'Fall-ing' in Love with Music

This fall, my students 'fell' in love with some delightful music activities. Although this post is 'post-autumn,' I want to share a few highlights for my readers who might enjoy or adapt these ideas in the future.

Text-based Compositions - Exploring Rhythm, Form, and Tonailty

In twos, students composed phrases based on Halloween- and autumn-themed text. Then a student pair (A) combined their phrase with one other team (B) to create a four-phrase song. I had them choose from these forms: ABAB, AABB, or AABA. We were able to explore rhythm/syllable relationships, D = la pentatonic (minor pentatonic: D, F, G, A, C, D') with Orff instruments, four-phrase form, and the power of collaboration. This project was engaging and easy to implement with my 3rd-5th grade kiddos. My students learned a lot and were proud of their compositions! Details of this learning project and ready-to-go materials are available in my Halloween Words & Rhythms - Literacy and Composing Activities Set.

Exploring Syllables and Rhythm with Iconic Notation

My younger students explored syllabic rhythms using autumn-themed iconic notation. I chanted simple four-beat rhythmic phrases and had students pat the beat on their laps as we repeated the words. (Phrase examples: "pumpkin pumpkin patch patch" or "witch's broom witch's broom." Then we chanted the words and touched pumpkin beats. We 'discovered' that there was one word on each beat, so next, I had students put one candy corn on each beat. Then we finger-tapped the syllables of the phrase and 'discovered' that some beats had more than one sound. And finally, students 'notated' the rhythm by placing additional candies on beats that had two sounds. This was an extension/assessment of the activities we did with my Jack Jack Jack-o-Lantern Rhythm Activities Set.

Conducting with Light Sticks

This picture doesn't look like much, but oh, it WAS! My students absolutely loved conducting classical works and movie themes in the dark, using light sticks as batons. Students were thrilled to practice 2, 3, 4, and 5-beat conducting patterns to selections composed in minor keys. (I was able to make the light sticks last for two days by keeping them in the freezer when we weren't using them.)

Hope these ideas inspire you. Thanks for stopping by!