Teaching Videos using MLT in the Private Piano Lesson
ACCULTURATION ACTIVITIES: Sword Dance
The following video is an acculturation activity. The piece is Sword Dance found in Piano Adventures Lesson 2A
Meter: Triple
Tonality: minor
Keyality: d
Harmonic Functions: i and V
Rhythm Functions: MB/mb, division, and elongation patterns - I turn the half note into a dotted-half note and hold through the rests; as we haven't learned rests yet.
This video was the second week of doing an acculturation activity. Since the students are aged 8 - 12/13 I decided to let them create their own movement ideas. They decided on a "Chicken Dance Sword Fight". So sword fighting incorporating the "Chicken Dance". Part of the reason why I wanted them to come up with their own movement activity, is with the girl being 12/13, I didn't want to give something baby-ish.
Process of getting here it 2-weeks, and with them hearing it maybe six or seven times in total.
Week 1:
Week 2:
Observations in the Video:
A few things to observe while watching the video, which will tell you where the student is rhythmically.
Eden, is an extreme introvert, she's also at the very awkward age for girls. To see her smiling and moving, and really enjoying herself, is REALLY neat to see. I was really surprised how engaged she got and was thrilled to see that. She's smiling the whole way through. And as you can tell by Zachariah's question at the end, they could do this all day. LOL!!!!
I will have the three boys play this piece, at some point. Zach and Avi will play it before Zachariah will get to it (he's not at that level yet to handle this piece due to the sporadic nature of his lessons - but now he has a time slot in my schedule and so his lesson will be regular, so I hope).
We will probably do the acculturation activity one more week and then I will probably start Zach on this piece, depending if he's done another piece.
VIDEO OF ACCULTURATION: SWORD DANCE:
The following video is an acculturation activity. The piece is Sword Dance found in Piano Adventures Lesson 2A
Meter: Triple
Tonality: minor
Keyality: d
Harmonic Functions: i and V
Rhythm Functions: MB/mb, division, and elongation patterns - I turn the half note into a dotted-half note and hold through the rests; as we haven't learned rests yet.
This video was the second week of doing an acculturation activity. Since the students are aged 8 - 12/13 I decided to let them create their own movement ideas. They decided on a "Chicken Dance Sword Fight". So sword fighting incorporating the "Chicken Dance". Part of the reason why I wanted them to come up with their own movement activity, is with the girl being 12/13, I didn't want to give something baby-ish.
Process of getting here it 2-weeks, and with them hearing it maybe six or seven times in total.
Week 1:
- Played the piece and asked them to listen to determine the meter. Which they did through audiation of "Du De" or "Du Da De". When they told me triple, I asked them how did they know that. The answer, because they were audiating "Du Da Di". So this is Generalization process, under Inference.
- I then asked them to decide on a movement activity, and then played it a couple more times while they did their movement.
- Note: Ideally, I could have started them off with a flowing movement first.
Week 2:
- Played the piece and asked them to move. Of course they were all excited because they knew what they were going to do. So I did that once.
- I then told them I wanted to have a different movement for Section A than Section B. I played Section A so they could hear it. Then played Section B so they could hear it. Then played the Section A' so they could hear how it returns.
- Somewhere in there, I told them to make sure they are moving to the Macrobeats and Microbeats (pulsation is what I was after).
- Played the piece for them to move. They had decided to do the "sword fighting" for the Section A and then the "chicken dance" for the Section B.
- The first time wasn't that great, so asked them to do it again. It went well. Then asked Jackie to come and video. The first time with the video, they really didn't distinguish the Section B. So we did it again, and the video is of this time.
Observations in the Video:
A few things to observe while watching the video, which will tell you where the student is rhythmically.
- Zachariah moves to the Macrobeat.
- Zach, the tall boy, moves to the Microbeat for Section A and Divisions for Section B.
- This boy and Zachariah I started in MLT. Zachariah's lessons have been sporadic (to say the least) and Zach's (tall boy) has been very consistent, and have been using MLT the whole way.
- Eden, not really sure what she is doing rhythmically, I think it's more random than anything.
- Avi, the little boy is moving more to the Microbeats and random.
Eden, is an extreme introvert, she's also at the very awkward age for girls. To see her smiling and moving, and really enjoying herself, is REALLY neat to see. I was really surprised how engaged she got and was thrilled to see that. She's smiling the whole way through. And as you can tell by Zachariah's question at the end, they could do this all day. LOL!!!!
I will have the three boys play this piece, at some point. Zach and Avi will play it before Zachariah will get to it (he's not at that level yet to handle this piece due to the sporadic nature of his lessons - but now he has a time slot in my schedule and so his lesson will be regular, so I hope).
We will probably do the acculturation activity one more week and then I will probably start Zach on this piece, depending if he's done another piece.
VIDEO OF ACCULTURATION: SWORD DANCE:
ODE TO JOY - Singing I and V chord roots.
Source: Piano Adventures - Performance 1
Meter: Duple
Tonality: Major
Keyaility: C
Harmonic Functions: I and V
Rhythm Functions: MB/mb OR MB/mb, and Division.
This is a piece we were working on for a few weeks already. I wouldn't be surprised if this was already the 4th week of singing Ode To Joy. The end result is that they can sing the chord roots or the melody. This video is of them singing the chord roots only, although I then did divide them so one group would sing the chord roots and the other the melody, and then reverse.
The Process:
Sang the melody for them.
APPLICATION AT THE PIANO:
VIDEO OF STUDENTS SINGING THE CHORD ROOTS WHILE I SANG THE MELODY:
I really have no idea why I kept looking at the book, that was not necessary, and obvious due to my own insecurities, since we were videoing. Oh I think I didn't want to screw up, as I was thinking that I would show this to the teachers at the workshop. The visual isn't very good as we standing against the window, which is too bad.
Source: Piano Adventures - Performance 1
Meter: Duple
Tonality: Major
Keyaility: C
Harmonic Functions: I and V
Rhythm Functions: MB/mb OR MB/mb, and Division.
This is a piece we were working on for a few weeks already. I wouldn't be surprised if this was already the 4th week of singing Ode To Joy. The end result is that they can sing the chord roots or the melody. This video is of them singing the chord roots only, although I then did divide them so one group would sing the chord roots and the other the melody, and then reverse.
The Process:
Sang the melody for them.
- Did acculturation activities similar to the Sword Dance above.
- Whole - Part - Whole:
- Same and differences. I would have sang the first phrase and then the second phrase and asked them if it's the same or different (ends differently).
- Then sang 3rd phrase, same or different (completely different)
- Then sang 4th phrase and asked if it's the same or different. And then which other phrase is it the same as (Phrase 2).
- Chanted rhythm patterns one week
- Sang tonal patterns another week
- Week 1: Learned the melody doing the various Whole - Part - Whole activities
- Week 2: Secured the melody using Whole - Part - Whole, and started to introduce the chord roots. Had them sing only the chord roots as I held up my hand. Previous to this, I would have sang the chord roots while they sang the melody.
- Week 3: Which is the video and was the week of the Yorkton Workshops, but I didn't have time to share this with the teachers in the workshop. You can see here how they are singing the chord roots as indicated. Ideally, they should have been raising their hand to indicate what chord root they are singing.
- Week 4: Review of melody, and review of chord roots. This week I DID get them to indicate with their fingers what chord root they were singing. I then split them in half (I think Zachariah was there for that lesson). So then one group sang the melody and the other group sang the chord roots, then we switched.
- Week 5: I think we did another week just to review it since they were doing so well and since some of them were learning this piece.
APPLICATION AT THE PIANO:
- Again, the three boys have either learned this, or are learning it. Zachariah is currently learning this now (March 2016). While doing these singing activities, Zach was already learning this piece, and Avi learned it shortly after we finished learning to sing the song. Zachariah was also learning it in school with the Choir (a version of it I suspect).
- Week 1: Learned the RH alone - probably only the first 2 lines. Also had them practise playing this in the LH as well.
- Week 2: Learned the remaining 2 lines in the RH. They could play the melody all the way through, RH alone. Then also to practise it in the LH alone.
- Week 3: Added chord roots in the LH the I and V chord roots.
- Not only playing the chord roots but also singing them, while playing the melody in the RH only
- Also played the melody as it appeared in the book, so going from hand to hand etc.
- Week 4: Added two-note LH chords. Now this isn't necessary, was just seeing what Zach could do.
- Week 5: Create our own version of this. RH, LH, HT, Melody in various hands, adding the chord roots, etc.
VIDEO OF STUDENTS SINGING THE CHORD ROOTS WHILE I SANG THE MELODY:
I really have no idea why I kept looking at the book, that was not necessary, and obvious due to my own insecurities, since we were videoing. Oh I think I didn't want to screw up, as I was thinking that I would show this to the teachers at the workshop. The visual isn't very good as we standing against the window, which is too bad.
March 14, 2016 - Group Activities
LESSON PLAN: (30 minutes)
- Watch Please: (Preparation for Duple Patterns)
- Rhythm Patterns:
- Metre: Duple
- Beat Functions: Macrobeat, Microbeat, Division, Division Elongation
- Learning Skill Level: Aural/Oral (the first time we did these patterns)
- Acculturation Activity: Sword Dance from Piano Adventures Lesson 2A
- Sing Resting Tone when the music stops
- Movement & Acculturation Activity: Marching from RCM Prep A
- Metre: Duple
- Tonality: Minor - changed from Aeolian to harmonic minor so there was a strong leading tone
- Second week incorporating this Piece into the group Activity
- Tonal Pattern:
- Tonality: minor
- LSA 1B2 - sing the resting tone
- Learning Skill Level: Oral/Aural
- Song to Sing: Lightly Row from Piano Adventures Lesson 1 (2nd week - last lesson they were taught the melody)
- Singing I and V chord roots
RHYTHM PATTERNS:
Metre: Duple
Beat Functions: Macrobeat, Microbeat, Division, Division Elongation
Learning Skill Level: Aural/Oral Level (the first time we did these patterns)
VIDEO: Watch Please and Rhythm Patterns
Time: 6:30 minutes
Metre: Duple
Beat Functions: Macrobeat, Microbeat, Division, Division Elongation
Learning Skill Level: Aural/Oral Level (the first time we did these patterns)
- I don't always sing the Duple Metre Song
- Class Patterns - we all chant together. These are taken from Marilyn's Rhythm and Tonal Pattern Book
- You'll notice Zachariah's hands moving to the melodic rhythm at one point
- At one point gave them a pattern and they had difficulty. finding their limits of what they are able to do.
- I actually gave more class rhythm patterns than I normally would - generally 4 to 6 patterns is sufficient.
- LSA Patterns (Learning Sequence Patterns): 3A2
- These are the three patterns used for developing their rhythm music aptitude (Easy, Medium, and Difficult)
- We first chant these as a group (Teaching Mode)
- After chanting the rhythms as a group then we enter Evaluation Mode, where I will chant the rhythm and get a specific student to chant the rhythm back.
- Although it seems like we're chanting a lot of rhythms, we are only chanting THREE patterns. But I'm rotating them through the students, so each student gets to do the Easy, Medium and Difficult rhythm pattern.
- As we chant you can hear where individual students have difficulty with a pattern.
- When this happens there are two ways to approach it:
- Chant what the student chanted, and then chant the correct version for them to try again. This is the most favourable of the two options as then the student can (hopefully) hear the difference. Unfortunately I don't always remember to chant back what they did first.
- Chant the pattern again and see if they can get it the second time.
- However, sometimes I'll break the pattern down and only give half, and then the other half, which I did with Zach (Tall dark haired boy). This was the Medium pattern and he was missing the 4th MB pattern.
- LSA 3A2 - not sure why, but they were thinking we were in Evaluation mode, rather than teaching mode. By the way, I don't use the terms Teaching Mode or Evaluation Mode with the students. They do not realise what I'm doing.
VIDEO: Watch Please and Rhythm Patterns
Time: 6:30 minutes
Movement and Acculturation Acitivities
Sword Dance:
This about the 4th week for this, and so at this point am doing it just for acculturation purposes. I will leave it for a couple of weeks and then introduce it again, right before they start learning to play it.
Another purpose for doing this piece was to get their ears tuned to minor tonality for the Tonal Patterns we will be doing next. It doesn't have to be done this way, I just choose to do it, since minor is new for them in regard to the tonal patterns.
It's best to avoid doing the rhythm patterns and the tonal patterns back to back, so I put something between, whether it's a movement & acculturation activity, or a Song to Sing, or something else, but will put a "buffer" so to speak, between rhythm pattern and tonal pattern.
Activity:
Sword Dance and Marching, were done back to back. I edited out me getting up to grab the book.
Marching, by Kabalevsky
This piece is actually written in Aeolian, but for the purposes of establishing minor tonality, I did change this to harmonic minor, so the raised 7th. This is fine to do, providing they aren't playing this for an exam or festival, if so, then change it back to Aeolian. Sometime down the road, when we are introduced to Aeolian, I'll pull this song back, and play it in harmonic minor, and then show them how we will change it to Aeolian (as written).
Ignore the wrong note the first time around, and also ignore the LH, not always played staccato. Part of the reason for this is that I really want them to hear the I and V harmonic progression, so I do hold the LH notes, at times, through the rests.
Activity:
VIDEO OF ACCULTURATION AND MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES:
Time: 5:17 minutes
- Acculturation Activity: Sword Dance from Piano Adventures Lesson 2A
- Sing Resting Tone when the music stops
- Movement & Acculturation Activity: Marching from RCM Prep A - New piece for them so we "explored" what it was.
- Metre: Duple
- Tonality: Minor - changed from Aeolian to harmonic minor so there was a strong leading tone
- Second week incorporating this Piece into the group Activity
Sword Dance:
This about the 4th week for this, and so at this point am doing it just for acculturation purposes. I will leave it for a couple of weeks and then introduce it again, right before they start learning to play it.
Another purpose for doing this piece was to get their ears tuned to minor tonality for the Tonal Patterns we will be doing next. It doesn't have to be done this way, I just choose to do it, since minor is new for them in regard to the tonal patterns.
It's best to avoid doing the rhythm patterns and the tonal patterns back to back, so I put something between, whether it's a movement & acculturation activity, or a Song to Sing, or something else, but will put a "buffer" so to speak, between rhythm pattern and tonal pattern.
Activity:
- First, I establish tonality (tonal orientating pattern).
- Ask them to sing "La", the resting tone when the music stops.
Sword Dance and Marching, were done back to back. I edited out me getting up to grab the book.
Marching, by Kabalevsky
This piece is actually written in Aeolian, but for the purposes of establishing minor tonality, I did change this to harmonic minor, so the raised 7th. This is fine to do, providing they aren't playing this for an exam or festival, if so, then change it back to Aeolian. Sometime down the road, when we are introduced to Aeolian, I'll pull this song back, and play it in harmonic minor, and then show them how we will change it to Aeolian (as written).
Ignore the wrong note the first time around, and also ignore the LH, not always played staccato. Part of the reason for this is that I really want them to hear the I and V harmonic progression, so I do hold the LH notes, at times, through the rests.
Activity:
- Play and ask them to determine if it's duple or triple (Generalization)
- Determine Tonality - Major or Minor?
- Although I initially was going to do this as Partial Synthesis, where I give them the answers, Zach, jumped in to say "minor because we are hearing la do mi" (Generalization). For Partial Synthesis, I would ask the questions and then give them the answers.
- Sing the Resting Tone when the music stops.
- Ideally, in between the playing and singing of the resting tone, I should be singing the instructions on the resting tone, rather than speaking.
- Of course there are loads of other activities that can be done, these are just what I did for this lesson. The next lesson I incorporated scarves and specific movement.
VIDEO OF ACCULTURATION AND MOVEMENT ACTIVITIES:
Time: 5:17 minutes