I remember being in my undergraduate elementary methods classes and having to assemble a “folksong anthology.” My methods teacher was a Kodaly devotee and really centered these folk songs in her approach. My recollection was that this anthology was so much work and very time consuming, especially in a pre-internet era (I’m getting so old!). I pulled out this old binder years later when I was hired to teach elementary general music, and I tried incorporating the songs in my classes. For me, it felt unnatural to build lessons around these songs. In fact, it feels unnatural for me to build lessons around songs at all! In this post I’ll show you how I use a song to emphasize a sensation or a concept, and how I think about songs as a tool for discovery. But first…
Housekeeping:
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I used to feel a ton of pressure to find the perfect songs to use in my classroom. I felt, as I was taught in my undergrad programs, that I should have at least one song in every class. It wasn’t until I embraced the Dalcroze approach that I realized the true utility of songs. A perfectly selected song could really provide an opportunity to explore and discover the musical concepts being highlighted through sensation. It isn’t really about learning the song, but rather using it to play with a sensation.
More than anything, I learned that if I didn’t have the perfect song for a particular lesson, it was ok NOT to have one! Eventually, if I couldn’t find the song that fit my lesson, and I really thought it needed one, I would just write one. The goal of MusicXT is to teach the body, to integrate musical sensations into our natural instincts. If the song isn’t serving that goal then I don’t need it.
My Kindergarten students approach rhythms through natural speech. The first set of rhythms we explore are associated with “color words.” We try to connect the words with gestures, and I’m fairly prescriptive of the choreography for each pattern. We’ll chant the words and create various patterns with them, attempting to accurately perform them with gesture. “Can you walk with the music while swinging your arms naturally? Let’s say ‘red’ with each step.”
For the smaller beat level, perhaps we could call them “two eighth notes” I will ask the students to say “yellow” and for the half note we say “blue.” Each gesture is prescribed and practiced as well as put into context both with literacy and with auditory recognition. Here is an old post from the archive that explains some of the color natural speech:
After we’ve played with these rhythms and connected them in various ways, I will introduce the Red Song!
The song is full of creative ways to expand it and have the students contribute to the process of development. Here’s a video explaining the song and suggesting some possibilities to make it fun!