Crescendo! Activities and Books for Investigating Music Fundamentals
Ms. Brigid here, from Merit School of Music in Chicago, IL, happy to
be writing you as April showers bring May flowers and Crescendo – which is the
topic of the day! I’ll share instrument use and book ideas in this post. May’s offering will develop these ideas
further with crescendo games and
chants, as well as an update on a new recycled prop I’m in the process of
introducing.
I’d like to share two excellent resources with you. It’s a
teacher thing. We share! edWeb’s homepagage is a little daunting, but forge ahead to “Join
Communities” and take a look at the numerous professional learning communities (PLC) available.
Over the fall and during the long winter, laid
low by a fractured foot (not a good thing
for one who teaches movement and music to kiddos), I enrolled in numerous,
free, online webinars that kept me connected to the field, and expanded my
knowledge base in profound ways. Along and along, I was able to identify engaging,
consistently good, presenters that I would take anything from, including Michelle Luhtala, an illuminating Head
Librarian and information services expert (Emerging
Tech for School Librarians), and Shannon Holder (New
Teacher Help and Tech
Tools for the Classroom).
Commercial entities also sponsor communities.
There is often a dis-connect when this occurs, but I’ve been impressed with the
excellent webinars and follow up by all involved. Three recent webinars of
note: 1.Early
Learning Book Chats, sponsored by Gryphon House presented Strategies
for Teaching Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Clarisa
Willis. 2. Early Childhood Learning Solutions through Frog Street
Press promoted Fine Motor Skills…Write
Out of the Box! by Marianne Gibbs (great for hand development and correct
mallet position!), and 3. Music Together sponsors Arts
& Music in Early Learning. Carol Ann Blank presented a very worthy
webinar, Embedding Music in the Early
Childhood Inclusion Classroom, which reminded me of the scope of the MT
materials and their commitment to the field of EC music.
All webinars are archived - and I’ve just
touched on a fraction of the communities and offerings. CE certificates are
sent out after attendance or after accessing the archived webinar and answering
a few questions. The site is an embarrassment of riches!
Final notes: Each “Community” has a “Community
Toolbox” with a dropdown menu. It’s easy to find and activate the webinar you
want to explore. There seems to be no way to pause the proceedings, but that’s
a small quibble. “Text box” comments, saved from the original webinar, are also
available – and are a treasure trove of support material. One starts to
recognize particular contributors of note. There’s someone in Florida named
Barbara I want to meet! In fact, there are attendees from every corner of the
globe – India, Japan, South American, Yerp (my family’s name for Europe), Australia
and New Zealand, etc. Joining is easy. Enter basic info, your email, choose
your communities – and feed your brain and soul!
The CMN Blog is my second resource gift. It’s
guided by the considerable talents of Alina
Celeste, a charming performer, writer and person.
She’s a triple threat in the nicest of ways!
 |
| Alina Celeste! |
On April 16, 2015, Alina and I launched a
new outreach initiative. The official, hot off the presses announcement: “We
here at the blog are excited to announce a new series! In tandem with
new PIO! Editor Brigid Finucane, we will begin sharing songs
from the extensive PIO! archives once or twice a month. Songs will
initially be drawn from the two All Songs issue and go from there. It is our
hope that in providing sheet music, sound recordings, plus composer background,
that we can share CMNs songs with the world!”
Please visit the blog and
take a look at our first entry. Save Some Trees,
by Dave Orleans,
ties in beautifully with Earth Day – though each and every day should be just
that! A sidebar of “recent posts” makes the site easy to navigate. Keep a look
out for the music and literacy articles by Liz Buchannan. Her website, “Antelope Dance” yields consistently great ideas and generous
sound examples. Carole Peterson Stephens and I are frequently cross posted to the
blog as well, so if you miss us on Pre-K and Sharing, you might find us on CMN!
And did you catch my special announcement? I am now the acting editor for the Children Music
Network’s far reaching, biannual and
newly digital journal, PIO!, which that stands for what we do at CMN –
Pass It ON! The fall issue will have up to 50% free content – but we hope that
you’ll like what we’re doing so much that you’ll join! A new Songs Library will
be making its appearance in the very near future and other exciting offerings
are in the works. I’ll keep you in the loop!
Crescendo!
At home in March, basketball
reigned supreme, but in classes, my kiddos were in piano and forte
exploration mode – and my post from last month offers
diverse strategies to support their learning. Like piano and forte,
crescendo is a word in Italian, the language of music. There is something so satisfying in my
kiddos chanting that to me!
Symbolic inter discipline sharing and math connections are part of the conversation as well - a topic
for another post!
 |
| From Perkins' "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb." Love the illustrations! |
Crescendo is
easily experienced through creating an in-class rain storm with body music –
the gentle drumming of fingers on the rug, followed by full hand use, getting
gradually louder and louder and louder until you have CRESCENDO. Stand up. Change levels.
Do it with full body. Rub palms
together, transition to gentle clapping, perhaps to slapping hips or thighs. Get the feet
going……louder , louder, louder, Crescendo (arms up over the head. We
know Italian, the language of music!). Make sure the progression is
gradual and has purpose. A “class challenge” to listen without using voices usually
does the trick.
Reverse the process to teach decrescendo
– or another music word, diminuendo.
Drums and Cymbals – What’s Not to
Love!
It’s time to get out the big
Remo gathering drum. By this time in the year, the kiddos have our class drum
ritual down pat. We practice together while sitting on the rug, then groups of five
(mas o menos) are invited up. They echo my syllabic pattern as I pat the drum
and say “Hello, Drum!” (Hello, Drum!)
“Now let’s pet the drum.” We pet it, feeling the smoothness of the
drumhead, listening for what it will whisper to us. “Now let’s give it a
scratch. It’s itchy.” (We scratch the drum, listening to the change in sound.)
We’re ready to make our own crescendo. I remind the children that we
want to make this a loooonnnnnnggggg experience, not merely a moment of slamming
their hands onto the drum and being done in a second. We’re musicians and good
thinkers, so that’s what we do. I end with “Say, ‘Good Drum.” (Good Drum) – two
thumps – and off they go, after they wave goodbye to the drum. Another group
comes up.
I sometimes put out a row of
six drums across the front of the room, a la the great Artie Almeida, as an
alternative exploration. Nested drums, one bigger than the next, produce
slightly different tones (the smaller the drum, the higher the sound. The
bigger the drum, the lower the sound).
I assign each drum a family
name, starting with the Dad Drum (biggest and lowest), and ending with the baby
drum. The kiddos file up and get the drum in random order. We listen to the
sound of each drum before we start. We are musicians and sound scientists. If
there are lots of kiddos in the class (I’ve had over 35 in Kindergarten) I
employ an extra 6th or 7th drum designated as a kitty or
puppy.
The same greeting ritual is
observed. “Hello, Drum!” Children at the perimeter, or on their
rug squares practice crescendo with their hands. Everyone is active and
engaged. Syllabication – playing the exact rhythm of the words on the floor
while chanting – is a great literacy strategy
Sidenote: Al
Perkins’ Seussical Hand, Hand,
Fingers, Thumb is
also a fun and effective gateway to classroom drumming. The illustrations are
silly and charming. Full disclosure: I abridge the text.
What about the cymbal you ask? And
what are you thinking - isn’t it
LOUD? Of course! But the drama and gorgeous metallic timbre of the instrument
is mesmerizing. Here’s one thing I do:
I bring out my cymbal and
play a long, drawn out, crescendo. Then I ask the children to get into a
tight circle while holding hands and listen. As the crescendo commences,
the circle gets larger and larger and larger with the sound until the circle is
huge and tight. We’ve made our own sound waves! No sound but the that of the cymbal and bodies moving. We
repeat with decrescendo, and then contrast and compare. Who likes which
best?
In smaller classes, kiddos play the cymbal with the mallet. In K classes, the teacher holds one cymbal and I hold and
other, suspended by a loop, and we cycle through the children fairly swifly – girls one week, boys
the next. They trust they’ll get a
turn. By now, they know that everyone gets to try everything.
One more thing to help things
along: We make a “no crashing” promise. By this time of year, they’ve accepted
I’m one hundred years old (at the beginning of the year, they’re incredulous.
Now they just go with it), and I say if they crash rather than crescendo,
it hurts my very old ears. The sound can also hurt their ears – and
it’s no fun to be scared. Yes, some of my charges have sensory issues, and we,
as teachers have to be aware and considerate of this very real issue.
Sidenote:
This year, small, sterilized Chobani brand containers (thank you, Costco, and
college-going daughter with exquiste taste) are coming to the classroom, and
each child will receive two to make crescendos with. They can be rubbed
on the rug, thomped, clopped together….lots of ways to make sound! It’s been fun and satisfying to try at
home, and I’m anxious to see how it works out with large groups of thunder makers! I love sonic
experiments – and will give a full report in May!
Thunderstorms may elicit deep
fear in the Pre-K and Kindergarten population, so listening to crescendos
can start helpful conversations that address this. One thing I say is that the
sound is thunder saying hello to us, but another helpful poem, Kay Cooper’s Boom!
Bang! THUNDER ! really comes to the rescue! This hand rhymes can be found
in her fantastic collection, Too Many Rabbits , which includes
clear, accessible, and easily shared science information. T
hemes: Animals, Weather, Nature, and Universe. Each rhyme is accompanied
by gorgeous cut paper illustrations – making it a delight to peruse.
BOOKS!
There are lots of lovely
options. I’ll share two. If you have a book to share, please put it in the comments below. My selections are
available at most libraries. If you find, like I have, that it’s nicer to have repeatedly
used books on hand, they can be found for $.01 – plus shipping, which is 398
times more than the cost of the book.
For dreamier exploration,
look no further than Listen to theRain by Bill
Martin and John Archambault. The rich, onomatopoeic* – heavy text travels
through the anatomy of a rainstorm, from start to finish, accompanied by James
Endicott’s enchanting illustrations. * Yes ,I had to look up that word!
THUMP, THUMP,
Rat-a-Tat-Tat by
Gene Baer is perfect for noisier explorations. Students echo repeated text
motifs with gusto. A passing parade, rather than a rainstorm, is the subject
matter of the book. Flat and colorful illustrations are provided by Lois
Ehlert.
Carnival of the Animals – The Lion’s
March
Better in French: Le Carnaval des Animaux - Marche
royale du Lion
Thank you for joining me. Tune
in next month for more crescendo ideas thundering your way. I’ll leave
you with this YouTube by Victor Craven,
a favorite of my 5-7 year old students. It’s a little retro – but how often do
you get to combine Camille Saint-Saëns with a magenta-tongued, jaggel-toothed
fanged and ominously throated sedentary circus lion – that opens his mouth on
cue – to crescendo!
Chicago Families
Please come to Merit’s Storytime sessions – the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. It’s free, fun, and facilitated by singers and storytellers Amy Lowe, Irica Baurer & me. Stories and songs start at 11am, and we end with instrument exploration and family networking.
For Those in the Chicago Area
…Call on Merit School of Music! Our onsite school
is in the West Loop. We work in the schools throughout the area providing band,
orchestra, percussion, choir, early childhood, and general music instruction
with project based units including Recorder, Music and Storytelling and
Songwriting. We do great work! YoYo Ma is a supporter!
Professional Development!
I’d love to help your school or community blossom musically! My specialty is music and literacy teacher training (with a dose of technology), singing games and dances from around the world, and more! I’m a national presenter, writer and now an editor!! Full disclosure: I’m not 100 years old! People say I’m smart and funny – and that I’ve changed their lives (for the good). I live in the Midwest, but travel widely. I’m Gateways registered and IAC approved – at least for the next three years! See my contact info below. If you’re local, please look for my workshops through IL Children’s Home and Aid.
And in the End
My posts are historically archived
below. Click a link to read about Chinese New Year, Pete Seeger, Music and
Literacy, Listening Locally to Musicians from the Midwest, Great Lakes and
Ontario! Then Pass It On!
I am continually inspired by The Children’s Music Network (CMN) community. an
international group of socially conscious musicians, educators, librarians,
families, songwriters and good people, who “celebrate the positive power of
music in the lives of children by sharing songs, exchanging ideas, and creating
community.” Please visit CMN, and find a gathering in your region.
©2014 Brigid Finucane *
847-213-0713 * gardengoddess1@comcast.net
http://prekandksharing.blogspot.com
http://brigidfinucane.blogspot.com
@booksinger1
BLOG HISTORY
When an adult sits down
with a child / children with finger puppets, the children immediately give you
their attention. Introduce the song and puppets. Know that you will
do it more than once. Then allow opportunity for the children to work
with them. It's also wonderful to have the 4 year olds perform the plays for
the 2 yr olds. What self-esteem and confidence building! That also works
on the ability to speak in front of others (a skill often not mentioned in
standards but very useful in life.)
