Sonnymoon+for+Two+-+12+Bar+Blues+for+upper+elementary

A 12 Bar Blues lesson for Upper Elementary students
 * SONNYMOON FOR TWO **

Standards:
 * Creating: Imagine, Present
 * Performing: Analyze, Rehearse/Evaluate/Refine, Present

Focus: 12 Bar Blues; Form; Singing; Improvisation

Objectives:
 * Students will sing a descending blues scale (within melody of “Sonnymoon for Two”)
 * Students will improvise on orff instruments within the structure of the 12 bar blues in E
 * Students will play the chord structure of a 12 bar blues on orff instruments

Assessment: Formative; Informal. Teacher will watch/listen for accurate pitches.

Materials:
 * Blues progression visual (color coded symbols representing different chords)
 * Recording – “Sonnymoon for Two” by Sonny Rollins
 * BX w/ color coded stickers for tonic notes of chord progression
 * AX or SX (improvising instruments) set up for blues in E (E, G, A, B-flat, B, D, E). Take of any bars that are not needed.

Sequence:
 * 1) Explore the blues scale by echo-singing patterns using the E blues scale.
 * 2) Listen to “Sonnymoon for Two” while patting legs to the quarter-note pulse to prepare for playing the chord progression on orff instruments.
 * 3) To get students singing the melody of the tune, either have words to go with it prepared, or have students make up words to the melody. You may need to write words on the board. Either echo sing melody with words or sing repeatedly inviting students to join you.
 * 4) As students sing melody, teacher plays bass line on BX (in other words, the tonic of the chords). Students will sing melody 3 times total during entire progression.
 * 5) Present blues progression visual. Next to the visual, write the note-name of the tonic chord in the same color as on the visual (I-E, IV-A, V-B).
 * 6) Students sing tonic of blues progression (singing note names).
 * 7) Transfer to BX.
 * 8) Perform A section – students on BX play tonic of progression, other students sing melody. *you could sing/play along with the recording if desired.
 * 9) Add B section – as BX continues, teacher demonstrates improvising on AX or SX.
 * 10) Divide class into groups – some on BX, some singing melody, others improvising.
 * 11) Perform, ABAB etc. giving as many students as possible chances to improvise.
 * 12) *You could have students improvise one at a time to sound cleaner, or groups to give more students a chance and the comfort of not being alone.
 * 13) *During first opportunities to improvise – praise their efforts no matter what. Improvising can be scary, and they should leave encouraged and proud of their work. As students are gaining experience improvising, start adding more challenges – looking for jazz rhythm, style, etc. Then students could self/peer assess according to those challenges.

Further extensions/alterations with this activity:
 * Instead of only having the tonic on BX, you could add other chord tones as well on BX or other instruments (with color coded stickers on desired notes). It would probably sound best using chord tones 1, 3, and 7.
 * After having experiences improvising with only the notes in the E blues scale, teacher improvises on an instrument with __undesired__ notes for the blues scale to demonstrate that certain notes sound better than others. Have students experiment with which notes sound better. This would get more into “Plan and Make” instead of “Imagine,” because they are being more selective about what they are playing.
 * If you wanted to make this lesson simpler/shorter, you could easily eliminate playing the progression on instruments. Teacher plays the progression on BX or piano, students sing melody and improvise - still a very valuable experience.
 * Do an entire blues/jazz unit. Students could write their own blues song. Perhaps they could write lyrics to a given melody, or vice versa. This could be a class activity or small groups. After completing their song, students could have an experience recording and sharing their songs.