Expanding+on+5th+Grade+Band+Rhythm+Warm-ups+(Melodic)

To improve the melodic and sight-reading abilities of young instrumental students, short melody cards can be created and used as part of a warm-up activity. After developing the concept of echoing a rhythmic model and consistent reinforcement of rhythm reading, students should move next to echoing and reading simple melodies. The goal is to develop the ability to hear, read, and play simple melodies, and this activity can be manipulated in a number of ways as outlined below.

National Standards: Performing (Select; Analyze; Rehearse, Evaluate, and Refine) Note: Other standards can be incorporated more through different variations.

Materials: Simple melody cards (three to four beats for younger students, six to eight beats for older students; samples of four-beat, quarter note melodies are below), instruments

Assessment Possibilities: Students can be assessed informally on their ability to echo melodies, play rhythms as a group, or model rhythms for others. Error detection and pitch recognition can also be a goal.

Prerequisites for Activity: Students must have a range of at least the first five notes of the concert B-flat scale. (An extremely simplified version could be broken down to just two or three notes.) Students should be familiar with model and echo technique, in long tone exercises, short excerpts from method book, and short melodies such as those included in this activity. Ideally, the students will have experience playing the rhythms used in this activity, as well as the notes. The ability to hear intervals and maintain a steady beat is critical for these exercises and should be demonstrated outwardly (tapping foot for beat, singing intervals). As technical skill and range develops in later grades, the rhythms can become more complicated and the range larger. In addition, these exercises could also be transposed at sight to different keys once mastered. Note: These melodies should start in B-flat, but can be transposed to other keys as students become more comfortable with them. For groups with transposing instruments or different keys, scale degrees or solfege could be useful (those versions of the sample cards have also been included).

Activity Options:

All of these using four-beat melodies unless otherwise indicated. 1. Simple echoing of four-beat melody on quarter notes and half notes without notation (Emphasizes playing by ear and listening) 2. Simple echoing of four-beat melody with notation (Emphasizes sound-to-symbol approach) 3. Singing melodies prior to playing (Developing sense of pitch center and internalizing interval sizes) 4. Using excerpts from music selections they are playing in full band pieces or solo music (Reinforcing melodies alone and outside of context) 5. Student modeling melody patterns for other students to read and echo. (Student engagement and leadership) 6. Reading through all melody patterns without a pause between each one. (Steady beat and reading fluency) 7. Transpose the melody to a different key---AKA start on a different note. (Building hearing of specific harmonies and tonality) 8. Identify teacher errors in melody modeling. (Listening skills that lead to self-monitoring) 9. Identifying modeled melody from a small group of options. (Listening skills and recognizing differences between melodies, intervals) 10. Identify similarities or differences between pairs of melodies. (Theoretical understanding, notation reading) 11. Students select melodies to play for warm-up. (Student engagement and leadership) 12. Adding accents to certain notes of the melodies (Developing articulation and stylistic expression; can take from context of real music) 13. Creating melody cards in different meters, especially 3/4. (Reinforcing different time signatures, counting) 14. Students create composition/improvisation based on melodies (Developing creativity, broader musicianship) 15. Combining cards with similar function to create harmony in an ensemble (Ensemble balance, tuning, and independence; theory if students are that advanced)