Movement and Music - LESSON 3 - Music Mood + Time Signature

Lesson 3 includes: 

• Music Moods 
• Music Speed 
• Time Signature
• Conducting Pattern

----------------

Music Mood:

Explain: Music can be happy, sad, angry, mad, excited or delightful. Music can affect our mood.

Ask: Have you ever been listening to a song that made you feel mad? Have you ever listened to a song that made you happy?

Explain: You can sing songs in different ways. You can make any song sound however you want to by how you sing it.

SING: We are going to sing If You're Happy and You Know It (266) with different Music Moods!

-Sing SAD, HAPPY, TIRED, EXCITED, MAD, SWEETLY, BORED, REVERENTLY (insert other emotions). Do actions for each mood; IE: yawn while singing for bored, ...if you're mad and you know it stomp your feet..., etcetera

Explain: Now we are going to sing with different Music Speeds!

- Sing Happy And You Know It really fast / really slow / just right

*After singing fast and slow, segue into the next part by explaining, "You don't want to sing a song too fast or too slow - the Time Signature is what helps us know how fast or slow to go and keep the steady beat throughout the song."

Time Signature:

Explain: Songs have something called a Time Signature. Did you know there's some math involved with music? Songs are divided into measures and measures are divided into beats. There can be 2 beats, 3 beats or 4 beats (sometimes more) in a song. The Time Signature tells how many beats there are per measure in a song. For instance, the song I Am a Child of God has a four-four (4/4) time signature. That means there are 4 beats per measure:

1. Clap and count 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4
2. Lead and count 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4
3. Demonstrate and teach a 4/4 pattern, then have them do it. Have the Pianist play while everyone does the pattern and counts 1-2-3-4.
4. Do the same for 3/4. And other time signatures, if you wish.

• 4/4 pattern (ie: I Am a Child of God 2)
• 3/4 pattern (ie: My Heavenly Father Loves Me 228)

*When teaching conducting patterns I gave the children glow sticks to use as conducting batons.

Movement and Music - LESSON 2 - Basic Beat & Rhythm

Lesson 2 includes:

• Beat
• Downbeat
• Beginning Basic Beats of Time Signature (more involved in Lesson 3)
• Rhythm

----------------

Explain that songs have something called a beat. A beat helps us keep the time throughout the song.

STEADY BEAT
Bouncing beat (bounce hand up and down or stand up and jump the beat):

• Steady strong beat
• Fast beat
• Slow beat

DOWNBEAT
Explain that songs are broken up into something called "measures" and the first beat of each measure is called the downbeat. Conduct/clap a patterns and emphasize the downbeat as you count the beats in each measure (see next 3 things below:).

4 BEATS
Clap a 4 beat pattern (stress the downbeat)
March a 4 beat pattern. STOMP the downbeat

3 BEATS
Clap a 3 beat pattern (stress the downbeat)
March 3 beat pattern. STOMP the downbeat (yes, the stomped downbeat will alternate feet - it's sometimes tricky for the kids)

2 BEATS
Clap a 2 beat pattern (stress the downbeat)
March a 2 beat pattern. STOMP the downbeat

EXPLAIN the difference between BEAT and RHYTHM:

• Beat is the regular steady pace throughout the whole song.
• Rhythm is the pattern of the song. It usually goes right along with the melody.

1 - CLAP THE BEAT WHILE SINGING,
2 - CLAP THE RHYTHM AT WHILE SINGING
3 - SPLIT THE KIDS - One half claps the beat, the other claps the rhythm. Try this while singing (*use the song you're learning at the time)

Movement and Music - LESSON 1 - Conductor Intro / Volume / Melody

Lesson 1 includes:
Conductor Intro

Cut Off

Loud + Soft

Up + Down 

Singing v Screaming

Paint Brushes (music melody) 

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- 

*Already have drawn on the board (or printouts): a forte F, a piano P, crescendo, decrescendo

Conductor Intro
EXPLAIN: The person leading is the Conductor. They tell you what to do, when to do it and how to do it.
*PLAY: Stand up / sit down / stand up / sit down

*PLAY: Split Primary Game. Divide the Primary. They have to show they are watching me - only the # I am holding up get to sing. Switch off sides during the song. Switch fast, switch slow, try to trick them - have fun.

Cut Off

EXPLAIN: How to do the cut-off motion. Why we cut off. (So we can all stop singing at the same time and sound like a unified choir. Watch the Conductor so noone is left singing a solo!)
*PLAY: Sing until I cut off.
*PLAY: “Guest Conductors” (the kids) come up and cut off.

Loud + Soft
EXPLAIN: Forte means to sing loud. *Write FORTE in caps on the board near the F.

EXPLAIN: Piano means to sing soft. *Write PIANO small on the board near the P.
EXPLAIN: Singing v Screaming
EXPLAIN: Crescendo and Decrescendo
*PLAY: Pianist plays a song while we listen for changes in Forte and Piano

*PLAY: Lead a song - hands indicate whether to get louder or softer

*PLAY: “Guest Conductors” come up and direct piano and forte. 

Up + Down (melody)
EXPLAIN: Some notes are high, some notes are low.

*PLAY: Pianist plays some notes, we guess if they are high or low.

*PLAY: Grow/Shrink

EXPLAIN: During a song the notes go both high and low - that is called the melody.

Paint Brushes (music melody)
*PLAY: Get out imaginary paint brushes. Use the paintbrush to "paint" the melody. You can't do it wrong - it's all about self-expression. Dip into a new color of paint every time you stop and start singing.