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| Dramatis personae |
To kick off the maps theme a couple of weeks ago, Kindergarteners loved hearing the story of Ms. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle, two star-crossed friends with very different voices. Mrs. Wiggle lived in the the highest tower of a castle on top of the highest mountain, with a high-pitched voice to match. Mr. Waggle, on the other hand, lived in the very bottom of the deepest sea with, of course, a low, deep voice. Both get lonely while home alone, so travel down hills and up valleys to find a friend. their voices changing in pitch as they change in altitude. At the end of the story, they meet on a unison pitch.
Simple enough, right? The Kindergartners could not get enough of this story!
They retold the story and illustrated it with improvisations on the barred instruments, playing higher or lower notes as the characters went higher or lower. Then the students, always eager to draw, drew maps of the paths between the two houses or the houses themselves. Finally, students worked with partners to arrange bits of yarn to map the paths between the houses, then took turns singing each other's paths. Students were quite involved and creative in laying out their paths, and took pride in showing and singing the paths to the rest of the class.
This was a great way to prepare for music reading, when higher pitches are higher on the page. Also, students were able to use visual, kinesthetic, and interpersonal intelligences to build on their musical intelligence. I heard some of the children's head voices for the first time in music class.
Many thanks to Janet Greene for the idea for this story, which I experienced at the San Francisco Orff workshop this past summer.
