Schema song-cornerstone orff arrangement

If you're school is working on cornerstone literacy, you might want to try this song with your music classes. This is a song about using information you already learned to make connections to what you're reading today.



It's set to the tune of "Where is Thumbkin". Click image to make it bigger.

Podcast 2-Mrs. Fisher's 3rd Graders sing "Ghost of Tom"

These 2 songs were both performed by Mrs. Fisher's 3rd Grade Class at Georgetown Elementary. Very spooky and kinda gross song, ghost of tom is first sang in a two-part round, then in the second clip sang with a simple bordun accompaniment on various size xylophones and glockenspiel. This class is talented!







See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.

Podcast-Mrs. Freeman's 2nd Grade-Skin and Bones

This is Mrs. Freeman's 2nd graders performing "There was an old lady all skin an bones". This is their second day singing it and first day adding the bordun on the xylophones.



See more Audio at TeacherTube.com.

Proper Recorder Teaching

Today I was teaching a class. It was a group of, oh, let's say 5th graders (their grade level may or may not have been changed to protect their identities.) Well, anyway, I had not taught this class in a while, but of course, being the horrible teacher I am, I acted like they were on the same level as my other classes. I tried to be patient, but these kids wouldn't be quiet and as a result, could not play claire de lune on their recorders. Of course, my mistake, as I mentioned two sentences ago, was the fact that I was going way too fast with them. So here's proper recorder instruction people (I think):

(update: since I originally posted this blog, I taught another difficult class trying the method outlined below and got much better results.)
Claire de lune:

1. Write all of the notes on the board like dis:

GGGA B_ A_
GBAA G____

2. Have students say the names of the first four letters, while pressing the right keys/holes

3. Repeat step two until the students can finger the notes correctly.

4. Have students play the first four notes: GGGA-maybe get a couple of volunteers to play this by itself

5. Repeat steps 2-4 on each 4 beat section of the song

6. Combine all notes and have class play it together.

7. Give 1 or 2 minutes independent practice time.

8. Test individuals or small groups on the complete song and give out stickers.

---This is the way I'm a gonna try it next time....Maybe I've learned from my mistake this time???...We'll see.

Great boomwhacker youtube videos

I love this video! I wish I could do something like this with my kids. It woudl just take too much time, though....well, maybe one day:



Now here's one that I actually have tried with Fourth and Fifth graders and surprise! It worked great! We even did it at a PTA meeting.:

Glockenspiel rhythm idea

You may notice that I write a bunch of stuff on this blog that is not directed to the public, but to me, myself and I. The reason for this is simple. I'm the only one who reads this blog....so, why am I putting this disclaimer anyway?

OK, here's the problem. In my Orff, level one course, as well as in Denise Gagne's Orff Source book, most of the glockenspiel parts are quarter notes played on beat 1 or 4 of each measure. I have had a tough time trying to get kids to play on beats 1 and 4 only, especially while everyone else is playing oom pah oom pah on alto and bass xylophone or even worse, the evil rhythm known as "will, you, be my friend!".
Here is an example of what i'm talkin' bout (click to make it bigger):


So, my idea is simple...cuz I've been doing it all wrong. Here's the sequence I'm going to try:

1. Teach kids to say "pat rest rest pat - pat rest rest pat" over and over again while making the up motion on every rest

2. Have half the kids keep a steady half note or quarter note beat while the other half says and pats the pat rest rest pat glock part

3. Split the groups into three parts like this:
Part A: pat rest pat rest -bass
Part B: res pat res pat -alto
Part C: pat res res pat -glocks

4. Transfer to instruments and repeat (or maybe start off on instruments to save time)

5. Sing a song that goes with a basic chord bordun while kids play accompaniment.

I'm not going to ask them to sing until we've practiced this a few times.

OK, that's it....I'll let you know if it works and maybe do a recording once I get this podcast thing figured out.

Plans for podcasting

This is an idea that I hope pans out. If it does, I'll do another post later to let all of my readers (that's me...my only reader) know how it goes.

I signed up for a free account with http://www.teachertube.com/, so that I can make my own podcasts online. Teachertube's audio section allows me to post audio on the internet and embed it here on my blog.

What I would like to do is to record my kids singing, and post it on the internet. I don't have any fancy recording device, though, so I'm going to do the following:

1. Record the kids using my old cassette tape recorder.
2. Using a male-ended cord I got from radio shack, I will plug the tape recorder into the microphone input on my computer.
3. Using audacity (a free program you can download on the internet...google it) I will record the song onto my computer and edit it
4. finally, using teachertube, I will upload the song and e-mail it to my principal and parents to hear.

It sounds like a good idea, but only time will tell...I'll let you know if it works.