Musical+Form,+a+capella+singing,+Jessica+Rajewich

This lesson is well suited for second grade general music. Musical form and a capella singing are the primary focuses of the lesson. Specifically it teaches students the definition and concepts of D.C. al Fine and Fine, which is shown in the song, "Shoo, Fly." Students also learn to identify the musical form of the piece and to sing the piece a capella -- learning it by rote. They should enjoy learning these musical concepts because they are all shown and assessed in the song -- making music fun! Students are allowed to "swat the fly" in the A section of the piece only with colored scarves. This enables the teacher to easily see who understands the form of the piece. When doing this lesson, it is important to keep the pace of the lesson moving. It is also important to teach short sections at a time -- don't overwhelm the students with too much information at once. Using the sequence listed below was very helpful to me. If your students are above this level, please feel free to combine some of the steps -- just make sure everyone understands. This lesson accomplished its objectives and the students had a lot of fun with it.

Concepts/Skills/Values: Musical Form, A capella Singing

National Standards: Sing, Listen, Evaluate, Related Arts, Read and Notate

Behavior Learning Objective: Students should be able to sing "Shoo, Fly" with three or fewer mistakes. They should be able to name the form and move with the scarves on the accented words of the song. They should also be able to define D.C. al Fine and Fine after teacher explanation.

Materials: __Making Music__ by Silver Burdett, page 200, "Shoo, Fly", colored scarves Sequence of Activities: 1. Students sit in assigned seats 2. Sing A section of "Shoo, Fly" (pg. 200) 3. Ask students how many know the song 4. Sing short phrases of song and students echo back 5. Sing whole A section together while keeping the beat 6. Sing B section for students 7. Sing short phrases of the section and students echo back 8. Sing whole B section all together 9. Ask what D.C. al Fine and fine mean 10. Explain the meaning to students 11. Sing whole song all together 12. Ask students what the form is 13. Explain form by singing song and showing visually the A section and the B section 13. Sing song and pass out scarves to students who are singing and keeping the beat 14. Demonstrate how to "swat the fly" with the scarf on accented words in A section 15. Show dance-like movements that are smooth for the B section of song 16. Perform song again with added movements 17. If time permits -- change the tempo of the different sections and have students move appropriately to the song

Lesson review.

Ok...the scarf part of the lesson is great! I love that it adds something visual for the students to look at, and literally see how the form concept is supposed to work. Also, another part of your lesson which I found very helpful was the focus on a capella singing. I have been noticing that since I have an accompanist at my beckon call I rely on the piano way too much in any given lesson. Having a lesson that specifically focuses the students on singing and tuning to each other rather than to a piano is so beneficial for the choir as a whole. This lesson is well suited for second grade general music. Musical form and a capella singing are the primary focuses of the lesson. Specifically it teaches students the definition and concepts of D.C. al Fine and Fine, which is shown in the song, "Shoo, Fly." Students also learn to identify the musical form of the piece and to sing the piece a capella -- learning it by rote. They should enjoy learning these musical concepts because they are all shown and assessed in the song -- making music fun! Students are allowed to "swat the fly" in the A section of the piece only with colored scarves. This enables the teacher to easily see who understands the form of the piece. When doing this lesson, it is important to keep the pace of the lesson moving. It is also important to teach short sections at a time -- don't overwhelm the students with too much information at once. **(That is very important no matter what lesson your teaching.)** Using the sequence listed below was very helpful to me. If your students are above this level, please feel free to combine some of the steps -- just make sure everyone understands. This lesson accomplished its objectives and the students had a lot of fun with it.

Concepts/Skills/Values: Musical Form, A capella Singing

National Standards: Sing, Listen, Evaluate, Related Arts, Read and Notate, **History/Culture**

Behavior Learning Objective: Students should be able to sing "Shoo, Fly" with three or fewer mistakes. They should be able to name the form and move with the scarves on the accented words of the song. They should also be able to define D.C. al Fine and Fine after teacher explanation.

Materials: __Making Music__ by Silver Burdett, page 200, "Shoo, Fly", colored scarves Sequence of Activities: 1. Students sit in assigned seats 2. Sing A section of "Shoo, Fly" (pg. 200) 3. Ask students how many know the song 4. Ask the students where they think this folk tune originated 5. Give the students a brief background of "Shoo, Fly" so they no the foundation for the song. 6. Sing short phrases of song and students echo back 7. Sing whole A section together while keeping the beat 8. Sing B section for students 9. Sing short phrases of the section and students echo back 10. Sing whole B section all together 11. Ask what D.C. al Fine and fine mean 12. Explain the meaning to students 13. Sing whole song all together 14. Ask students what the form is 15. Explain form by singing song and showing visually the A section and the B section 16. Sing song and pass out scarves to students who are singing and keeping the beat 17. Demonstrate how to "swat the fly" with the scarf on accented words in A section 18. Show dance-like movements that are smooth for the B section of song 19. Perform song again with added movements 20. If time permits -- change the tempo of the different sections and have students move appropriately to the song

Jessica, That's such a creative lesson, I love it! You manage to hit quite a few of the benchmarks in one lesson, which is impressive. The biggest thing I would change in your lesson is the sequence. I think it is a huge thing to teach the form first and then the song. That way they have something to apply it to. Since you are teaching AB form I think (make sure you have this written somewhere in your lesson!), I have found that a great and easy way to teach this is by picking two students in your class who look and dress completely different to come up and stand in front of the class. Ask the students what is different about the two students. Clothes? Hair? Skin? etc. Then tell the students that we are going to name each of these students. The first one is called "A". Now we want to name the second one but he/she is completely different from "A" so what do we name them? Thye almost always get "B". What's so great about this is that you can then explain to the students that just like there are two different people in a group, there can be two different parts of music in a song. This is called form. Have them listen to the song first and see if they can identify where the music changes. The reason I like to teach form this way is because then they already know what to listen for as they learn the music. Also, what is your assessment? How do you know which students are doing well? Is this informal? Formal? One last thing is how are the students keeping beat to the song? You mentioned this several times throughout your lesson plan, but I didn't see any place where it said how the students would do this. Clapping? Patting? Stomping feet? etc. Great lesson though! This is a great song to use for AB form!! Amanda Coon