An elementary classroom is an exciting place where students learn a variety of skills. We sing, play instruments, dance, read music, compose, improvise, and learn to listen thoughtfully. We use our critical thinking skills every day as we arrange new music, transfer skills from body percussion to instruments, compose and create new melodies and accompaniments, and much more. Here are just a few examples of the creative things that happen every day in music class.
Singing and MovingSinging is a critical skill for musicians. Even musicians who decide to focus primarily on playing an instrument sing every day in lessons and rehearsals. Sight-singing is a skill that every college-bound musician must be able to do if they are to pass through introductory courses in music. Students in primary grades start singing by echoing basic patterns and intervals. We learn sung nursery rhymes, "fingerplays," and singing games like "Itsty Bitsty Spider" and "Old McDonald."
As a student's capacity to understand grows, we learn more difficult songs with increasingly complex forms and structures. We sing cumulative songs like "The Farmer in the Dell," songs in minor tonalities like "Don Gato," and songs with multiple parts and harmonies. Eventually our studies in reading notation sync in with singing as students begin to sing from basic written notation. |
Playing INstrumentsWe start playing instruments in K-2 by echoing rhythmic patters from the teacher. Eventually students learn to keep a steady beat on the instruments and then transfer that skill to xylophones and other barred percussion instruments. Students learn to play rhythms, ostinato patterns, and accompaniments on instruments so that some students can sing while others accompany.
As skills develop, kids are taught to improvise on the instruments and learn to play a variety of pitched and non-pitched instruments from recorders and xylophones to drums, sleigh bells, and so much more. Students learn to play melodies on instruments like the recorder and also accompaniments on instruments like the xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels. Depending on the resources of the school, I am prepared to teach instrumental ensembles of ukulele, guitar, or other string instruments along with regular instruction of classroom instruments. |
Reading and notatingStudents start to identify letters, sounds, sentences, and numbers in kindergarten homerooms. At the same time, students are identifying basic musical notes like the quarter note and eighth note. Over time students learn to read those notes in different combinations and patterns. Eventually new and more difficult notes are added and students begin to read longer, more complex rhythms.
Reading rhythms is a hard enough skill, but we don't stop there. Students learn that notes can go up and down and learn that when a note goes is higher its accompanying sound is higher. When a note is lower its sound is played or sung lower. Eventually students learn to read notes that go up and down and become aware of melodic direction. When they leave my classroom they should be able to sing patterns from written music and play them on a variety of pitched instruments including barred percussion and recorders. |
Composition and ImprovisationSoon after students learn to read notes we ask them to recreate the shapes of the notes on whiteboards and using manipulatives. Eventually students are asked to put those notes into different patterns creating rhythms. Students are taught about note value and are shown how a composer can create long-form songs using different forms and techniques. When we make the leap to reading melodic patterns students are asked to move notes up and down on a staff, creating their own melodies.
Improvisation is a part of the process of learning to compose and create. We use singing games to encourage students to improvise new dance moves, words, and variations. Students grow comfortable creating something new on the fly. Slowly they are asked to improvise longer and more complex passages. By the time they leave the elementary level they should be able to improvise in front of other as they sing, play instruments, or dance. |
Guided ListeningA musician is only as good as their ear. In primary grades we teach students to listen for differences in sound: loud vs. soft, high vs. low, fast vs. slow. We ask students to listen for patterns and identify when sounds change. By listening to master works like Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" we teach students to listen for motives, instruments, and changes in texture. When a students is aware of the elements of form in a song, they are better active listeners and are more engaged in the listening process.
How do you teach a student to listen? Start by making it a game. Tell a student to listen for a certain sound and raise their hand when they hear it again. Give a student a scarf and ask them to hold the scarf aloft when they hear a high sound and lower the scarf when they hear a low sound. Show students how to follow listening maps and eventually teach them to create their own. Let older students respond to writing prompts and write about what they hear or how the music makes them feel. |
Folk Dance and movementCarl Orff (a prolific composer and music educator) once said, "Elemental Music is never just music. It's bound up with movement, dance and speech, and so it is a form of music in which one must participate, in which one is involved not as a listener bust as a co-performer." We teach students to dance and move to the music so that they gain awareness of their body, personal space, and the connections between movement and music.
Students should learn how to express themselves through movement and also learn formal styles of dance. Some lessons might include elements of expressive movement where students must match their movements to the contour of the melody, beat of the drum, or form of the song. Other lessons might include formal dance styles like the folk dances that our forefathers made so popular. Students should leave elementary school with a basic understanding of lines dances, circle dances, square dances, reels, and more. |