Helping students find DO and count rhythms

A choral resource for you! This is an information sheet that can help singers know where DO is and how to count rhythms for melodic sight-reading.  This link allows you to download in better resolution; the google drive folder has both the PDF and an editable Word version.

Autumn leaf rhythms to read!

Here are 5 different autumn leaf printables with duple meter rhythms to read. All rhythms are 4 beats long, and have just quarter notes and eighth notes.

3 of the rhythms come straight from the first duple meter Verbal Association LSA, representing the  Easy, Medium, and Difficult patterns that the kids learn to chant.

Download the leaf rhythms here.
Print these on autumn-leaf-colored paper (I used red, orange, yellow, brown, and green, and printed 6 of each pattern), cut, and laminate, for a cute rhythm reading activity where the kids can hold different rhythms they'll get to read!


As an extension to the activity, print out BLANK leaves, and have small groups write their own 4-beat rhythms!  Then have the kids perform the rhythms for each other in a Rondo form using a fall song as the A section of the rondo, and each small group as the B/C/D/E sections! (I use a song called "Fall Canon," which I got from an Orff class.)

Simon Sings!

Think Simon Says, but to help the kids think about the difference between singing voice and speaking voice.

You don't use the words Simon Says at all.  You simply give an instruction either using your singing voice or your speaking voice. The students are only to follow the instructions you SING, not the ones you speak in the game. If a student follows a direction you SPEAK, they're out and they sit down!

I like to improvise in Dorian or Phrygian mode to give the directions in the game. You also can sing tonic and dominant patterns in major or minor tonality, later adding in subdominant patterns. The purpose is for the kids to practice and for you to assess how they're doing with hearing the difference between singing and speaking voice!



Extension:

If my students are REALLY good at hearing singing vs. speaking (which my K and 1st graders are!), I make it even trickier for them!  If I sing the directions on the RESTING TONE, they should follow them, but if I sing the directions on ANY OTHER NOTE, they shouldn't follow them!  This helps me assess whether students are truly audiating which pitch is the resting tone!

Reading Music: Tonal Patterns for Valentine's Day (FREE DOWNLOADS!)

For Valentine's Day, my 4th graders did an activity with the song "Love Somebody"(notation here; we sang it in D major) to practice reading tonal patterns.  Instructions for the activity (and obviously you can adapt it for your students):

• Download (at the bottom of this post!), print on light pink or red paper, and laminate the hearts from this page ahead of time.
• Pass out 1 heart each to about 4 students as you sing "Love Somebody."
• After the song is over, those 4 students look at their pattern and sing it by themselves for the class. The whole class can echo DO-MI-SOL patterns after you in between the individual students.
• Those 4 students pass their hearts to 4 other students as you sing the song again (the rest of the class can even close their eyes so it's secret!).
• The next 4 students sight-sing their patterns. 
• Repeat until the class gets tired of the activity!

Download the free, editable tonal-pattern hearts here. 

2nd grade demo: Learning Sequence Activity and rhythmic improv!

One of my classes has the honor of being selected to be part of a book being published about music teaching methods!  The book, which will be published by Oxford University Press, will be titled Approaches to Teaching Classroom Music.  Dr. Cynthia Taggart, one of my former professors, wrote the chapter about the method of music teaching called Music Learning Theory.  She asked many teachers she knows for video of students learning music with MLT.  This video was one of only 3 videos selected for the book chapter! 

The book will have a QR code linking to the video that readers will be able to scan on a smartphone or iPad. In the video, 2nd graders are singing in their Learning Sequence Activity patterns and improvising rhythms with a song called “Someone Special Gets the Drum”! Congrats to these 2nd graders on their accomplishment!!!

Measuring Student Growth: 1st grade Singing Voice

In my district teachers are required to show student growth using data through a Student Growth Goal. My growth goal was focused on 1st graders finding singing voice and singing more in tune. Here's how I tracked the student data.


Student Growth Goal:

"All students will improve in their ability to sing in tune with accurate pitch. 70-80% or more will improve by at least one level or maintain the highest level according to the Singing Voice Development Measure, and will improve in the percentage of pitches they sing in tune in their singing test."

This resource gave me my rating scale and most of my songs and patterns. My principal LOVED that what I was doing was based in research!

The Measurement and Evaluation of Children's Singing Voice Development by Joanne Rutkowski

Pretest
On their pretest in October, students echoed patterns in minor tonality, and sang a minor song they had learned.

Song used on pretest (students sang for me individually as others worked in centers):

Patterns students echoed on pretest:

How students were rated in the assessments:

 Singing Voice Development Measure

Joanne Rutkowski's research determined that students progress toward using their singing voice through the following stages. I recorded the students singing with my iPad, and graded each student based on what range they were singing in.

1. Pre-singer – does not sing but chants the song text.

2. Inconsistent Speaking Range Singer – sometimes chants, sometimes sustains tones and exhibits some sensitivity to pitch but remains in the speaking voice range (usually A2 to C3).

3. Speaking Range Singer – sustains tones and exhibits some sensitivity to pitch but remains in the speaking voice range (usually A2 to C3).

4. Inconsistent Limited Range Singer – wavers between speaking and singing voice and uses a limited range when in singing voice (usually up to F3).

5. Limited Range Singer – exhibits consistent use of limited singing range (usually D3 to F3).

6. Inconsistent Initial Range Singer – sometimes only exhibits use of limited singing range, but other times exhibits use of initial singing range (usually D3 to A3).

7. Initial Range Singer – exhibits consistent use of initial singing range (usually D3 to A3).

8. Inconsistent Singer – sometimes only exhibits use of initial singing range, but other times exhibits use of extended singing range (sings beyond the register lift: B3-flat and above).

9. Singer – exhibits use of consistent extended singing range (sings beyond the register lift: B3-flat and above).

Mid-year assessment:

I checked on student range with this song in February. I used this song because it goes above the "Initial Range Singer" range above. Many students had grown to "Singer" level (Level 9 on the scale) by February, many of them even hitting high E's!!!

End-of-year assessment:

Students individually sang patterns, Hello There!, and See the Bird (from pretest) for their final assessment. 

Hello There:

Patterns in post-test: 

So how did it turn out?

The students grew more than I could have imagined!!  100% of students increased or maintained their singing voice level. Here are video examples of just HOW much these students grew!!