Monday, September 6, 2010

Musical Opposites

My 1st/2nd grade class has been learning about forte/piano, fast/slow, and high/low over the past few weeks.  Forte/piano and fast/slow went really well.  We've only spent 2 periods on high/low, but I'm confused because some of them just really don't seem to get it...  I think 50% is maybe English miscommnication somewhere, and 50% is maybe that 1st graders can get easily confused.  But it's possible that I'm missing a step somewhere too.  Any help?

Here's what I've done:
  • Today we read an awesome book (thanks, Liz!) that had pictures and voices of different animals.  After I read, we talked about which animals spoke in high voices, and which spoke in low.
  • We've spoken chants in high and low voices.
  • We've sung in high and low voices. (Ok, not too much)
  • We've looked at pictures of different things (tigers, birds, man, woman, drum, flute, etc), made the sounds, and put them on "high" posters and "low" posters.
  • We've put our hands on our heads for high, and hands on our laps for low, while listening to very obvious low and high sounds on the piano.
  • We've danced around, moving high and low, listening to an obvious recording of high and low sounds.

After thinking through this now, I think most of them get it.  But any help for the ones who are still a little clueless?  At least they're cute. :)

--Kate

1 comment:

  1. It sounds like you are REALLY covering your bases and giving lots of amazing experiences! You go girl! I just have a few thoughts.

    Have you done "Bounce high?" Let's see if I can notate it:

    ta ta ta ta ti ti ti ti ta ta
    Bounce high bounce low bounce the ball to shi-loh
    s l s m s s l l s m

    (there's a stupid game... just bounce a ball around a circle and come up with some kind of "out" situation, hehehe).

    Just remember that high/low is a hard topic and it takes a long time to master no matter what. Think of it less as an "opposite" to master, and more as a stepping stone to preparing sol-mi. It sounds like everything you're doing is GREAT. Definitely playing with "squeaky voice" vs. "grumbly voice" is a great preparation. I love the speech pieces like "You must pay the rent" and "Where are you going big pig big pig?" For doing those different voices. Goldilocks and the 3 bears lends itself well to that vocal exploration, too.

    LOVE all the piano stuff... I've seen a bunny story where they have to shake their fluffy bunny tails on the low music, and twitch their cute little bunny noses on the high music on the piano. Does it get any cuter than 1st graders pretending to be sweet little bunnies?

    ROCK ON, Kate!!! Your kids are so lucky!

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