I would love to individually assess all of my students on rhythm reading. In reality, that isn't always possible during class because of limited time, shy students, and concert prep time among a million other things. Have access to iPads? The camera/video app can solve your assessment woes! You don't even need a whole class set for this to work!
During the 2nd quarter, I used my beginner Nutcracker rhythm composition kit with my 2nd graders. They were instructed to create a 4 beat pattern, read the rhythm using ta's/titi's/to-o, read the rhythm using the Nutcracker words, and then record themselves.
Tips for Videos
1. After students have pressed record, make sure you have them pause briefly before saying anything. Sometimes kids start speaking before they are recording without realizing.
2. In order to identify which recording belongs to which student, have them say their first and last name as well as their homeroom/classroom teacher before they start whatever part they will say for the assessment.
3. If you choose to have students email their assessments to you, organize the video files by creating a folder for each classroom teacher.
4. Don't have access to a full set of iPads? Use it as part of centers activity!
Gathering Student Work
My school is fortunate enough to have a Google Drive folder for each child. Students uploaded their videos to their folders. I was able to go into their folders after school to assess their videos. If you don't have a Google Drive system set up at your school, don't fret! These videos are small enough to be emailed. Here's how:
1. Go to the camera roll and select the most recent video. Then tap on the icon that's in the bottom left side of the screen.
2. Select the video you want to send. The current video will come up already selected.
3. Select the send via mail option. The video will automatically compress once you tap the mail icon.
Starting out lessons with a quick video is a great way to get students hooked on the day's lesson. Here are a few short videos to go along with singing games on musical opposite concepts high/low, fast/slow, and loud/soft.
High/Low
Videos:
Games:
Andy Pandy
Students march to steady beat and then freeze on high to reach as high as they can and low to touch their toes. Add another level by having students march in a circle.
Sigh High, Sing Low
Students stand in a circle and pass a dog (or other stuffed animal) to the student they call. In order to show who has had a turn, have students keep one hand on their head until the stuffed animal is passed to them.
Fast/Slow
Videos:
Games:
Rig-A-Jig-Jig
This song is sung slowly until the fermata. After the fermata, the song picks up in tempo.I like to drag the first part out to really show contrast to the second part. To play the game, students sit in a circle. One student is chosen to walk slowly around the circle while students sing. When the class reaches the fermata, the student taps the shoulder of whoever is in front of them. The chosen student then chases the student around the circle and attempts to tag him/her before the song ends.
I do not have much room for chasing in my small music room so instead of having students running/chasing, I had both students gallop around the circle without trying to tag each other. They enjoyed it just as much without the competitive part.
Loud/Soft
Games:
Grizzly Bear
Students sit in a circle while one student(the sleeping grizzly bear) sits outside of the circle facing away from the rest of the group. One student in the circle is chosen to "wake" the grizzly bear by tapping the grizzly bear on the shoulder during the last two lines of the song (please be very quiet....). When students sing the word mad, the grizzly bear turns around and has three guesses to find who tapped them on the shoulder.
This post is a part of Fermata Fridays! Click above for other great music education posts.
Incorporating literacy into music is an important part of my classroom. Celebrate Music in Our Schools Month and Women's History Month with these 5 books!
1. For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart by Elizabeth Rusch
Many people know about Wolfgang Mozart but his sister is lesser known. This story tells of a brilliant pianist who toured along side her brother. The book is based on actual letters written within the Mozart family.
2. Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat Ella Fitzgerald by Roxanne Orgill
This wonderful story tells about Ella Fitzgerald's life from her childhood to her professional singing days. A great biography written for children so they can understand.
3. Clara Schumann: Piano Virtuoso by Susanna Reich
This book is more suitable for older children. It is a chapter book with 118 pages on Clara Schumann's musical life. The book includes diary entries and letters by Clara.
4. Little Piano Girl: The Story of Mary Lou Williams by Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald
Just like Mozart, Mary Lou Williams began playing the piano very young and became a professional musician before she was a teenager. As a jazz pianist, she had the opportunity to arrange music for famous players such as Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie.
5. Harlem's Little Blackbird by Renee Watson
This story features Florence Mills, a lesser known singer from the 20s. Her singing and dancing dazzled audiences on broadway.
Have an old Wii? Use it in your class through the game Wii Music! It's a fun treat for use in centers or as a full class review!
What You'll Need
Wii Console
1-4 Wii Controllers
1-4 Wii Nunchuck Controllers (some games can be played without it but some also require it)
Wii Music Game - purchase it used for under $5 from Amazon or Game Stop
Introduce the Activity: How to Play Wii Music
The lessons option can help you to introduce how Wii Music works to your students. Select Jam Basics to show students how to use the controllers.
What Games & Skills Does Wii Music Cover?
Jam Session
Select Custom Jam Session to let your students choose song, instruments, and venue. The band set up allows students to choose a bass, chord, percussion, melody, and harmony instrument. Instruments range from traditional such as violin and trumpet to world such as the sitar and castanets. Bouncing blobs at the bottom show students the steady beat, which can help reinforce playing in time/on the steady beat. At the end, students can watch their performance by selecting View Replay.
Pitch Perfect
This game is a great way to reinforce aural skills. A player is randomly selected to complete a challenge. These challenges include tasks like putting notes in order from high to low, finding the Mii who plays the same pitch as the given pitch(picture below), finding the instrument(out of a group of 4 instruments) who made a mistake in the music, picking the group that sings "like a sunny day" (major vs minor), and many more. Players earn points by selecting the correct answer. The quicker they find the answer, the more points they earn. This game can be used as a whole class review in single player mode.
Mii Maestro
This game allows players to become orchestra conductors. The Wii controller becomes the baton. When more than one controller is involved in this mini game, the object is to conduct at the same time. This game can be used to reinforce steady beat and give students a chance to experience what it's like to be in front of an orchestra. At the conclusion of the game, a score is given on how accurate the conductors were. I will warn you, the multiplayer aspect of this game is more difficult than you'd think!
Handbell Harmony
Use the Wii controller and nunchuck to form a handbell choir! Follow the colored handbells on the screen, which tell when you should play. This game can be used to reinforce playing rhythms in time. One trick I've found is you should try to play your handbell slightly before it gets to the yellow strip.
This month, my kinders are starting to explore short and long sounds. We transitioned to call these short and long sounds ta and titi during this week's classes through 2-4-6-8 Meet Me at the Garden Gate.
I believe 2-4-6-8 is meant to be a chant but I wanted to add pitches to continue to reinforce sol-mi-la. Here's what I did:
After discovering one sound in one steady beat is a ta and two sounds in one steady beat is a titi, I added a partner hand clapping activity. First we practiced keeping the steady beat by using a pat-clap pattern. Then I had them practice pat-clap-pat-hands up. The hands up motion preps them for high five-ing their partner later. Once students can comfortably sing and do the pat-clap-pat-hands up motion, I put them into partners. First we practiced the pat-clap-pat-high five partner motion alone and then we put it with music!
