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What are listening glyphs? It’s okay if you don’t know, but trust me you are going to want to use them to focus your students for listening activities. I didn’t know what a glyph was until WELL after I graduated from college with a teaching degree. Why? At the time it wasn’t a tool that was used by music teachers for any practical purpose. Classroom teachers had been using them like graphs for a long time. They were a way to share information in a pictorial way that students could easily interpret. Today they are a staple in my classroom. I use them consistently with first through sixth grades as a way to focus their attention while listening to selected pieces of music in class. For many years I used only listening journals, which were essentially just questions about the piece that students filled in like a form. I asked them about tempo, timbre, genre, meter, mood and more. This worked well for older students but in my younger classes, students that struggled with reading were often left behind. Instead of listening to the music they were trying to read all of the questions and weren’t focused much at all. So, instead of 8 to 15 questions to answer I considered what 3-5 essential things I hoped they would hear in each piece. Did it matter if my third grader knew that instrument was a trombone if they could identify the sound as brass? Could I live with asking my second graders if the dynamics changed or stayed the same instead of having them write the words “forte” or “piano”? Would I be okay with asking my 5th graders if the beat of the music was grouped in twos or threes instead of asking them to identify the time signature? Uhm…yes. I was still using appropriate assessments AND I was using my precious class time more efficiently. Students LOVED “just coloring” and listening to music. The first listening glyphs I created were simple and could be used with any piece of music. I used them mostly with first through third graders. I had them color pieces of the picture based on what they heard in a piece of music. What happened was MAGIC. Active listening. Engaged learners. More time spent listening to music than talking about it. Before i began using listening glyphs it was difficult for me to focus younger students for 2-3 minutes of listening time and nearly impossible to do it more than once without adding movement, props, drama, etc… Don’t get me wrong. I still do those things, but glyphs gave students an opportunity to respond individually to the piece rather than as a group. 1. Plan a piece that is interesting and has elements that your students can identify. I have a couple of sets that I think are the easiest to start with. I would recommend them because they are really just print and go. John Williams Listening Glyphs – Who doesn’t love his music? This set has some kid favorites from Star Wars, Superman and Jurassic Park. Nutcracker Listening Glyphs – Great for December and January or anytime really, these glyphs celebrate Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet. Armed Forces Glyphs – I use these glyphs all year long. This set contains patriotic songs in addition to the songs of the U.S. armed forces. My 5th and 6th graders love this set the most. They rarely get an opportunity to color so this is such a great change of pace. I must warn you though. The older kids love doing these SO much that they take MUCH longer than the lower grades to complete the same glyph. Christmas Listening Glyphs - These are fabulous for December. This set contains Christmas favorites performed by traditional artists. It also comes with a version that doesn't specify a specific artist so that you can use it with whatever version you like. So much fun! Black History Month Listening Glyphs - This is a very versatile set. Although it was created for Black History Month, it can be used all year long. There's a wide variety of genres included in this set and I've linked you to a Spotify playlist if you are in a pinch for the music. 2. If you haven’t already taught your students how to QUICKLY and efficiently get supplies and get back to their seat, do it now. Plan it. Teach it. Practice it. This is essential to doing any kind of writing or coloring activity. If listening glyphs will be one of your first writing activities with a group, you need to have a plan for getting supplies and you need to teach them how you want it done. In my classroom I send students to get their supplies by rows. Traffic moves in a circle as students go to a table for paper and crayons, move ahead to a tub about 7 or 8 feet away with clipboards and then move back to the carpet or their chairs. It is important to put supplies in a couple of spots so that the line moves quickly. In your classroom you may find that line leaders or row captains can get the supplies and pass them out quickly. You might also consider having students get supplies on their way to their chair and just placing them under it until you are ready. Whatever you decide, be clear with your instructions. I often give the directions and then say something like “Paper, crayons, clipboard, carpet!” and have them repeat it. I keep crayons in a plastic soap box. Students can’t really see through them so there’s no picking through a pile to get the best box. Storing them this way also keeps them from getting mixed up quite as much as other ways I’ve tried. If possible, make sure students have their own supplies. Sharing crayons for listening glyphs gives reason for conversations that you don’t want during listening time. 3. Have students read through the worksheet with you. Identify what you’ll be listening for and then have them put the sheets down. Allow no coloring, writing or talking during the first listening. 4. After we’ve listened to it the first time we talk about what we’ve heard using the worksheet as a guide. For older grades this is brief. For younger students, we will thoroughly go through each item following the items on the worksheet. 5. Listen again while students color their answers. If the piece is short enough we may listen to it several times while they finish. If you are teaching a group of students how to complete listening glyphs for the first time, you may find it helpful to have them discuss what they heard and then color that item. Move through each item on the worksheet in the same manner. This takes more time, but will save you time the next time you work with listening glyphs. I usually do this longer version only with kindergarten and first grade. The other classes can be successful without this extra time. Be lenient with choices that could be right. For example, in “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” you can hear a celesta. One of the items on my listening glyphs asks if you hear percussion instruments. My younger students may think that percussion just means drums, triangles, tambourines and other classroom percussion instruments they have played. I usually accept any answer for that. With older students I may expect them to know what instrument is playing that part. Speaking of being lenient, you may have to be lenient with color choices too. All crayons are NOT created equal! Listening glyphs can be graded in the traditional way. I have found that it is quick and easy to walk around the classroom while students are working and note on my seating chart if a student doesn’t understand. I can talk them through the problem and note a score for the activity without actually collecting the papers. You can try a free sample of this listening glyph by clicking HERE. I hope that you will consider adding listening glyphs to your lesson plans. Please let me know if you have any questions about using them in your classroom.
DIY Composition Manipulatives. Organized Chaos. easy rhythm cards made from foam sheets. great way to get students composing because each card matches the length of the note or rest and each note is a different color.
Standard Of Excellence Book 1 - Bb Clarinet - Bruce Pearson The Standard of Excellence Comprehens...
Clara Schumann is one of the most influential female composers of all time, so help your students learn about her musical legacy through listening samples, a timeline, fun facts, and an assessment. Included in these editable Google Slides: Biography & overview slides with embedded audio True or False Game, great for engaging students True / False answer key Timeline Fun facts are animated when in present mode to appear one at a time 2 famous compositions: Nocturne & Scherzo Embedded audio from YouTube with diverse female performers, making this great for women's history month as well as diversifying your curriculum! Printable assessment & answer key Digital assessment & answer key Additional listening units for musicians: John Williams Louis Armstrong John Coltrane
We follow Charlotte Mason’s approach to studying famous composers and their music. We select one famous composer for each month and listen to one of his most famous works each week. We disp…
Learn how to design a midterm or final exam for a proficiency-oriented language course. Find out what to include and see examples!
In February of this year, I organized a month-long, studio-wide composition project based on the 12-bar blues. In this episode, I share a behind-the-scenes look at how I organized this project in my studio, how I structured and guided the composition process each week, some blues examples we studied
In February of this year, I organized a month-long, studio-wide composition project based on the 12-bar blues. In this episode, I share a behind-the-scenes look at how I organized this project in my studio, how I structured and guided the composition process each week, some blues examples we studied
Double blog post today, because that's the kind of day I'm having, lol!! I made two batches of muffins for my kids (blueberry and chocolate), bought two new outfits, so things are coming in twos!! This is an idea that I got from two of my friends who teach in my district (Jenna O. & Cathy K.). These are beat strips and are great for rhythmic dictation and notation. They were a little time consuming to make, but I hope to give you some tips to make it go faster and easier! Here's the general idea. Every student gets a beat strip, like this: This is Jenna's original template, I have redone them, using a different font to look more like a time signature. From there, I have rhythms that are prepackaged according to grade level (this will vary for everyone, depending on your sequence). Here's a picture of the beat strip with my first grade "pouch" of rhythms: Here's the way they look on the chart: After first grade, students will have more then one "pouch." So, when my second graders use half note they get the second grade pouch with half note in addition to the first grade pouch with ta, ti-ti and ta rest. ** Note: I don't call them "first grade pouch" so the kids don't have a misconception if they are behind in the sequence. I refer to the rhythms in them with the students. Then, when they put them away, they must return them to the correct baggie, kind of like sorting out legos when you're done building! Here's a couple pictures of the first grade pouch with the third grade rhythm baggie: And here's a couple shots of my fourth grade pouch: Now, I mentioned I re-did Jenna's file. Here's the four beat dictation board that I showed above: What you would do is print these out on card stock, laminate them (so they'll last a long time) and then cut them into the strips that you saw above. I started thinking about the Common Core Standards and wanting my kids to do longer dictation/compositions so I created an 8 beat board (below): I also wanted my students to write in 3/4 meter, so here's a 3/4 board (3 beat dictation/composition): And here's a 3/4 meter board that's 6 beat dictation/composition: I also made all of the rhythms in both stick notation and notation with note-heads. You print these out on card stock first, then laminate and cut along the dotted lines (for a class of 30 you print 10 pages of each rhythm): With the rhythmic elements that last longer than one beat I made light gray lines to show the beats (it's a nice reminder to the students that a dotted half note gets three beats, or a half note gets two beats or syn-co-pa is three sound over two beats). It's important when cutting these cards to NOT cut along the gray lines!! :) Here are the time saving tips: Print them on card stock, they'll last longer Color code them, if possible, according to rhythmic element- this will make assessing them much quicker- you can do a quick glance for color, major time saver during class! For a class of 30, you'll need 10 pages of each concept Cut them out on the paper cutter AFTER you laminate them Look at your curriculum and print the ones you need. Or print as you go. Start with the 1st grade set one year and gradually print more Recruite some 5th graders to sort them- it's a great reinforcement for them too :) If you're interested in these cards, they can be found at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. And there you have it, the double post for the day!!! Have a GREAT Martin Luther King Jr. Day tomorrow!!!
A group from France known as 'Les Objets Volants' performs an incredibly difficult pull off version of Bach's Prelude No. 1 using only boomwhackers... yes, you read that right. Boomwhackers.
The Yellow Brick Road Blog is a website dedicated to providing music teachers with fun education resources for serious music literacy.
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The Yellow Brick Road Blog is a website dedicated to providing music teachers with fun education resources for serious music literacy.
In this limited edition print Sylvie Bello transmits a sense of familiarity, as if we, the viewers, are there, in the picture, listening to the instruments tuning, the people's conversation, the warm atmosphere of friendship. The cheerful colors and the composition of the image makes us feel like we are there, at this very moment. Portuguese Musicians by Sylvie Bello. Size: MEDIUM MEDIUM 9 x 12 inches (23 x 30,3 cm.) Giclée print of an original in monotype. Each print in this series of 25, comes numbered and signed by the artist with the date of printing. While all prints come unframed, they all fit standard frame sizes and standard pre-cut mat sizes (read: you won’t ever need to pay for pricey custom framing). Categories: Drawing. Pencil. Monotype. French artist. Curators recommendation: Birthday gift. Gifts for her. House warming gift. Anniversary gift. Sylvie was born in France where she studied Textile Design at the School of Applied Arts in Lyon. Always passionate about books, newspapers and illustrated magazines, after graduating she started working as a freelance illustrator. She prefers working with the monotype technique, but she also likes to explore other techniques such as etching and silkscreen. She participated in numerous group exhibitions. Sylvie also developed a passion for education through art. She is currently working on her first didactic book for children, which will be published in Italy. Her drawings are whimsical and profound, with a sensibility for everyday settings; this is what she says about her work: "What I want is to create an emotion, to take the viewer to the edge of my pencil and bring them to other realities." Keywords: drawing, pencil drawing, fine art, paintings, illustration. French artist.
The quieter you become the more you are able to hear. - Rumi The spirit of the warrior is rooted in learning to listen. In our dojo, Aikido training is conducted in silence or rather in the practice of chinmoku (沈黙) or “silence.” Both teachers and students are not supposed to be engaged in exces
Sound matters. The New Testament's first audiences were listeners, not readers. They heard its compositions read aloud and understood their messages as linear streams of sound. To understand the New Testament's meaning in the way its earliest audiences did, we must hear its audible features and understand its words as spoken sounds. Sound Matters presents essays by ten scholars from five countries and three continents, who explore the New Testament through sound mapping, a technique invented by Margaret Lee and Bernard Scott for analyzing Greek texts as speech. Sound Matters demonstrates the value and uses of this technique as a prelude and aid to interpretation. The essays that make up this volume illustrate the wide range of interpretive possibilities that emerge when sound mapping restores the spoken sounds of the New Testament and revives its living voice.
But I'm afraid Karen lost me at the listen part. I mean, really, how well do I listen? How well do most of us listen?
One of the projects described at Boulder Journey School Summer Conference 2013 was entitled The Composition of Sound and was a part of the process ofincluding more music within the daily lives of preschoolers. In the project the children learned about creating sound, personifying wind, representing ideas and composing/directing music. This was not a new project, it had been done at the preschool before, so the documentaion of the previous project was shared with the children in order to stimulate ideas and reflections. I like the idea of children not ALWAYS having to start from scratch, of being able to benefit from the learning processes of other children. I also like the idea that the children reading the documentaion of previous years will get the sense of value... that the adults value our ideas enough to keep them and share them with other... that maybe it encourages the children to voice their ideas with the knowledge that maybe they too will be shared in the future... The children realised that they could create a wind choir - as they could rpoduce sound with their own mouths (and of course as you breathe out to make sound, out comes air like a small wind). As with all the projects at Boulder Journey School the teachers are partners WITH the children, they learn and explore TOGETHER. This is why it is so important that teachers come to each project with fresh eyes... that does not mean you abandon your own knowledge and experience (that should of course be used wisely) - but it does mean you need to be open enough to see something new, or to enjoy the process as if it was the first time - it is about GENUINE enthusiasm for what you are doing WITH the children. By using the observations made of the children and listening to their thoughts it enables the teachers to plan and research the appropriate journey of discovery - which can go in any direction (which a teacher needs to be prepared for - and not disappointed if it doesn't go in the direction that you originally thought it would). The teachers at BJS turned to technology to locate sounds of wind for the children to listen to - and as they listened they labled the wind types and were then given the opportunity to draw representations of wind. The teachers made a mobile of the names of the wind - to document the names in an attractive manner and also harnassing wind as part of the documentation display. a great variety of wind names While the children were drawing their representations of the wind they were also able to listen to the wind sounds. I took notes of the children's drawings and this is how they drew the wind, and how they named the wind Their representations of the wind were projected onto the wall and the children were able to share their ideas and to reflect upon them... having the image on the OH allowed the children to move their drawings which enable their peers to better understand the movment of the wind represented. At the same time the children were working on their wind choir... learning how to compose music to create a thunderstorm. Each child created their own wind sound and they took it in turns to conduct the wind choir... ... the children needed to explain their hand signals - what meant stop, what meant start, what meant quiet and what meant loud etc... - as they took it in turns they expanded on the hands signals - learning and inspiring each other. They then progressed to a stop-motion film animating their wind drawings together with their wind choir music - - using the skills of the studio specialist and the technology specialist to expand the project. another detail of the wind mobile In this project the class teacher had the support of the music specialist, the technology specialist and the studio specialist. The idea of the specialist is to not only support teachers to provide richer experiences and stimulate their own thinking about projects from different angles, but also to enable the whole school to be an entity and not just a series of classrooms. It shows that not only children benefit from collaboration, but as teachers we also benefit from collaborating with our colleagues to deepen our understanding of the children, their learning and alternative methods to support their interest. This allows for the 100 languages, as we approach a project from not with just one vision but many - allowing the project journey to follow its own path at the same time as experiencing many things on route... other images connected with wind... using fan to blow various threads on a frame an upright wind-tunnel with a variety of objects to see how far they travel... and finally a short film of a fan blowing ribbons - and it is to LISTEN and not jsut watch as wind makes a noise... at least the making of wind by this fan - and as it MOVES things...
In February of this year, I organized a month-long, studio-wide composition project based on the 12-bar blues. In this episode, I share a behind-the-scenes look at how I organized this project in my studio, how I structured and guided the composition process each week, some blues examples we studied
This quiz will help you assess how well your students can identify the character from Prokofiev's, Peter & the Wolf, with its instrument(s) and theme. If you like this FREE item, please take a moment to look at some of my other products and remember... feedback is appreciated and incites more FREEBIES to be offered to you! ☺ Other Peter & the Wolf products include: ♫ Peter and the Wandering Wolf Escape Room ♫ Peter and the Wolf Bingo Games ♫ Peter and the Wolf Memory Match Game ♫ Peter and the Wolf Mystery Pictures 1 (Boom Cards) ♫ Peter and the Wolf Mystery Pictures 2 (Boom Cards) ♫ Peter and the Wolf 3D Standing Figures ♫ Peter and the Wolf Clip It (Boom Cards) ♫ Peter and the Wolf Bookmarks ♫ Peter and the Wolf Reward Tags ♫ Peter and the Wolf Clip-It Cards ♫ Peter and the Wolf Finger Puppets 2 ♫ Peter and the Wolf Folder Game ♫ Peter and the Wolf Go Fish 2 ♫ Peter and the Wolf Headband Game ♫ Peter and the Wolf Interactive Worksheets 2 ♫ Peter and the Wolf Listening Glyphs 2 ♫ Peter and the Wolf Puzzles (Black and White) ♫ Peter and the Wolf Puzzles (Color) ♫ Peter and the Wolf Quilt Worksheets ♫ Peter and the Wolf Trace It Cards ♫ Peter and the Wolf Window Worksheets ♫ Peter and the Wolf Writing Activities 2
