Do Re Music Notes April 15th

Today's lesson was from First Steps in Music, a wonderful book by John Feierabend. First Steps in Music is a curriculum based on classic folk songs, chants and tunes. The children really had a blast today and I think that stands testament to the fact that not everything has to be new and modern. It's important that we do not forget about all the great music that has been handed down to us by the music makers of long ago...

Vocal warmup- To warm up our voices for class I played a slide whistle and the children imitated the sound it made.

Echo Song- The children echoed me as we sang the song. Oh my! (Oh my!) No more pie! (No more pie!)

Simple song- For the next few lessons I will be teaching the children a simple song using Do Re and Mi. This month's song is Frog in the Meadow.(Frog in the meadow, can't get him out, take a little stick and stir him about)

Arioso- These are tunes that the children create! Just as children develop a repertoire of words and are able to create original sentences, the children will be invited each class to make up original tunes and songs. Today I introduced this concept by demonstrating the difference between my speaking voice and my singing voice. Eg."I talk like this", and "I sing like this".

Movement Exploration-Today I pretended to have a bottle of bubbles and a bubble wand. I blew imaginary bubbles out to the group. Each child allowed a bubble to land in the palm of his or her hand. As we listened to "Carnival of the Animals, Aquarium" by Saint Saens we pretended to lift the bubble in the air as high as we could, watch it fall, quickly catch the bubble before it touched the ground. Using an imaginary straw we blew the bubble so large we could step inside it. We painted the inside of the bubble. At the end of the activity our bubble became smaller and smaller until it fit into the palm of our hand again. When the music was over, we popped the bubble!

Fingerplay-
Chop chop chippity chop (with one hand tap on the floor in front of you)
Cut off the bottom and cut off the top (continue tapping)
What there is left (scoop up chopped vegetables with both hands)
We'll put in the pot (place vegetables in the pot in middle of circle)
Chop chop chippity chop (resume tapping)

Beat Motions- As I played the hand drum I sang this song. "Listen , listen, here I come, Someone special gets the drum." Each child took turns drumming to the beat of the song.

Song Tale- I sang the song "I Had a Little Rooster". Children chimed in when they knew the lyrics. This is a really fun sort of alternate version of "Old MacDonald"