Ode to an Elementary Music Teacher

There once was a teacher who loved what she taught
Music, her forte, was not taught for naught;
Her students were learning and growing, you see,
Until Spring arrived in Tallahassee...

Our Senate and Reps think they know what it's like
To work in a classroom, both day and night;
I think they should try it, just for a week,
They'd then understand what we mean when we speak
Of our jobs and our homes and our families too;
"Let's cut the Arts and P.E., that should do;"
"Those subjects are frill, they're just fun in the sun;"
"Our kids just don't need it; they need 1 + 1."

Agreed.  They need math and the sciences too;
Reading and writing and spelling, Ya-hoo!
But what about beauty and things of the heart?
What about fitness? Where does that start?

Why is my job always "Line Item One?;"
It's the first on the table when all's said and done.
I wish, for a moment, the "powers that be"
Would visit my classroom so they could see
That my students are learning and hoping to be
The most well-rounded students in Duval County.

Until next time...

Happy 50th Birthday, Mrs. Tamburrino!

Yes...I realize it's very hard to believe (even for me!), but Mrs. Tamburrino reached the half-century mark today.  I have been showered with phone calls, hugs, gifts, a cake, balloons, white-board greetings and marquis greetings too!!  I am "feeling the love" and the day is still young!

Thank you to everyone who made my day so very special.  The list of names is too long to mention here, but you know who you are and each of you are a blessing in my life today.  I tried hard to capture the day in pictures so enjoy...

The other side lists my classroom expectations :)

She even scored the opening notes of "The Birthday Song" correctly!

Not sure who left this one, but I appreciate it!

The Resource Team celebrated with cake at lunch today

A second grade class JUST HAD TO make me a birthday card!

My sister popped in at some point, although I never saw her.

I loved the balloon that says, "YOU'RE HOW OLD????"

PTA Fundraiser

It just doesn't get any better than this!!

Until next time...

Big Orange Barbershop Quartet

Would you like to know how to stop a class of 37 kindergarteners dead in their tracks???  Have a barbershop quartet open your classroom door and burst into song!!  That'll do it everytime!!

The students were absolutely mesmerized...

I had the most unique Valentine's Day gift from my husband yesterday - A barbershop quartet from the Big Orange Chorus (Orange Park, Florida) delivered a "Singing Valentine" to me during my kindergarten class.  They sang "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and showered me with a rose, a cupcake, a card from my husband and took my photo with the group.  It was an experience unlike any other.

The Big Orange Chorus Barbershop Quartet 

 

Have a listen...

I was told by my eldest son who attends Stanton College Prep that they had visited his principal as well and it was the talk of the campus.  They also visited Twin Lakes Elementary just before coming to see me and knew exactly where to find me.  (Our schools share the same architectural design).

What a great fundraising idea for their organization.  They delivered singing Valentines all over Jacksonville from Saturday through Monday.  It was fabulous!! Thank you, Steve, for a unique and musically exciting Valentine's Day gift.  I absolutely loved it!!

Until next time...

Singin' the C-Major Scale



Did you know there are several different ways to sing a C-major scale?? Just as you can "speak, clap and count" rhythmic patterns, you can sing up and down the scale using three different methods - on the letters, on the numbers and using solfege syllables. 

Each step of the scale is called a "scale degree" and each one has its own resonating capacity in the ears and in the body as you sing it.  The ear must be able to differentiate between half-steps (white key to neighboring black key on the piano) and whole steps (the equivalent of two half-steps on the piano).

Singin' the C-major Scale is one of my favorite 5th grade lessons.  It's an extension of a previous lesson on melody.  This presentation involves visual processes, audiation and kinesthetic movement using Curwen Hand Signs while singing Latin syllables.  It is a multi-sensory process that builds ear-training skills.

As I share with my students, someone made millions of dollars effectively combining scale degrees 1-4 (plus an added 7th for effect).  The melody of the song "Lean on Me" is a perfect representation of this.

1...1-2-3-4...4-3-2-1...1-2-3, 3-2....

1...1-2-3-4...4-3-2-1...1-2-3, 7-1

Can you hear the melody inside your head? That is audiation.

Good singers depend on good audiation skills for sight-singing and ear-training.

Our lesson is closed out by viewing a video clip from "The Sound of Music" where Maria attempts to teach the children how to sing using "Do-Re-Mi" syllables.  Anytime you can get 5th graders to sing in class, it is a good day in the music room.

"The Sound of Music" starring Julie Andrews (1965). 
Words and Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II

Until next time...

To Compose or Not to Compose

MU.A.3.2 states "The student reads and notates music."  That's a rather broad music standard for upper elementary students.  The art of musical composition is filled with all sorts of intricacies that must be understood before this task can be attempted, much less, accomplished. 

To begin, one must have an understanding of how music is put together.  One must have a working knowledge of music notation (how to read the symbols and what the symbols mean), how to lay it out on a piece of staff paper, voicings, range, meter, key signatures....the list goes on and on.  One can be easily overwhelmed when your teacher says, "O.K. class, now you are going to compose a piece of music.  Here is the rubric.  You have 20 minutes.  I will perform your piece on the piano at the end of class."  Some students are paralyzed by this assignment; others take it and run with it.  The ones that take it and run are those students who have had private music study outside the classroom.  I have found that piano students make the best composers, especially when these compositional skills are just emerging.

On a whim, I decided to challenge my 5th graders with a compositional assignment at the conclusion of a unit of study on melody.  I created a rubric that set up the parameters for their composition:

• Your composition must be four measures long.
• Your key signature is C-major (no sharps/no flats)
• Your time signature is Common Time (4/4)
• You will need to set up your paper before you begin (bar lines, time signature, double-bar lines at the end of the fourth measure; save space for a title on the top staff)
• Your composition must begin on C, move to G in measure 2; begin on G in measure 3 and end on C in measure 4
• You may use whole, half, quarter and eighth notes and their respective rests
• Your piece must have a title

I thought this task was simple enough (I wrote a sample piece for them in 60-seconds).  I had no idea whether or not they could accomplish this task, but I was determined to let them try.

We began the process by reviewing the notes on the staff and playing a spelling game using the seven letters of the music alphabet (A-G).

composition set-up on the left; spelling words on the right

This is the word "baggage" spelled  using the music alphabet.

After 15 minutes of review, I turned them loose in the back of the classroom to work in small groups for 20 minutes.  I moved from group to group to offer any suggestions and scribe for those who needed my assistance putting the notation down on the staff paper.

At the end of class, I performed each group's piece of music on the piano. 

Several groups followed the rubric perfectly; others used "artistic license" to create that which sounded good to them.  Some were paralyzed and required much oversight; others were happy trying to do the assignment on their own with little input from me.  It was definitely an enriching and multi-level creative experience for all.

"Beach Breeze" by Terrell, Aaron and James

Titles by other students:   "A Night on the Caribbean," "Jamaican Cruise," "Element," "Swaying of the Palms," "Smooth Melody," "Rain Drops," and "Ocean Waves"

Until next time...

Follow the Drinking Gourd

January is "Black History Month" - the month wherein we celebrate the movers and shakers of our African-American communities.

In first grade, I always share a story with our students entitled, "Follow the Drinking Gourd" during the month of January.  This story is about a slave named James and his family's flight to freedom.  It also acquaints us with a character by the name of Peg Leg Joe - a former sailor who did his best to help the slaves get across the Ohio River into the northern states and eventually up into Canada.

 

The following is excerpted from the preface of the book authored and illustrated by Jeanette Winter. 

"By the 1840's, a loosely organized group of free blacks, slaves and white sympathizers formed a secret network of people and places that hid escaped slaves on their dangerous journey to freedom - a network that came to be known as the Underground Railroad.  Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave herself, was one of the most famous conductors who led hundreds of her people to freedom.  Among other conductors, there was a one-legged sailor named Peg Leg Joe.  He hired himself out to plantation owners as a handyman.  Then he made friends with the slaves and taught them what seemed a harmless folk song - 'Follow the Drinking Gourd.'  Hidden in the lyrics of the song were directions on how to find the Underground Railroad."

Peg Leg Joe would personally ferry them across the Ohio River in his rowboat.  He would carve his left footprint and a circle for his peg leg on dead trees along the riverbank so that the slaves would know they were on the right track.

"Follow the drinking gourd, follow the drinking gourd,

for the old man is a-waitin' for to carry you to freedom

if you follow the drinking gourd."  (refrain)

"When the sun comes back and the first quail calls,

follow the drinking gourd,

for the old man is a-waitin' for to carry you to freedom

if you follow the drinking gourd."  (verse 1)

"The riverbank makes a very good road,

dead trees will show you the way,

left foot, peg foot, traveling on,

follow the drinking gourd." (verse 2)

"The river ends between two hills,

follow the drinking gourd,

there's another river on the other side,

follow the drinking gourd." (verse 3)

"When the great big river meets the little river,

follow the drinking gourd,

For the old man is a-waitin' for to carry you to freedom,

if you follow the drinking gourd." (verse 4)

The "drinking gourd" was the Big Dipper which pointed to the North Star. The first verse suggests that they make their escape in the Spring (when the sun returns and the call of the quail can be heard in the trees).  They were to follow the riverbank to the river that "ends between two hills" (the Tombigbee River).  The second river was the Tennessee River and the "great big river" was the Ohio River.  If the slaves could make it this far, there were others who would guide them from one hiding place to the next until they could cross the border into Canada.

Pointing to the North Star as we sing "Follow the Drinking Gourd"

The students created their own motions to the song and we performed it for their teacher at the conclusion of the lesson.

Until next time...

Wolfson Run 5 to Save Lives

Wolfson Run 5 to Save Lives

January 29, 2011

Jacksonville, Florida

Yes...that's me in the middle, decked out in purple and white (my high school colors).  The crazy lady with her arms in the air is my little sister.  You may know her as "The Grocery Fairy."  

She talked me into running a 5-mile race to benefit Wolfson Children's Hospital yesterday.  It was a gorgeous day and much of the run was along the St. Johns River.  I did two bridges during the course of the run and rolled across the finish line in less time than I ever imagined possible.  Officer Morningstar assured me that if I passed out on the Acosta Bridge, he would pick me up off the pavement.  Fortunately, I made it up one side and down the other without issue.

I've run several 5-kilometer races (3.1 miles) but yesterday was my very first five-mile run.  Before we got started, I stood at the starting line to cheer for Mrs. Alvarado and her daughter. They were running the 1-mile fun run together.  They were kind enough to return the favor when we blew out of the starting block 30-minutes later.  Thanks, Haley!! Your words of encouragement saw me through to the end.

If you ever want to have a fun-filled time pounding the pavement, do it with my sister.  She engages people in conversation up and down the course while she's waiting on me to catch up with her.  She enlists people along the sidelines to cheer for me.  She even created me an identical playlist on her daughter's iPod and syncronized our music before beginning the race.  She sings, she cheers, she high-fives policemen along the way - it's a blast.  Even the policemen got in on the fun - one of them hit his siren and played "whoop whoop" on my behalf as I trotted by.  It was such a hoot!

Matter of fact, if the weather's nice next weekend, you may find the two of us running in the 5-mile Winter Beach Run.  I'd really like to know what it's like to run 5 miles on a semi-flat surface.

Until next time...