The last few workshops I gave, in Grove City, at PMEA, and this past weekend at NAfME; people have asked the same question. How do you get upper elementary and middle school kids, with all of their attitude and crankiness, to buy in to expressive movement and Dalcrozian principles. In this post I’ll share some strategies and lesson ideas for this unique age group that will translate! But first…
Housekeeping:
Here’s a snapshot from my RESEARCH TO PRACTICE workshop at PMEA last week… Thanks to MusicXT Subscriber Anne for taking the photo and sharing it! It was a great workshop and well received.
Here’s a snapshot from the VIRTUAL workshop that NAfME held on Saturday! Thanks to everyone who is a NEW subscriber, including new TEAMM Members:
Patrice
Adwangmusic
MMsammond
From the Archive:
Yes, it’s true, upper elementary and middle school students can be… uncooperative. Finding things that they are willing to do, much less enthusiastic about, can be a challenge. I’ve heard from many teachers who are fighting this good fight every day. I’ve taught middle school at various times in my career, and have a ton of experience with upper-elementary grades. Over the years I’ve found that Dalcroze principles are WONDERFUL for this age group, but there are some specific things you might want to keep in mind.
First of all, if you are fortunate enough to be in a situation in which you are the music teacher for these same students in the primary or elementary grades, you will benefit by the cultural shift. If students have come to expect a certain type of music class over many years of experience, and then you all of the sudden ask them to take off their shoes and prance around the room, they might feel awkward about that. When they’ve had a movement-rich experience in music class all the way through their experience they are likely to embrace it in the upper elementary.
I also recommend you really FOCUS ON THE PHYSICAL! Activities in which the primary goal is the building of a physical technique are very useful for this age group. Here are some suggestions:
Statue/Sculptor Game : Students are in pairs. The students take turns guiding each other into various poses. (I do it in a way where they don’t actually touch.)
Elastic Band Activities : Two or three students hold on to elastic bands and create different shapes with them.
Balance and Float : Activities such as The Astronaut Walk help students shift weight and build balance.
Draw and Dot : This is a classic game that builds range of motion.
Another great thing that has helped my upper elementary teaching is a focus on specific expressive gestures. I use the Laban Effort Actions to build some vocabulary around these techniques. For younger kids, we use lots of imagery and songs to encourage this kind of learning, but for the older kids they don’t go for that! Teaching them in a more targeted and mature way gets better results. Here are a few lessons that demonstrate the kinds of things that fifth graders can do:
Students at this age also really respond to more difficult challenges. Can you introduce mixed meter? How about various sixteenth note patterns? How about cross-rhythms (two against three)? For upper elementary kids, if the activity is easy and boring for you, it probably is for them too. Find some new challenges and see if you can make it interesting. When you have had deep experiences with Dalcroze Eurhythmics, you exude a certain confidence to your students that this work will be worth it, and they will follow you!
The last thing I’ll say is that, in my experience, I’ve found that many upper elementary students feel like they HAVE TO hate everything. I often don’t let their sort of cruddy attitude stop me from doing the things that I believe in. The culture in my classroom is sort of “you don’t have to like it, but you just have to go with it.” By fostering this kind of expectation, I am counting on the fact that many of these students do love these activities, even if they can’t show it. They WANT to participate in the activities but they just can’t admit it. Just be patient with them!