Fire and Smoke - Music Style

Fire and Smoke – music style

This is a quick card game that I learned from a high school maths teacher. 

So much fun - fill in activity - maybe played backstage to help occupy waiting performing groups as it can be relatively quiet.

I thought I would give it a music twist.

Give it a go and let me know if you like it, or what variations you create.

How to Play

You have a deck of cards.

All kids stand.

Ask these questions to one student at a time, each time drawing a card after they have answered. 

When they get one wrong, they sit. 

The winners are the students left standing - the ones that have guessed all four questions correctly.

3. Fire or Smoke (red or black card) Sing the word fire to a given melody, eg dms - smoke - smd. Can use any melody that needs practice. 
4. Higher or lower (higher or lower than the numeric value of the card) - Students sings the word higher at a high pitch, or lower at a low pitch.
5. In or out (between or outside of the numeric value of the first two cards) Sing or say the word 'in' quietly and the word 'out' loudly.
6. What suit? Sing the suit to any melody! Have a bit of fun and improvise.

G Whiz Composition

I came up with this simple idea and ‘G’ it worked well so I thought I would share.

I am sure you have all done versions of this before, but in case it gives you a new idea, or variation to your ideas, here it is...

We are beginning recorder and I wanted to spend time playing our first note and focusing on tone, but I also wanted to make it creative and interesting.I witnessed some great learning, creating and discussing.

• We revised known rhythmic elements
• Collaboratively created an eight beat rhythmic pattern on the board.
• Clapped the rhythmic pattern we wrote.
• I played the rhythm on the recorder on one note, G. G WHIZ, we created a piece of music. 
• The whole class payed the rhythm on G focusing on tonguing and lovely tone. 
• Students then created their own 8 beat pattern with a partner using paddle pop sticks. (I LOVE my paddle pop sticks!)
• They played their rhythm together on their recorders on G.
• When most of the pairs were finished their composition and had played it through a few times, I asked them to move around the room and play other compositions.

This was a much more 'musical' experience than I had anticipated. Beginning recorders are often not the most beautiful sound, and all playing at different times...well I was a bit worried, but the playing was lovely and gentle (of course I did set that up as best I could). The students were genuinely interested in what rhythms others had written. 

Another great outcome from the activity was the fabulous discussions. I heard students working on playing together, how they would count in, where they made errors, which parts they wanted to change and why and what they liked about the compositions of others.

Honestly, I thought it would be an interesting way to practice known rhythmic elements at the same time working on tone and playing the one note we had just learnt on recorder, but I really didn't expect it to be such a great learning experience. 

New Minecraft Resource for Music Teachers 

Why not make the most of this craze that is still lingering? Even my sons, at 19 and 23, still occasionally get on and play.

These three Minecraft hidden pictures come in three variations:

•English/Australian Terminology

•USA Terminology

•The note itself

Included is a special blank grid for your students to create their own Minecraft picture!

So easy to use. The students identify and shade just one note in the grid lines – voila – a Minecraft picture is revealed.

Great for sub tubs, early finishers, to use in a workbook and as a reward.

The sheets look like this:

And the answer sheet is included to make life even easier!

Free for Crescendo members or only $2 on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Single Note Flashcards

Teaching Ideas 

Here is a list of teaching ideas from the Crescendo Music Education competition. Thank to all those who entered - and I hope this sharing helps to invigorate your music programs! (And the winner of 12 months membership was Sam Vimes - Congratulations!)

Debbie O’Shea - Quick Quiz. Teacher shows 5 cards quite quickly and students write the letter names. They keep score and try to beat their PB (Personal Best). You could do a quick Quiz once a week, once a month...You might create a team competition. 

Bronwyn Trezise The kids love Round the World. You can have a champion chart on the door.  I would play musical baseball. Two teams of kids and set the field like baseball. Pitcher holds up the flash card. Batter has to name the note. If correct they use the same pitched boomwhacker to hit a nurf ball and then play as normal. If they get it wrong they are out. I have played this as an end of term game with classes and they love it!! They constantly ask to play. 

Leonore Hammond I would toss it at that child who isn't paying attention and say "Ha! You didn't C that coming did you?!" 

Janice A Liddy We do flash card Friday's at my Friday school. They are supposed to be math but I try to do music ones and these would be a HUGE HELP! My 4th graders are obsessed with playing capture!

Laurie Gliem Pairs of cards could be mixed and laid face down to play a memory game.

Sandy Thiedeman Children to make pairs and create an 8 note composition. Students to play or sing it to the class.

Kaethe Grabenhofer Give pairs of children a set and have them spell words.

Fiona Coleman Round the world. First to answer note correctly out of two moves to next person. Person who moves the further seat is the winner. Kids love it as they get excited about how fast they can answer and goal set for how far they move from the last time they played. Also good for learning to read the notes better and quicker in random order.

Suzanne Bauer Use as a group activity led by band student(s) where they can teach/test each other on note names of treble clef, usually it's a group activity when I have 4 tasks out.

Liz Kutschke These cards look fantastic! I think maybe I'd use them in a center, where students can quiz each other, but everyone else's ideas sound great, too! :) 

Debbie Roe Play 'Around the World'. (it's like playing 'Around the World' in Math). Two students are standing or sitting side by side. Teacher holds up a flash card. The first student to say the correct letter moves over to the next student. Card is shown. First student to win THAT round continues over to the next. I usually play it until everyone has had a turn OR until one person goes all the way around the room. The students LOVE doing this!

Morgan Lentino These would be a station for my 4th graders- music memory!

Sam Vimes Use them as the starting point for reviewing and reinforcing tone sets and tone relationships. Put one card up and tell the students which tone it is, then tell them which other tone they need to find e.g. "this is mi, show me so." Students write it down (show-me boards), then add the other tone required. Younger students would work within s/m/l, eg start with so and add mi or la... with older students you could extend to "this is do, find low so and low la", or "this is low la, find mi and so" etc. You could turn this into a team game as well... have a giant stave on the floor. Students have to place dots on the appropriate lines/spaces. Award a point to the first correct team. Ooh! Ooh! And then I'd also use them for intervals. P4, P5, octave, m3 below etc. 

Gemma Bonnitcha I would use the note cards to play a game of musical chairs. All children sit in a circle, 8 chairs are placed in the centre with a note card on each.2 opponents are chosen. I call out a note and the first person to find the chair with the note on it is the winner and a new opponent is chosen.

Found on Crescendo.com.au

The Glorious World of Choir

Here on Crescendo you will find a FREE excerpt From ‘Bumblebee! Rounds & Warm-ups for Choirs’ by Michael Griffin.
It this resource you will find more than just a wonderful collection of 130 choir exercises including more than 45 rounds. Michael Griffin shares timeless wisdom to help you get your choir into shape.

For your FREE excerpt click here

Competition

Hi Everyone. I feel another competition coming on.....How about one year's free membership? If you are already a member I will extend your membership by one year....

All you have to do is tell me how you would use these individual note flashcards. 

They are, of course, part of the huge volume of downloads for Crescendo members, and they can also be bought as a set on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

All your ideas will be collated and posted on the Crescendo Blog so that everyone will have a fabulous teaching resource where the contributors are all music teachers!

Each of these cards can be printed on one page (Thin card works well) and then laminated.

I will randomly choose a winner on April 30.

To enter, head over to Crescendo on Facebook and leave your teaching idea.

https://www.facebook.com/CrescendoMusicEd/

Three Things

I am linking up with Aileen Miracle to share three things that worked for me and my students this week.

#1 - Dig Deep

Want a fabulous song to sing with your choir or your classes? I have been doing this one. Not only is there a good message (which I look for in my material), but it is fun to sing and you can even have Pete Churchill himself do some of the teaching for you while you grab a quick drink of water and catch your breath!

These are the clips in order:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD3Z9V196WY

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR19WS4gsPA

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=672ItIwVXAs

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkkaTQ_LPNQ

1. Full Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wW1KNWxo4w

And then a colleague (thanks Lee Reushle) shared this link: http://www.epoc.co/?q=content/dig-deep from the English Pocket Opera Company. There is a lyric sheet (you will have to change sew to sow), audio tracks, score.....

What a find!!!!

#2 - Oreo Intervals

(Also posted this in my latest newsletter - click here to sign up - it is FREE - HERE)

Thanks to Pinterest and this original pin, I used Oreos with my Year 9s to help explain intervals and chords. It was fabulous, but I think I was probably more literal than these pictures. 

The biscuits were the notes played/sung, and each level of cream was a note in between. I made a minor 2nd (no cream) and Major second (one lot of cream) a minor third (two lots of cream) and a Major third (three lots of cream). We sang and played the chromatic notes in between as well. Then we focused on the thirds and built the chords. My chords had only one biscuit in the middle to accurately represent the notes in the chord....anyway, it was a fun lesson segment, and we got to eat the intervals.
"Mrs O'Shea, please can I have the Major third." So cute and fun!

#3 - Music Tech Teacher Quizzes and Games

The first time on the music lap tops for the year sevens and eights this week. We explored the quizzes and games on the Music Tech Teacher site HERE and boy were they engaged and happy. 

Sign up for the FREE Crescendo Newsletter.

HERE

Five Favorite Pins of December

Hard to pick only 5. I can get lost for hours in Pinterest (If I let myself!)

Here I go:

1. I have to start with funny ones. Humour helps me cope with my job - in fact with life in general. 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155163149639683577/

You can download this set for free on my web site: HERE

or on TpT: HERE

2. A pin that leads you to a board full of music education ideas.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155163149639604789/

3. Wishful thinking Pin. I wish I had time to make things like this - for now I content myself with pinning the picture and hoping one day I will have the time to make them, and things like them.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155163149639612349/

4. A lovely gift idea for parents of young ones!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155163149632336093/

5. And the final pick is one that reminds me of what I have always said about my own learning journey. The more I know, the more I realise that I don't know!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/155163149639731710/

When I started this post, I thought it would all be about teaching ideas, but it became more philosophical. Nothing wrong with a bit of self reflection I say.

Happy Holidays everyone - and hopefully you can find a little time to relax and maybe even reflect upon what is important to you, personally and professionally.

High/Low Contour Flashcards

This is from a set downloadable for Crescendo members HERE . I have a copy printed in colour and laminated, but I also use them on the data projector. We can sing through them as a group, half class, individual, play them on two chime bars, on two boomwhackers…all part of the steps to teach reading writing and understanding high and low notes a minor third apart.

Take a Song

Chicken in a Fence Post

The key to a good teaching is a solid core of a sequential list of elements and good pedagogical practices. For me that is definitely a teaching sequence based on hear, feel, see and write where concepts are prepared, named and then practiced. Here, I will focus on the practicing of elements through the use of just one song.

There is more than one way to skin a cat (or should I say pluck a chicken). This is a list that is by no means exhaustive - just a few ideas to get your ideas pinging!

1.      Sing
2.      Sing in Solfa
3.      Sing in Rhythm Names
4.      Sing with text, solfa and rhythm names (Switcheroo)
5.       Create New Words – keeping as close as possible to the rhythmic pattern.

Here are some ideas....

• Music teacher stressing can’t sleep at all x3 Time to have a holiday!
• Marsha, Jan and Cindy, Bobby , Peter   x3 Greg and Alice, Mum and Dad

6.     Missing bars

7.      Missing notes

8.      Find the mistakes

9.      Play on boomwhackers

10.      Play on tuned percussion

11.      Create rhythmic ostinati

12.      Create melodic ostinati

13.      Create arrangement

14.      Aural Analysis - questions like... 

What is the metre? How many beats in the song? how many phrases? How many different notes? What notes do you hear? What is the final note? what is the starting note?...

15.  Written Analysis - instructions and questions like...

Circle the time signature. How many bars? Find the double bar line? Circle two notes that are next to each other and a major second apart. Are there any bars that are the same?...

16.  Writing – the rhythm
17.  Writing – the solfa under the rhythm 
18.  Writing – the song on the staff  
19.  Writing – transposing from one position on the staff to another

20.  Writing – the stems onto the note heads on the staff 

Debbie's Quick Teaching Tip #22

From The May/June Crescendo Newsletter 

Paddle Pop Sticks are just fabulous in the music room! Some of my colleagues hate the coloured ones. They don't like the kids picking out certain colours, making patterns etc. Understandable - and if that is how you feel, use the plain ones, they do the same job. However, I love colour, so I use the the pretty ones! They are great for rhythmic dictation, quicker than writing once you get going, and much easier to assess the whole class at a glance! Have you thought of using match sticks? The older students, with better fine motor skills, really enjoy manipulating these.

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Debbie's Quick Teaching Tip #21

Let's make the most of your repertoire!

I have just picked the song, Goodnight, from my s m repertoire for this post. I know that I am often guilty of not making the most of the repertoire in my program, so maybe some of you out there are also guilty of this from time to time. To help out a bit, I will just create a bit of a list (by no means exhaustive!) of things you can do with this song, to give you some inspiration and variety in your practice activities.

Sing

• Sing - with gentle, soft voices.
• Sing while rocking soft toys to sleep. 
• Sing with the whole class, half class, small group, pairs and individuals.
• Sing in canon, two beats apart is very easy and not very interesting, one beat apart sound fabulous.

Play

• Play on two chime bars
• Play on the black notes of a piano. Pick any two that have a big gap between them. (obviously we are not playing at the pitch written here)
• Play on xylophones/glockenspiels.

Beat and Rhythm

• Sing while pointing to beat icons 
• Sing while walking the beat
• Sing in rhythm names (if known)
• Sing tas and inner hear the ti tis and visa versa
• Derive the Rhythmic pattern on the board
• Write the rhythmic pattern with paddle pop sticks
• Write the rhythmic pattern with paddle pop sticks on paper plates representing the beat
• Half class sing first beat of each bar, other half sing the second beat of each bar. Try to connect the sounds and make a lovely song.

Pitch

• Sing in solfa (if known)
• Sing with the words 'high' and 'low' before s and m are made conscious
• Sing with the high note and low note in different parts of your body. (Head and shoulders, shoulders and waist...)
• Sing s and inner hear the m and visa versa

Expressive Elements and other concepts

• Sing with dynamics. Discuss suitability of piano or pianissimo for this song.
• Walk the beat in a circle and sing the song three times, the second time sing with inner-hearing. (out loud, inner-hearing, out loud)

Debbie's Quick Teaching Tip #20

A Bag of Toy Animals

I love using cloth, draw string bags. My fabulous Mum has made me lots! At one stage in my career, other music teachers even referred to me as 'The Bag lady'. 
These bags are useful and colourful. The children get excited imagining what is hidden within. Today it is FARM ANIMALS.
This may be a small bag with small plastic animals (if not from your children's old toys, they can be purchased at a cheap shop for a dollar or two), or a larger bag with stuffed toys. Whatever you have will work.
Here are a few activity ideas.  

Children pick a toy from the bag and:

• that toy decides the verse. For example, pick out a cow and that is what Old MacDonald has on his farm, pick out a horse, and that is what you see along the way when I Went to Visit a Farm One Day, maybe The Farmer in the Dell could have new verses about the animal chosen...
• clap the animal's name and determine how many sounds. Chicken - clap and say 'chic-ken' - has two sounds. This syllable work is really important leading up to the teaching of rhythm.
• sing a song about that toy. This improvisation activity is loads of fun, and teaches the children to take risks and have fun creating. No wrong responses! At first you might just ask the child to sing (any tune that comes into their head) a description of the animal "This duck is yellow and it has a bill". Another time, ask them to give the animal a name "My name is Desley Donkey" or "This spotted cow is called Daisy Bell" or "My name is Henry Horse". This can then be expanded to anything you or the children wish: What happened on the farm? Who is their friend? What are they doing next?

I hope these ideas have sparked loads of other ideas!