Oregon society for general Music

Look for editors and compilers who provide background information on the songs and the aural source for their versions of the songs. You will be able to find sources that focus on particular ethnic groups or regions of America to enrich your curriculum. You may also find some appropriate songs in your music textbook series.

Before you select the songs for any particular lesson, you must determine the curricular objective for that lesson. The element on which you focus must be easily extractable from the chosen song. Here is an example:

Curricular objective: Prepare for introduction of sets of four sixteenth notes (tika-tik-a).

Behavioral objectives: Students will clap rhythms that include the sixteenth note pattern. Students will identify this new pattern as having four sounds on a beat.

Activity 1: Students will sing Dance Josey (Erdei 51) and pat the beat.

• Students will sing the song again and clap the rhythm.

• Half of the class will pat the beat while the other half claps the rhythm.

• One student will write the known rhythm of the last four beats on the board.

• The teacher will clap the first four beats of the song and ask the students if that was the same or different than the pattern on the board.

• The students will answer that it was different.

• The teacher will guide the students to discover that there are four sounds on the first beat of the song.

Activity 2: Students will sing Old Brass Wagon (Chosky 213).

• While singing, students will keep the beat through a movement chosen by a student.

• Students will tap the rhythm while singing the song.

• Students will tap the rhythm while singing the song in their heads (internal hearing).

• The teacher will ask students if there are any places in the song with four sounds on a beat.

• Students will sing and do the dance with Old Brass Wagon.

These same folk songs can be used in other lessons for rhythmic dictation or to extract melodic patterns (both songs include low la and low so). They can also be accompanied with student-composed rhythmic ostinatos. Additionally, Orff-style accompaniments could be developed. With children in the 5th or 6th grades, the folk music chosen is more complex and reflects their higher degree of musical skill. Students of all ages respond to authentic folk music, particularly if a game is included.