A free resource for Movement & Music Educators
A Song for Ramadan by Lisa Zargarpur What is Ramadan? Ramadan is the name of the ninth month of the Islamic calendar during which able-bodied Muslims fast from dawn until dusk. The Islamic calendar follows the lunar cycle so each year, the date of Ramadan goes backward in the Gregorian calendar. This year in North… Read more »
Ang Sinina Ko’ng Bag’o (My New Dress) Ang Sinina Ko’ng Bag’o (My New Dress) is a Cebuano rhyme in the Visayan language that my mother grew up hearing during her childhood in Cebu, Philippines. Speaking Visayan Visayan is one of many languages/dialects spoken in the Philippines. Generally speaking, Filipino languages use the same phonetic… Read more »
Super Heroes Day 1 Teach “Canon” and sing as a two or three-part canon. (Music for Children I, #41 pg. 132 with adjusted rhythm to fit text) Day 2 As a class, have students brainstorm superheroes and create an eight-beat rhythm using superhero names. For example, Together, create body percussion to go with… Read more »
Leprechaun Magic in the Music Room Ever since Halloween my Sophomore year of college I’ve been fascinated with ways to make music lessons “come alive” to become a full sensory experience. Dr. Butch Marshall brought all the sophomores down to the “creepy basement” that was under construction as part of the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory renovations…. Read more »
Head Voice and Pathways and Shapes, Oh, My! Mileage from The Squiggle The Squiggle by Carole Lexa Schaefer (ISBN-10: 9780517885796) is a charming little book about a child who finds “a squiggle” (string?) on the ground as she and her class are walking in a “bunched up, slow, tight, straight line.” As children do, she gets… Read more »
Chinese New Year 2019: The Year of the Pig Happy Piggy Year 猪年快乐 Chet-Yeng Loong 龙籍莹 University of Hawai`i 2019 Chinese New begins on February 5 and 6 and lasts for 15 days. To learn the history of Chinese New Year visit this site, and here. 2019 is the year of the pig. In the… Read more »
Music, Poetry, And Visual Art: Complementary Inspiration Sources by David Thaxton Whether it is the lavish experiences of opera combining theater, art, and music, or the powerful emotion imbued into a film with an artfully written score, the Arts enliven each other in astounding ways when they are combined. So I have found it to… Read more »
Nisse Polka This past summer I was in Finland at JaSeSoi Ry’s International Music Village (Finnish Orff Association). It was amazing and I loved my time both in Finland and making music with musicians and teachers from 14 countries. I also fell a little in love with the Scandinavian lifestyle and their connection to the… Read more »
Carol of the Bells Have you ever met anyone that didn’t love “Carol of the Bells”? I haven’t either, and my students are no exception. “Carol of the Bells” and the Orff instrumentarium were destined to go together, and so here is an arrangement that will satisfy every student in your classroom. Everyone can play… Read more »
Nature’s Second Instrument: Rhythm It’s time to have fun with rhythm! Explore possibilities of rhythm and form in Cyndee Giebler’s second installment on Elemental Composition!* Using just quarter notes, two eighth notes, and quarter rests, discover Cyndee’s ideas for using a simple 8-measure composition as inspiration for providing a ready-made musical context for just about anything… Read more »