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WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE

Those of us who are of a certain age, ahem...me included, will remember the TV series The Lone Ranger.  And almost everyone of a certain age, will recall its theme song.  Most people don't realize that The Lone Ranger theme song is actually taken from a rather larger musical work called The William Tell Overture.  The work is an overture to Rossini's opera, William Tell, which depicts the Swiss struggle for freedom from Austria.

The overture is written in 4 parts:  Prelude (Dawn), Storm, Ranz des Vaches (Call to the Cows - a pastoral) and Finale (March of the Swiss Soldiers).  Each part is a little work all its own, but unlike a symphony which would provide a break between each section, each part of the overture segues directly from one into the other.

The 3rd and 4th sections of this song are wonderful to use for a preschool music lesson.  Let's take a look at the 3rd section.

The Ranz des Vaches is a pastoral song.  The piece  has back and forth interaction between the flute and the English horn.

You Will Need:

1. A picture of Rossini.
2. Picture of a flute and an English horn
3. Streamers or Scarves
4. Recording of Ranz des Vaches

What To Do:

1. Begin by showing the students a picture of Rossini and explaining that Rossini was a composer, and a composer is someone who writes music.
2. Listen to the song.  This piece is very short, only a minute and a half.
3. Ask the students if the music was loud (forte) or soft (piano).
4. Let the children dance with the streamers or scarves as you play the music again.
5. Divide the class in half.  One group will dance with their streamers (on your cue) when the flute plays, and the other half will dance when the English horn plays.  Everyone joins in when the instruments play together.  (The English horn begins the section).

The finale is the section of the overture that most people are familiar with.  Begin this lesson like you did the first with showing the students a picture of Rossini and explaining that he was a composer, a person who wrote music.

You Will Need:

1. A picture of Rossini
2. Plastic cups
3. Recording of the Finale

What To Do:

1. Give each child two cups and let them 'gallop' the cups on the floor in time to the music.  Vary your pattern so that sometimes you are tapping the macro beat and sometimes the micro beat.
2. Let the students gallop around the room during the loud (forte) sections, and prance around the room during the quiet (piano) sections.

             

GIOACHINO ROSSINI  

    

 FLUTE     

 

  ENGLISH HORN

                                                                                                                  

AND THEY'RE OFF!!

I live in Louisville, KY, so the first Saturday in May is a big day around here.  The 139th running of the Kentucky Derby is just around the corner and now is the perfect time to get those preschoolers in the Derby Festival Mood!

Before the horses are walked to their starting gates, the Kentucky Derby always begins with a singing of the Kentucky state song, My Old Kentucky Home.  The original words for this song include the phrase this summer the darkies are gay; back in the late 80's the words were officially changed to this summer the people are gay. It is notable that concerning KY's state song, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass defended the lyrics as being sympathetic to the anti-slavery cause.  And although today we tend to recoil at the term darkie, in its time, that was a relatively respectful way of addressing slaves.  Many people today view the song as racist, but taken a look at through the lens of history, it is far from racist.  Stephen Foster may have been the first white composer to address slaves as people in song;  How many black women would have been addressed as lady in that day?  Take a look at the lyrics and you will see that My Old Kentucky Home describes the every day life of a slave in  respectful, albeit idealistic, terms.

So, go ahead and teach your preschoolers to sing the Kentucky State song.  Using pictures will help your little ones remember the lyrics.

The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home


This summer the people are gay



The corn top's high and the meadow's in the bloom




While the birds make music all the day




Weep no more my lady  Oh weep no more today




We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home




For my old Kentucky home far away

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG

Has it really been two months since I've posted on this blog? Unfortunately, yes.  It's been a crazy couple of months here and it seems things are not going to let up until the beginning of May.

I have a daughter who is getting ready to graduate from high school. So lately, I've been spending all my time taking her to college auditions, looking for scholarships and trying my best not to get completely frazzled with everything that needs to be done.  The college auditions have been harrowing, I must admit.  Since there are no schools in our state that offer her desired degree, we have had to travel to 6 out-of-state universities.  One school is relatively close by, but all the others - Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Virginia, Illinois and Ohio - are all several hours away (some requiring a plane ride they are so far away).  And after all that planning and traveling, a week and a half ago, she gets an offer to be a trainee with a prestigious ballet company - an offer that seems hard to refuse, but one that must be considered carefully, so a very hastily planned trip to New York is now in the works!

May 1 is the deadline for putting in tuition deposits for universities, so we have to decide very soon whether she will take a more traditional route to post high school education, or whether she will take the offer from the ballet.  It's not an easy choice!  And the fact that the ballet offer was made so late in our decision making process makes the decision that much harder.

I know that somehow all of this will work out and she will make the right decision for her future.  But it has been time consuming and I have neglected some of my obligations in the process.  If I don't post again in May, you all will know why.  But I hope that I can carve out some time at least once or twice a week to share some ideas with you all on teaching music to those wonderful preschoolers!

TEACHING PRESCHOOLERS TO USE THEIR HEAD VOICE

Occasionally I teach beginning voice lessons.  One of the first concepts that is introduced in voice lessons is the difference between the head voice and the chest voice.  Today's popular singers - and even most Broadway singers - only use their chest voice and so young children are growing up not hearing or recognizing that there is a wider vocal range that can be utilized.  The first step in understanding the head voice is vocal exploration activities, such as siren sounds, owl hoots or  having children use their voice to "follow" wavy  hand movements. The idea of head voice and chest voice needs to be introduced to children at an early age so that they can use their voices more expressively, whether they are singing or speaking.

The story of The Gingerbread Man is a wonderful story to help introduce the concept of the head voice to young children.  Perform the couplet spoken by the gingerbread man, in a light-airy head voice - Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man - then have the children say it with you.  Read the story with the children and each time the couplet appears in the story, have the children speak it with you in their head voice.

This concept can be expanded by using the story of The Three Little Pigs.  As you read or tell the story of The Three Pigs, use a heavy, chest voice for the wolf and a light, airy head voice for the pigs.

                   

     

I have used the concepts in this lesson plan several times throughout the years, but I recently had it's teaching value reinforced when I saw a similar lesson plan outlined in the wonderful MENC published book, Strategies for Teaching Prekindergarten Music by Wendy Sims.

 

RACE RELATIONS IN THE PRESCHOOL CLASSROOM

Recently I was met with a disturbing problem that, at first, left me a bit speechless.  I was introducing Scott Joplin and his music to a class of 4 year olds and I held up a picture of Joplin for everyone to see.  When I was showing the picture, one little girl said, “I don’t like Scott Joplin”.  “How do you know that?”, I responded.  “I don’t like him because he’s black”.

After shaking my head and making sure I had heard correctly, I told her that skin color is not a good reason not to like someone.  We must judge people by the way they treat us and by the way they treat other people.

I was so surprised by this comment because every class I teach is racially diverse; there is no single class that is all Caucasian or all Hispanic or all African American. And to be quite honest, it’s been so long since I've even heard a racially derisive remark that this aspect of my teaching had been put out of my thoughts.

Maybe I’m naive because my own experience has been void of this kind of prejudice, but I hope that as teachers of young children we can make a pledge teach our students to follow the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. and not judge a person by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Thank you for letting me vent a little bit.  If anyone has any advice on how you've dealt with race relations in your preschool classroom, please send me an email.  I would love to get some feedback and advice from you!

C-A-N-D-Y

Sung to the tune of BINGO

Candy is a treat we give to all our Valentines
C-A-N-D-Y
C-A-N-D-Y
C-A-N-D-Y
To all our Valentines