My kids keep singing the 'Everything is Awesome' song from the Lego movie and it is totally getting stuck in my head. I decided to change the words a bit, just for variety. :) So now, I'm singing in my head, "Orchestra is Awesome!"
"Who Am I?" Instrument ID Game I recently shared a few of my favorite resources for teaching instruments of the orchestra. Here is a instru...
Hear what each instrument of the orchestra sounds like.
It's that time of year to finish up my Rhythm SLO and give my students their final summative assessment. I used my previous rhythm tests for students to practice and it really helped me see what to re-teach. Student were able to fix their mistakes and understand better. I think students will do very well on this new rhythm final. Here's a peek:
Polly Wolly Doodle, American tune for children's string orchestra with beginners' parts.
I've been asked to co-write a method book for beginning strings and it has been fun creating pages and developing a plan for my 'dream' meth...
Song Index
Beginners can play in tune. Really...they can. And they WANT to play in tune. No one wants to sound bad. I learned this while studying the Suzuki method as my son (age 4) began his violin lessons. He was taught to place his fingers perfectly and he wasn't to pull his bow until his fingers were set. That means, we had to pause after every 'tukka tukka stop stop' to place the next note before pulling the bow again. With this careful practice, my son never had the chance to play out of tune. Soon enough, he developed the muscle memory to land his fingers in tune add we no longer had to pause between pitch changes. In a beginning orchestra setting, we may not be able to physically check and move each student's finger to the right place, but we can use tapes for a guide. Students in a classroom are older, anyway...and they need to learn how to monitor their own playing. When students are struggling to get pitches in tune, I have found it helpful to step back and use the Suzuki strategy. Set. pull, listen. Does it match - is it in tune? Recently, I did a warm-up with my beginning orchestra class and it helped their overall intonation so much that I started doing it with all of my groups. We often warm-up with finger patterns and scales...this is just a new way to approach the patterns. We drilled only 3 notes at a time. In my experience, students are most often out of tune when playing half steps. This little drill helped students fix those intervals and they performed with better intonation through the entire rehearsal after playing it. I don't have students read the sheet music for warm ups because I want all of their focus to be on their fingers, half steps, intonation, tone, bow placement. etc. They easily pick up on this simple warm-up by rote. The other thing I have learned about beginners and intonation is that they sound a lot better when I tune them! This is pretty obvious, but I used to not tune them very carefully. I have 50 students to tune in each of my beginning class, so I'm in a hurry...I tune them all in 5 minutes or less. With tuner blaring, I used to tune via pizzicato. Then, after nagging my class to fix their intonation, I noticed that their D's and A's didn't match...and I had tuned them! I learned that I am not very good at tuning accurately when I use pizz. Now, I tune every kid's instrument using my bow...and wow...what a difference. You students just might be playing better than you think. Every now and then, I even tune my advanced class...just to make sure their instruments are perfectly in tune before we focus a rehearsal on intonation.
My district is one that is implementing Student Learning Objectives...which are basically large-scale goals for each student in class based on their ability levels. Teachers have to set target scores/learning outcomes for lower level learners to higher level learners. That means there has to be some sort of pre-assessment in order to determine the level of the students. I really have struggled in attempting to create pre-assessments for orchestra. It has been hard to wrap my head around giving a test to see what I know students don't know yet...since I haven't taught the skill, yet. Anyway, I am focusing my learning objective on rhythm. I want to be sure my students are fluent note-readers and rhythm readers. For my pre-test, I will use the 'I Got Rhythm' form that I created. This can be used many different ways and can be a useful tool in a variety of rhythm exercises. For my pre-assessment, I will perform the rhythm from one box on each line...and I will have students circle the rhythm that they think I played. This will help me see if students are already recognizing these rhythms. The rhythms get progressively more difficult as you move down the page, so I will be able to set some learning targets for individual students. Eventually of course, students will demonstrate the ability to perform these rhythms on their own - by the end of year 1. I can also use this form as a rhythm exercise...students can perform the rhythms across and down each line. They can cut them up to make flashcards. You can use the different rhythms for warm-ups and scales.
Utah has now implemented mandatory SLO's for every teacher, and I have been working on my Student Learning Goals and pre-assessments. I have to choose 2 learning goals to complete with my students this year. For my first one, I am going to do the same goal that I did last year - the rhythm SLO for a beginning class. It worked well for me last year and it was pretty easy to execute. I wrote a post about it HERE and posted the final assessment HERE. For my 2nd SLO, I will be teaching shifting. As my students get more advanced, I really want them to be comfortable in other positions so that we can explore more difficult repertoire. I have already started teaching my 2nd year students how to shift, and so far it is going great - they are doing so well! I used to be afraid to teach shifting in a classroom setting because of scary intonation, but I have found some ways to teach shifting to make it very non-threatening and easy...but this post is about my SLO - so maybe more on that later. I just created a pre-assessment for a shifting SLO. You can purchase and download the 9 page file HERE - but here are some sample pages if you just want to get some ideas:
Ideas, games, worksheets, posters, and more for teaching strings
Download a 32-half page set of mini orchestra coloring pages! The perfect complement to your orchestra unit study!
Download a 32-half page set of mini orchestra coloring pages! The perfect complement to your orchestra unit study!
Title: Duel of the Fates From: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Instruments: Treble Clef Instrument, range: A3-C6 Piano Voice Scorings: Piano/Vocal/Chords Original Published Key: C Major Product Type: Musicnotes Product #: MN0133737 Price: $4.99 Includes 1 print + interactive copy with lifetime access in our free apps. Each additional print is $3.99 Number of Pages: 4 Average Rating: Rated 4.5/5 based on 1 customer ratings Top Review: "It is a fine piece of music but it isnt the most accurate version of the music but overall..." continued | see all reviews Lyrics Begin: Korah, Mahtah
I have tried many different ways to assess students. I personally don't use practice cards use home practice time as part of my students' grades. Instead, I grade written assignments (bellwork and other written activities that reinforce music theory, note-reading, rhythm, etc.) and playing tests where students demonstrate specific playing skills. Students are encouraged to re-take playing tests as needed as they strive to master playing skills. Playing tests in my classroom used to be very time intensive. I would listen to every student play a passage and grade each one using a rubric and write comments directly to each student. While waiting for their turn to play, students would complete a lengthy written assignment, which would take me a very long time to grade later on. One day after a playing test, I noticed my classroom garbage can overflowing with discarded playing test forms. The grades, the comments...all trash. I realized my playing tests were not super effective for student reflection and growth. Since then, I have made some small changes in an effort to make playing tests more useful for me and my students. This includes moving towards standards based playing tests where students are working to reach a pre-determined level of mastery. Here is how I am currently running playing test assessments: 1. I choose a specific skill or passage and keep it simple and short. I used to grade on everything: bowing, rhythm, intonation, notes, dynamics, bow hold, position. I now choose the top skills I want students to focus on and tailor my rubric to match. That means I don't always use the same rubric. I use a variety of rubrics to fit the requirements of my learning targets. 2. I give students a pre-assessment. I want students to know how to assess themselves and each other. The grade doesn't always have to come from me. Students perform a pre-test for their stand partners and fill out the rubric. Students are able to support and help each other as they reflect on how to improve. It only takes about 5 minutes for my class to complete a pre-test and grade each other. Students then spend approx. 5 minutes writing down answers to a few questions: 1. Do you agree with the score your stand partner gave you? 2. What do you still need to work on? 3. Based on pre-test results, I help the class as much as possible to master the necessary skills for the playing test. Sometimes, I create specialized practice worksheets to help students break down passages to practice slowly and carefully. 4. Using the same rubric as the pre-test, I listen to every student individually. Because playing test passages are short and specific, this does not take too much time. I give students the rubric with their scores right after they play and students answer a few questions to reflect of their playing. Students who have anxiety are allowed to submit their test online. While students are waiting their turn, they work on other essential music skills. Not on a long boring worksheet, though. They do activities on chromebooks, experiment with composition, work on listening skills, or practice notereading/rhythm. 5. Sometimes I do something totally different than a playing test and have students track their skills throughout one rehearsal or even one week of rehearsal. Variety is good. Here are a few sample rubrics: This rubric is for students to check themselves every day for accurate posture, bow hold, position, and left hand placement. The idea is for students to be responsible for mastering these skills throughout one week of rehearsal. Pre-Assessment: Playing Test Assessment: Notes/Intonation Rubric: Bowing Rubric: Term 1: Mid-Term Rubric - student self-assessment:
Song Index
At the start of the school year, my focus for beginners is to develop excellent, comfortable bow holds and perfect position. We played by rote for a couple of weeks and have since been learning rhythm and note names. I don't like to drag note-reading out for too long. All they have to do is learn 8 notes and they can play so many tunes! INTRODUCING THE FIRST NOTES Students are usually excited to begin understanding music and reading notes. I teach the open strings first. I introduce the staff by comparing it to a highway with lanes and lines to show that notes are drawn (they travel) from left to right across the staff. I then teach students that notes are 'parked' on the staff. Some notes park in a space, and other notes park right on a line. I tell a story about a person driving an expensive BMW who didn't want to get their car scratched, so they parked right on a line. I have found that some students new to note-reading need the explanation that notes can be drawn ON a line. This goes against all kindergarten/grade school coloring rules when they're told over and over to stay in the lines! Student learn open string notes so quickly - it only takes minutes. I use my dry erase packets equipped with a staff and a dry erase marker. I show each section of the orchestra where their open string D is 'parked' on the staff and tell them to memorize that spot. I tell a story about I time I went to the zoo and couldn't remember where I parked and was wandering the parking lot for 30 minutes before I found my car! I explain that open D will ALWAYS be parked in that spot. We also learn where open A is parked. Next I call out various patterns of D and A and students draw them on the staff. (D, A, D, D), (D, A, A, D), etc. Students race to be the first one to draw the notes and hold up their packets. After a few minutes of this, students are allowed to create their own arrangement of D's and A's on the staff and perform them pizzicato with their stand partners. MEMORIZING NOTES My favorite method to get students to memorize notes is to use the foldable flashcards from orchestrateacher.net: http://www.orchestrateacher.net/2013/08/13/foldable-music-note-flash-cards/ I copy a set for each student, but only pass out one string at a time. Students spend 10 minutes in class memorizing the D string notes and passing them off with their stand partners. For flashcard pass-offs, students must say the note name on the flashcard and pluck the correct note on their instruments. I require students do this in 10 seconds or less. After a week or so, we add the A string notes and students must pass off all 8 flashcards in 20 seconds or less. I try to pair up students with piano/note-reading experience with those who are new to note-reading. WRITING NOTE NAMES Sometimes we may underestimate how much a student can learn at one time. When I was seven, I begged Santa Claus to bring me a recorder for Christmas. I didn't know how to read music and had never tried an instrument before, but Santa delivered me a quality recorder and a book. It was easy to look at the diagrams and understand the notes and fingerings. I immediately wrote in all the note names for the first few pages and was able to play several songs. After that, I got sick of having to look up note names for each note, so I decided to memorize them. It didn't take long...in 10-15 minutes I had memorized the notes and no longer had to write them all in. Allowing students to write note-names in their music hinders and slows their progress. Unless a student has special needs, expect students to memorize the notes! USE THE FORCE Sometimes it can appear students do not know the notes when they struggle to play through a simple exercise. One day after some painful minutes working in our method book I became worried that my students were not fast enough at note-reading. After having them say note names I realized this was not the case. Students were slow at reading the notes because they were looking at their fingers instead of the notes on the page and they were getting lost. I joked that they need to 'use the force' to find notes and stop looking at their fingers! The next day, I did a lesson to help students learn how to find notes on their instruments using their sense of touch and hearing. They can't always use sight to find the note - it's a lot better if they listen and train fingers to land in the right place. To help students learn the skill, we watched a short clip from YouTube: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljybsB1LwVY) showing Jimmy Fallon and Taylor Swift attempt to draw each other without looking at the page. After the clip, student used blank paper and tried to draw their stand partners without looking at the page. They LOVED this activity and the pictures were hilarious. We began reading a few exercises in the method book and it was totally different from the day before. Students were more focused. They were following the notes on the page and not looking back and forth between their fingers and the page. They sounded so much better! ASSESSMENT Every week I have been given my students note-reading assessments to make sure they are on target with note-reading skills. Students must know that you are serious about them learning the notes! I have students play the exercises are far as possible with NO hints written in the music. After that, I allow them to label notes and fingerings to reinforce speed and memorization. Students also complete bellwork exercises each day during tuning to reinforce note-reading. I use my book, 'Be An Amazing Note-Reader,' 'Rhythm Packet,' and 'Rhythm Bellwork.' Here are a few assessments I have used in the last couple week. Happy note-reading!
Tous les outils pour bien commencer le violoncelle
In my district, teachers make goals that we are to work on through the school year. This year, I have been working on collecting and analyz...
Ideas, games, worksheets, posters, and more for teaching strings
A brilliant way to learn those music theory fundamentals is being shared on social media, and all you have to do is sing.
Spring is one of my favorite times of year - each morning on my walk I hear birds singing and see rabbits hopping on fresh sprigs of green grass. And the flowers! Well, if you know me at all, you know how much I love flowers and especially irises. I have so many flowers planted around my house and particularly love the 20-something varieties of iris I currently have! This is a perfect rhyme and fingerplay for spring. Fingerplays are so underrated! Teach them to younger students as a fingerplay but bring them back to teach or reinforce rhythmic elements in first grade and as a canon experience for second grade, or add a So Mi or So La Mi melody, eventually adding in an ostinato or two. Transfer the rhyme and ostinati to non-pitched percussion, add timbre changes for each line and allow the students to decide how to perform it. For older students, use these as a basis for melodic improvisation or to walk the beat while clapping the rhythm or add a B Section with the names of egg layers - birds, fish, insects, turtles, platypus, echidna, reptiles, and lizards. Or have small groups of students create a movement story of one type of animal and perform for other groups to guess the animal. So many possibilities! For a better image, click here. Enjoy!
Enlarge and print this poster for your band or orchestra classroom. Encourage active rehearsal participation and listening during all rehearsal moments! Post near your pencil sharpener or other areas where students might be tempted to "wander".
