an interactive podcast for elementary music classrooms
from Louisville Public Media and PRX
Teaching
Introduce: show students how to find their heartbeats
Reinforce: take turns clapping different students’ heartbeat
Assess: pass a drum having students perform their steady beat solo then as group
Introduce: practice clapping rhythms of names
Reinforce: try clapping rhythms of other things like characters, colors, or foods
Assess: have students group words based on rhythmic likeness (ta = red, cow, etc)
Introduce: sing nursery rhyme moving prop(s) to follow pitch
Reinforce: have students join with movement, singing, and other nursery rhymes
Assess: give prop(s) to other students to lead or conduct various songs
Introduce: practice making silly sounds to replicate everyday timbres
Reinforce: use onomatopoeia to describe timbres and match onomatopoeia to
specific instruments
Assess: come up with other scenarios that can be recreated using timbre and
have different groups perform (school bus rides, sports games, and much more)
Introduce: show students how to conduct simple 2/4 or 4/4 patterns
Reinforce: shuffle classical music having students conduct steady beats but stop
when it’s not so steady
Assess: give a student leader a baton to perform for the class and they assess if
the student knows when the beats are steady or not
Introduce: match words or phrases to various rhythms
Reinforce: mix and match words or phrases to make a class poem
Assess: have half the class perform poems and the other half perform the rhythms
(on rhythm instruments or body percussion)
Introduce: play or sing a 3 note melody having students respond with movement
Reinforce: pair students to create their own melodies and movements
Assess: have groups perform, and class can help assess if movements match
Introduce: dance to “Cha Cha Slide” instructing students to listen closely to sfx
Reinforce: start a word wall of terms that can be used to describe sfx
Assess: have students create their own “Cha Cha Slide” variations using timbres they choose
Introduce: shuffle popular instrumentals having students lead different dances
Reinforce: circle up and create a dance routine where each student adds a move
done across 4 beats
Assess: perform the routine seeing who can remember each student’s moves
Introduce: dictate rhythms from a popular song
Reinforce: assign rhythms to different groups of students
Assess: perform song accompanying on rhythm instruments playing at right time
Introduce: play or sing simple 2-note melody having students sing back
Reinforce: try 3-note, 4-note, or even 5-note melodies
Assess: have students do a melodic dictation on paper
Introduce: get short stories from school library or homeroom teachers
Reinforce: act out short stories using timbres as foley or sfx
Assess: use written assessments having students “review” performances,
deciding who had the most appropriate sfx or timbres for their scene
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The Music Box is an interactive podcast for elementary music classrooms. We use National Arts Standards to focus each lesson on musical objectives for the young learner. Our host, Mr. Arthur, is a certified music teacher and professor with 10+ years of experience in all grades. From Louisville Public Media and PRX, sponsored by PNC and also made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
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