Music Camp: Day One

Fun with Composers was a big hit!  I played the music for the students and asked for ideas of what it might sound like.  I am using Persian March by Johann Strauss.  Without knowing the title, one boy said it sounded like marching off to battle.  Other great answers were: "sounds like a circus", "sounds like a fair", "sounds like dancing."

We used the suggested drum beat to get students to feel the movement.  She suggests tapping the drum in different patterns and making those patterns match a movement.  So a simple beat tapped on the head of the drum was marching and taping on the rim was hopping.  When you tap the drum three times fast the kids had to freeze.  It was a lot of fun and very easy.   We added percussion instruments and every child seemed to be engaged in the activity.

Along with that activity, I introduced the quarter note and eighth notes.  We clapped some rhythm cards.  I added words to the rhythms to go along with the theme of the camp, which is Noah's Ark.  Quarter notes are "Zoo" and a pair of eighth notes are "Monkey."



We played a game called find the monkey.  I would clap a four beat rhythm of quarter notes and insert a pair of eighth notes on one of the four beats.  Students had to tell me which beat the monkey was on.  For older students I added two monkey rhythms.

Fun With Composers

I am currently preparing to teach at a music camp and I am using a series called Fun with Composers by Deborah Ziolkoski.  The series teaches classical music through stories, songs and instruments.  It comes with a Teacher's Guide, a DVD that shows you how to implement the lessons and a CD of the recordings.  


I have enjoyed learning the story and dances that go with the music.  I think this will be a fun way to interact with a piece of music that the children are not familiar with.  I am using the Persian March by Johann Strauss.  In the book it has been turned into a fun pirate story.  A music map outlines the form of the piece and reminds the students of some movements.  Instruments are added last to compliment some of the story line.  


I think the series could deal more with the musical aspects of the piece.  It does include some music notation of the piece, but no real analysis of pitch or rhythm.  You could use this book if you had no music knowledge, which I guess could be a positive.  However, I like to talk about the music and how it was put together, analyzing pitch, rhythm, instruments, articulation, dynamics, etc. . 


This series is geared toward 3rd-7th grade, mainly because of the dancing.  I think it could be adapted for a younger audience.  


One obvious problem is the association of words and story to a piece of music.  The student might come to believe that the composer intended Persian March to be a pirate story.  Throughout our culture classical music has been used in various media to portray many things.  It is one of purest forms of music which lends itself to different interpretations.  ART!  So we need to be careful when assigning themes and ideas to music.  


I am going to try and address this by playing the music first and getting ideas of what the students are thinking about when they hear the music.  


I ultimately think the benefits of learning a piece in such a creative way outweighs the limitations it may create in the listening process.  As I go through this week I will update you on our progress and mention a few other things I have the children working on.  See more my review in the Music Camp posts

Buckets of Fun

Here is a fun summertime game to promote note naming. 

I place the "Buckets of Fun" board on a table or piano lid.  Students take turns trying to throw a bingo chip or penny on to the board.  If any part of the chip lands on the bucket they are to draw the note on my
Staff Board.

Students take turns trying to land their chip on a bucket.  Whoever gets all of the letters first wins.

You can make this even more challenging by not letting the students use the same note on the staff twice.  For instance if they land on C and someone has already drawn middle C, they have to draw a different C.

If you don't have a magnetic staff board you can print one out through this link to use in this game.
Staff Board
You can choose from the large Staff or the smaller staff that fits on one page.  Student can just write the note on the staff.

*Tip if you put your staff board in a page protector you can write on it with dry erase markers and use it again and again

Google Docs: Buckets of Fun

Staff Board

Here are two different size staff boards for use in games.

If you need a big staff for bingo chips or other manipulatives, you can print out the Big Staff and cut and paste it together on card stock.

The One Page Staff is best used by putting it in a sheet protector.  This not only makes your materials last longer, but you can use dry erase makers on the sheet protector and the markings wipe off.

One great thing I like to do before I give my students their new piece for the week is write some of the melody on a staff and have the student analyze and sight read the section.  This improves focus and sometimes we can work a trouble spot that I know will frustrate the student.

Some of my students see a whole piece of music and want to jump right in, but isolating a section helps them concentrate on just that part. Sometimes I have the student write the passage on the staff, promoting note recognition.

Google Docs: One Page Staff

Google Docs: Big Staff

Summer Songs

Swimming in the sea  
Sung to: "Doo-wa diddy diddy"

There I was just swimming in the sea

Singing Dooo wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo

All the sudden there's a dolphin next to me

Singing doo wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo

She swam fast she swam fast

she dove deep she dove deep

she swam fast dove deep

Hey this dolphin's pretty neat!!

Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy doo

Other verses:

Dolphin-swimming

Crab-pinching

Whale - breaching

Shark swimming

Mermaids plug nose and shimmy down

Teaching Ideas:

1. Use pictures to show students the different animals in the ocean

2. Do the hand jive: Pat Pat, clap, clap, hand over hand 2x, hand under hand 2x, fist pound 2x, switch hand on top for 2 more fist pounds, right thumb over shoulder, left thumb over shoulder.

Google Docs: Ocean Creatures 1

Google Docs: Ocean Creatures 2

Five Little Fishies in the Sea

Five little fishies in the sea  teasing Mr. sharky

You can't catch me  you can't catch me

Well along came Mr. sharky (softly) as quiet as can be 

He snapped! a fish up right out of the sea. 

Count down to 0

Teaching Ideas:

1. Have children pretend to be the fishes and one be Mr. Sharky and act out the song.  Other children can pretend to be the waves or other fish or sharks

2. Use a higher number and subtract two or three fishies each time for a math lesson

Google Docs: Five Little Fishes

Sea Gull song Sung to: "Frere Jacques"

I see sea gulls I see sea gulls,
At the beach, At the beach,

Soaring, diving, fishing,
Soaring, diving, fishing,
At the beach, At the beach.

Other verses:
I hear the ocean, I hear the ocean,
At the beach, At the beach,

Crashing, splashing, foaming
Crashing, splashing, foaming,
At the beach, At the beach.

I feel the breeze, I feel the breeze

At the beach, at the beach

Windy, blowing, blustry

Windy, blowing, blustry

At the beach, At the beach

Teaching Ideas:

1. Think of other things you can see, hear and feel at the beach.

2. Add actions to the words.  You can clap on "at the beach" or act out the describing words

Slippery Fish

Thumb and forefinger close and open for this small fish

Slippery fish, slippery fish

swimming in the water

A slippery fish, a slippery fish

Gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by a

Hand opens and closes

Jellyfish, a jelly fish

swimming in the water

A jelly fish, a jelly fish

gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by a

Both hands joined at the palm open and close

Tuna fish, a tuna fish

swimming in the water

A tuna fish, a tuna fish

gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by a

Both arms joined at the elbow open and close

Great White Shark, a great white shark

swimming in the water

A great white shark, a great white shark

gulp, gulp, gulp

OH NO! He's been eaten by an

Both arms make a big open and close

Enormous Whale, an enormous whale

Spouting in the water

Enormous Whale, enormous whale

Gulp, gulp, BURP!

Excuse ME!

Teaching Idea:

1. Before you sing see if the students can put the fishes in order from smallest to biggest

2. Act out the song with students pretending to be the fish.

Google Docs: Slippery Fish

Sunny Primer Notes

For my younger students I wanted to include a game that drilled the introductory notes from Bass C-Treble G.  For the notes they have not learned we either take turns or figure out what the unknown note's name is.

Students draw cards and match them to the correct note.  You can use bingo chips to cover the notes they get right.  I also went around the sun and had the students play the note on the piano.

Google Docs: Sunny Primer Notes

Sunny Enharmonic Bright Spots

Here is a matching game to reinforce Enharmonic Notes along the same lines as my Sunny Circle of Fifths.  Students pick from the pile of cards and match the card to the correct note on the sun.

There are other ways to use this resource

• Flip the cards over in a grid pattern and play a memory game.  Try to pick the two cards that match.  F# - Gb
• Pick a card and play the note on the piano
• Players pick a color to represent their player (red bingo chips, pennies, candy, etc.) Take turns picking a card and placing a token on the correct key.  If you get two tokens on the same note, then you win that note.  Whoever has the most notes at the end wins the game.  You will need a lot of matching tokens, so I use bingo chips on a paper keyboard to play this version.

By the way, I have had bingo chips and pennies get stuck in my piano.  I had to call the tuner for a pennectomy, as he called it.  I now use paper keyboards when games call for tokens and things that can get stuck.  I've learned my lesson! 

Sunny Games on TPT

Goggle Docs: Sunny Enharmonics