Week 5

PART I: Clements & Klinger 2.2

Without asking or looking at your cooperating teacher’s plan, observe one full class or rehearsal and list the musical objectives you think your cooperating teacher had in mind. State each as a full objective, using the language and/or wording you were taught in your methods courses. 

(NOTE: I don’t have a cooperating teacher, so instead I recorded a class and watched it back to reflect on whether my objectives were communicated clearly, and whether the students were able to meet the objectives that I set for them. Below are the objectives I had in mind.)

1. Students will be able to give and explain their reactions to the video of “Rise Up.”
2. Students will be able to sight read an 8-bar phrase together using Do, Re, and Mi in 4/4, with minimal mistakes or restarts.
3. Students will be able to explain and demonstrate good breathing habits during warm ups.
4. Students will be able to explain why Dancing Queen is important in its historical and societal context.
5. Students will be able to use expressive tools (i.e. phrasing, facial expression, etc.) while they sing to demonstrate the meaning of the song Dancing Queen.

How can you tell from your observation that these were the objectives of the lesson or rehearsal?

When I watched the video back, I think the first three objectives were clear and students were able to demonstrate all three successfully both as a group and as individuals. However, I noticed – even while I was teaching, but also in the video – that I could have set them up to be more successful with objectives 4 and 5, and that I could have better clarified what exactly I wanted them to do. When I gave them the historical context for Dancing Queen (ABBA, Mamma Mia, gay rights anthem, etc.) I did a lot of explaining and asked them what they knew about the song, but then didn’t give them much of a chance to demonstrate that they had learned and understood everything that had been explained. I think I was rushing to get to the singing part of the class, but that meant that I wasn’t able to assess whether the students could explain the significance of Dancing Queen as a song – I only knew that I could. Then, near the end of class, after watching back a recording of the students performing, I told them I noticed that when certain students were more into it or were moving with the music, I believed them more than other students who were just sitting or not really expressing the message of the song. When one student asked, “What do you mean, believed them?” I realized that I might have needed to take more time to talk about the specific expressive tools we could use in performance to make the message come across and to make our audience “believe” in what we are singing about. So I think if I hadn’t known what my objectives were, I may not have been able to figure out the last two just from observing.

How might these objectives represent a small portion of the larger music curriculum?

To me, all of the objectives are smaller portions of larger goals for the year. The first objective is generally to help kids develop their ears and be able to pick out WHY and HOW the things they hear might make them feel a certain way. The second objective falls under the category of learning to sight-read, which we will build on all year. The third objective is part of the broader goal of learning good vocal technique, which we will also work on throughout the year. The last two objectives were specific to “Dancing Queen,” but ideally we will talk about the context of all the repertoire we sing and will talk about the different tools we have available for expression in a variety of repertoire.

From this observation, how can you tell what the students already knew prior to this lesson?

I can tell that they had already learned the words, notes, and rhythms for Dancing Queen, except for a few bits of the higher harmony part, and I could tell that they had done some work with solfege beforehand because the students could find the right solfege syllables for the notes while sight-reading (even if they didn’t always actually sing the correct pitch).

How does your cooperating teacher assess student learning in this lesson?

In the lesson, I assessed students individually through their journals and through having them share out loud their emotional reactions to “Rise Up.” This showed me that they as individuals can reflect out loud or in writing about the music that they hear. I informally assessed them as a group on their sight-reading by having them read as a group, and correcting the pitches when they were not accurate. In this way, I was able to tell which students were having more trouble finding the right pitches. Sometimes their friends even helped them to match pitch if they were sitting next to them, so I can also tell who tends to be accurate in their reading and who does not. I also informally assessed their breathing techniques by watching them during warm ups, and gave some time for student answers and input when we were talking about the history of “Dancing Queen” and its importance.

PART II: Reflection

We only had two days of class this week since we were off Monday and then the middle school had an overnight trip Thursday to Friday, so I felt like I barely taught! I chaperoned the trip on Thursday and Friday which was a lot of fun, and felt important for the relationship-building part of teaching. I am learning a lot about the social groups that exist in the middle school and I now know all of the gossip and drama from the 7th grade, having stayed with 7th graders in the cabins on Thursday night. 🙂

On Tuesday I felt really good about the work we are doing in Upper School Chorus. They are picking up the sight-reading part of class very quickly, especially knowing that this is brand new to some students. This week I introduced a new song to them, first by showing them a video of a group performing the song and having them follow along with the words in their music (in Zulu), and then I asked them to write in the solfege syllables for the first page of the solo line. I did put up a “cheat sheet” for them so they could see the F major scale and the associated solfege syllables, but they were all quite successful with only one or two mistakes at most, usually for notes below the low F. Then I played it slowly with them on the piano and had them sing the solfege syllables as they went and they sang it accurately. There were of course a lot of scaffolded pieces to this lesson, but I am eager to see how they do as I start to drop those pieces and they start to really sight-read! Many of them also did our opening sight-reading individually, and two of them requested to do the sight-reading without singing. At first I was like… “What does that even mean?” And then, I realized they just meant they wanted to speak the solfege syllables but not try to sing them in front of everyone – and it was awesome! The one kid in the class who has probably the least experience singing completely nailed the syllables for the sight-reading exercise by speaking through them really quickly, which is awesome because he can scaffold that experience for any of the other students. In other words, if he can recognize what the syllable is supposed to be even if he’s not confident about singing it, other students who are less confident about recognizing the correct syllables could more confidently sing it after he listed off the syllables. I like the teamwork in that class so much!

On Wednesday I was really struggling to keep the focus and attention of the 7th grade class (nothing new) so I’m still working on strategies to keep them engaged. Probably the biggest issue is the extra talking. I will ask one student to answer a question when they’ve raised their hands, but once they’re done then other students will call out to respond and then everything crashes for a minute. I think it’s actually really good that they’re engaged in the conversation in relevant ways (usually), so it’s just finding a way to make sure all students who want to participate are heard by all the students in the room. (This made me laugh – one student told me on our overnight trip that I’m too nice to their class and I just need to punish people. Maybe she is right!) It was a frustrating class, but honestly it was all worth it for one moment: one of the kids in the class who is often distracted and off task (for legitimate reasons like ADHD) volunteered to try the sight-reading by himself (!) and, with a little help to get him started, read it PERFECTLY. The whole room erupted into applause and his face just lit up! It was such a sweet and supportive moment for the class to rally behind him the way they did. I am thinking about how to replicate these moments of teamwork/community in all my classes the way I saw them in 7th grade and upper school this week.

One random thing I need to research is: good belting/mix voice warm ups! Many of my vocal workshops kids are doing songs in those parts of their voices, and I’m so used to singing in my head voice all the time that I have very few memories of helpful belting warm ups to use in lessons with them.

PART III: Lesson Plan

Standards:

From NYC Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts – Music – Grade 8

1. Students will be able to reflect on their emotional response to a variety of traditional and non-traditional genres of music.
2. Students will be able to sight-read 4- to 8-measure phrases from NYSSMA Level II (description listed below).
   1. Time signature: 4/4, 2/4
   2. Range: 6^th (usually Do to La or Ti to Sol)
   3. Intervals: Do-Mi-Sol (ascending on quarter notes)
   4. Rhythms: half notes and quarter notes
   5. Rests: quarter rest
3. Students will be able to produce a proper tone quality with attention to breathing and vowel/consonant sounds.
4. Students analyze and describe how music develops in a cultural and historical context.
5. Students will be able to connect text and music to dramatic purpose.

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to give and explain their reactions to the video of “Rise Up.”
2. Students will be able to sight read an 8-bar phrase together using Do, Re, and Mi in 4/4, with minimal mistakes or restarts.
3. Students will be able to explain and demonstrate good breathing habits during warm ups.
4. Students will be able to explain why Dancing Queen is important in its historical and societal context.
5. Students will be able to use expressive tools (i.e. phrasing, facial expression, etc.) while they sing to demonstrate the meaning of the song Dancing Queen.

Procedures:

1. Have students pick up journals. Play opening video (Rise Up) and have students answer questions written on the board.
   1. What do you notice?
   2. What do you feel?
   3. On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the most), how much would you like to perform this song?
2. Have some students share out their responses.
3. Put 8-bar sight-reading phrase on the board. Play D Major scale on the piano and have them find Do. Remind them that this is like the “home tone.” Try using just pitches, ignoring rhythms. Correct any mistakes. Try using just rhythms. Then, put it together.
4. Warm ups:
   1. Ask for multiple volunteers to help explain good breathing habits. Try just getting good breath and buzzing out (or hissing out if they can’t buzz).
   2. With this good breath, ooh on scale degrees 5-4-3-2-1, starting mid-range and going down.
   3. Still thinking about breath: ee-ah-ee sliding from scale degrees 1-5-1, starting lower range and going up.
   4. “Basketball” – yah-yah-yah-yoh-yah on 1-1-135-853-1, starting lower range and going up and coming back down
5. Sing through Dancing Queen, with attention to pitch and specifically to holding harmony parts.
6. Give historical context for the song, including that it became a gay rights anthem. Have students discuss why it might have become this, noting the lyrics.
7. Watch music video, with instructions to notice how they sing it and why.
   1. Share out and discuss what they saw.
8. Stand and perform Dancing Queen again, this time with attention to expression.
   1. Reflect on what they did differently.

Assessment:

Informal:

• Students share their thoughts and reflections in class to demonstrate their understanding of emotional expression, historical/societal context
• Students sing with good breathing habits and with differing expressive tools

Formal:

• Students sing together to demonstrate their ability to sight-read together with minimal mistakes (allowing for corrections when mistakes are made), with minimal assistance from the teacher

Environment/Materials:

Students will sit in chairs in a semicircle facing the screen/mirrors.

Journals, pencils, projector/screen, Sight-Reading Factory, piano.

*Wear listening assistance device if Zoe needs it. If Zoe needs space or time, have her sit in the back of the room and listen instead of singing along.

*Sing next to Selin when necessary to help with matching pitch.