The Disappearing Song

I'm going to preface this post with telling you I'm on Spring Break.  Not that I'm leaving the house (I can't drive yet) but I'm hoping to spend a lot of time with my two favorite people: my 5 year old son and soon-to-be 3 year old daughter.  So, we'll see if I spend much time with school stuff but. . ..  I have started working on some new files.  

Before I go into that, I must give a plug for ROCKE.  If you are in the Denver/Fort Collins/Co Springs area here is your assignment: high-tail yourself to Susan Brumfield workshop this weekend.  If you only go to ONE workshop in the next year, this is the one to go to.  She is amazing!  I'm not saying that because she was my pedagogy and materials teacher for four years or the fact that I've been to several of her conference sessions. I'm saying it because you will learn so much from her during a day that you're head will explode (not really, but figuratively).  I'm saying this because she will inspire you in ways that you've never been inspired.  I'm saying this because you will leave wanting to BE Susan Brumfield.  The woman is one of my idols: I wish I could have her musicianship skills; her pedagogy is flawless; she makes each and every person she meets feel special and like they hold a special place in her heart.  Don't miss it!  Here's a link to register.  DO IT NOW! 

http://rockeonline.weebly.com/workshops.html

Now, on to the disappearing songs.  My goal is to create 5 of these for each melodic concept.  With Rhythm Wars, Rhythm Wars Poison and Rhythms of the Deep my brain needs a break from rhythm files and needs to focus on the equally important skill of melody.

The first collection I'm working on is "la" as my 1st graders will be getting to this in May and I'll be able to bring these back in the fall.  So far I have files done for Bounce High, Bounce Low and Snail, Snail.

Let's go through the Bounce High, Bounce Low file.

Title slide:

In this file I give them the song with lyrics first.  In the Snail Snail file it's set up like a "Mystery Song" in that they see the melody and rhythm first and must derive the song from the melody/rhythm

 Then, we're working on music memory so we're going to sing it on rhythm:

 And then we'll sing it on solfa:

 Then Teacher's choice (I'm going to pick melody. I designed these so you can use them for either rhythm or melody practice- you pick!):

 Now, I haven't figures out how to show you the animation but basically, the ball bounces down and back up and removes the first beat of the song.  The challenge is then to sing the song, in its entirety, with that beat missing

 Then the ball bounces again, and this time removes the 4th beat of the song, so that there are now two beats missing. . . again, wish you could see the animation.

 This time the 7th beat will be taken away:

 Next the 6th beat is taken away:

 Then the 5th beat:

 Then the second beat:

 Next is the 4th beat:

 Then finally the last beat. . .trust me, it disappears.  It just doesn't show this on the JPEG.  Bummer, I know! :(

 Then, to summarize, we sing the song one last time with the text.  And in my classroom the next this we'd do it play the game.

 I also include this slide at the end with the game directions and the song notation.

I haven't been able to send my April letter out to my followers on Teachers Pay Teachers, so if you haven't followed me yet, please do.  In the April letter will be a link where you'll get a freebie which is a ta, ti-ti, rest version of "Rhythms of the Deep" (this one is not yet available on my store).

Speaking of Rhythms of the Deep, a couple 3/4 meter versions are in the works as is an anacrusis version.  I'm working on that with my 4th and 5th graders.  These are fun to do with recorder, a different way to reinforce fingerings while also practicing known or new rhythmic patterns. 

Happy April Fools Day everyone!