Two of the 4th grade classes had the privilege of having Miss K., a field student from Oakland University, teach their classes over the last couple of weeks. We had decided in advance that Miss K. would continue teaching lessons for the form unit. Because Miss K. is a percussionist, we thought it would be really neat to focus on a percussion song, specifically without the use of a melody. Usually, it is easiest to identify sections within a song by listening to the melody. In a percussion piece, however, other musical elements such as rhythm patterns and layers of sounds help us to identify when a section change occurs. The best part, though, was that Miss K. created her very own percussion song and recorded it at Oakland University. The students absolutely LOVED the song, and were excited to learn drumming techniques they heard in the song. And of course, we were able to learn from the pro! How cool! Thanks Miss K. for planning such fabulous lessons! Side note: Because I loved the lesson so much, I will be doing the same lessons with the other 4th grade class who never got to meet Miss K.! Below, I have Miss K's original song as well as the students' performances of the song! I had a few extra recordings of Miss Kalmus' class as well, demonstrating smaller excerpts from the piece. Great work!
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Since these kiddos were young, we have learned that there are usually different parts to every song. We call these "sections" in music. This year, we will focus on how the composer uses differing ideas to create these sections. For example the composer may change the melody, he may change the background music, he may change the instruments being played, or he may change the rhythms. Using these strategies as a composer, we can create sections for any song (sometimes called verses and chorus'), and organize them into any way we want. The overall order or structure of the song is called the "form" of the song. Some songs will begin with an Introduction, go to an A section, then a B section, and finish with an ending called a "Coda". Composers can also create C sections, D sections, etc. and connecting sections called "Bridges".
Below, the kids are listening to various songs with a small group, and solving the form of each song. Afterward, we put movements with each section to physically represent each section. Eventually, the students will be creating their very own compositions, deciding on different sections to include! Can't wait! |
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