flora, fauna, sights, and sounds of our SK community. I can't wait!