Lesson 2: Toembai

Lesson Plan:

Grade: 3

Musical Concept:  Round, ostinato

3rd Grade Concept: connection with setting in Where the Wild Things Are (soon to come)

Time: 45 minutes

Element: Harmony, Rhythm

Materials:  None

National Music Standard:

1. Performing - Analyze: Analyze the structure and context of  varied musical works and their implications for performance.
2. Creating - Imagine: Generate musical ideas for various purposes and contexts.

Specific National Standards:

1. Pr4.2.3a - Demonstrate understanding of the structure in music selected for performance.
2. Cr1.1.3b - Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms and melodies) within a given tonality and/or meter.

Objectives:

1. Students will understand that they can create harmony by singing a melody at different times (in a round).
2. Students will create their own rhythmic ostinatos for Toembai.
3. Students will be able to sing Toembai with accurate pitch and rhythms.

Procedure:

1. Gain Attention
1. Have students all stand in rows on the rug and do the 7 Habits of Highly effective singers.
2. Warm up the body. (Movement)
3. Warm up the breath. (What happens when you put more air into a balloon? It gets bigger!  Pretend your tummy is a balloon!)
4. Vocal play.  Can you sing what I sing and follow my finger?
5. Sing one pitch on a neutral syllable.  (Pitch matching on "loo")
6. Sing two pitches. (Pitch matching)
7. Sing a short phrase. (Hey, Hello)
1. Ask if anyone knows what song that phrase is from.
8. Adding words.  Jump into the song standing still 2x in a row.
2. Stimulate recall of prior learning
1. Do Hey, Hello standing still in a round 2x in a row.
2. Do Hey, Hello again, moving the round this time.
3. Do the piece as a 3 part round, standing still.
4. 3 part round moving around the room.
3. Inform learners of objectives:
1. Today we are going to learn about harmony and learn a new song that uses harmony.
4. Present the content/Guided Learning/Practice
1. Discussion about harmony:
1. Do any of you know what a melody is?
2. A melody is when we're all singing together, like in Hey, Hello.
3. What would harmony be then?
4. Harmony is when we have 2 melodies going on at the same time, like when we sing the melody of Hey, Hello in a round.  A round is a specific type of harmony.
5. Let's learn another song that has harmony in it.  Let's start by learning the melody.
2. Teach Toembai:
1. Stay in our lines on the rug.
2. Jump in by teaching the dance while singing.  Tell the kids to watch really close and learn the dance.  Do it two times in a row, with pausing between.
3. Do the dance first with your back to them, then facing them. X2.  Break down turns if needed.
4. Break down song.  Invite students to listen and repeat what you sing.
5. Now let's try it in a circle!!  Hold hands
6. Then let's try it in a round with two separate circles. 2x in a row, no pausing between.
7. Now let's try it as a 3 part round!!  2x in a row, no pausing between.
3. Do body percussion for Toembai:
1. Come back to the rug in lines.
2. Do BP #1 while singing.
3. Have half the students keep the beat while half do the BP #1. Switch groups.
4. Try BP #2, then do half keeping the beat and half doing the BP.
5. Ask the students to spend 1 minutes with their neighbor and come up with their own BP pattern.
6. Do two different BP patterns the students come up with.
7. Then do another one you made up.  BP #3.
4. Separate the class:
1. Have half the class do Toembai with a dance, while the other half does BP rhythm and keeping the beat.
2. Maybe try doing it as a round.
3. Switch which groups are doing what.
5. Provide Feedback
1. Do this throughout the lesson.
6. Perform/Assess Performance/Enhance Retention
1. Recap:  Ask the students what harmony is.
2. Ask the students what melody is.

Reflection:  I was very nervous about this lesson because Jambo during my previous lesson did not go very well.  However, I was pleased that this lesson went much more smoothly.  There were instances when I noticed things that I could do better, and also instances where I recognized that the students are not where I originally expected they would be musically, creating a need for me to re-think the integrated curriculum planned for them.

Improving my modeling:

During the vocal warm up, I noticed that most of the students were expanding their bellies, rather than lifting their shoulders to take in more air, but a few were struggling with this concept.  I then noticed that I was hunching over a little bit when exhaling, then standing straight again when expanding my stomach.  My poor modeling caused a few of the children to lift their shoulders when inhaling, because they thought that was what I was doing.  I corrected myself, then addressed the class, stating that we only want our bellies to move, not our shoulders.  After this, the students demonstrated great diaphragmatic breathing.

Skill level of the students:

Much of this lesson went very well.  The students remembered Hey, Hello, and were able to sing it in a three-part round successfully.  This is very impressive for the first quarter of 3rd grade, as rounds are typically not something mastered until the end of 3rd grade.  One thing I noticed for the first time is that the students had trouble walking to the beat and half note while singing the piece.  This is surprising, as keeping a beat is something typically mastered during kindergarten and 1st grade.  I also noticed that they students were using very heavy chest voices in their singing rather than their head voice.

During Toembai I was interested to see that the students had some trouble with the 2nd and 3rd lines, which containing 16th notes.  They did not quite grasp the pitches on those fast moving patterns, and so struggled with singing the melody.  I broke down the phrases for them and they did a little better, but when putting it all back together they were not able to sing it as clearly, like they couldn't remember or didn't know which pattern came next.  I had not anticipated that this would be troublesome for them, and I thought the would get it with more repetition during the lesson, so I continued on.  When I asked them to keep the beat using a BP pattern (pat, clap, pat, clap), I was again surprised with how they struggled.  They struggled with keeping the steady beat, either rushing the beat, confusing the pattern, or waiting until they saw someone else pat before they patted.  They also struggled stomping on the beat during the dance I had created for Toembai.  The students were so focused on keeping the beat they were not able to also focus on singing the rhythms and pitches of Toembai accurately.

These incidences of the students struggling to keep the beat (walking in "Hey, Hello," stomping in Toembai, and basic body percussion in Toembai) have caused me to rethink what content to focus on during my lessons.  I hope to spend an entire lesson on beat, so that they have more experience and exposure to accurately finding and keeping the beat of the music.  This is an important skills for them to have so that they can be successful in the integrated project we have planned, as well as meeting the national standards in music education.

I also want to focus more on singing accurately in their head voice.  I can do this simply by drawing their attention to how they use their head voice during the vocal play warm up and applying that to the songs we sing.  As for their struggling with the 16th note rhythms in Toembai, I think that they will be able to get it with more exposure and practice.  During our next lesson, I will slow it down for them, and focus just on the melody rather than asking them to do other things that may distract them from their singing.

What went well?

Despite these challenges, I felt that the lesson went very well over all.  The students were able to hold their own part in a three-part round of "Hey, Hello" and a two-part round of Toembai.  They understood the concept of harmony versus melody, based on my assessment of asking them questions and asking them to give thumbs up or thumbs down if they understood or not.  They really enjoyed working with partners to create their own rhythmic patterns.  Although some had trouble keeping the beat while they were singing, and consenting to what the beat was as a whole class, they were happy to use their creativity to compose something of their own and share it with the class.  One partnership even decided they wanted to do different rhythms, with one doing a pattern in three and the other in two. This reminded me of an important guideline I could have given - for the students to make their pattern in 2 or 4.  However, if I had done that, I may never have known how capable these two young boys were in keeping the pulse and maintaining independent rhythmic patterns.

Another aspect of this lesson that went well was my own managing of the class.  I have become more familiar with the techniques Ms. Grgich uses to maintain order and was able to implement some of those in my lesson (including counting down from 5 to 1 when they needed to return to their spots on the rug, and positive re-enforcement when a student is following directions).  Ms. Grgich still helped me on several occasions when I was struggling to get the students to listen rather than talk excitedly (because music is so fun!!), for which I was very grateful. Overall I felt that my management of the class went better than the first lesson I taught.