Artful, Tuneful, Beatful

Happy Summer everybody!!! We are having a terrible heatwave that is making our last few days of school somewhat cranky and difficult.

Today I found this fun resource called Curriki (http://www.curriki.org/) which is packed with all sorts of instructional materials for all sorts of subjects.  I hope you are all using your vacation to relax and not work on school stuff, but if you do work a little maybe this will be something fun to explore.

Did anyone else catch this news item about a robot conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra? It seems Honda has created an innovative robot that keeps impeccable time.  Of course its not really intended to be a conductor, the performance (of “Impossible Dream”, by the way… is that a commentary on robotics? ) was essentially a publicity stunt.  While the robot keeps perfect time it is of course no substitute for a human conductor when it comes to emotion, interaction or improvisation.  Ironically Yo Yo Ma, possible one of the least robotic musicians I’m aware of, played on the same concert.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxh9QHfT4JmEgddKQjckerAf-RmAD90LD61O6

DETROIT (AP) — The lights dimmed, the sold-out hall grew hushed and out walked the conductor — shiny, white and 4 feet, 3 inches tall.

ASIMO, a robot designed by Honda Motor Co., met its latest challenge Tuesday evening: Conducting the Detroit Symphony in a performance of “The Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha.”

“Hello, everyone,” ASIMO said to the audience in a childlike voice, then waved to the orchestra.

As it conducted, it perfectly mimicked the actions of a conductor, nodding its head at various sections and gesturing with one or both hands. ASIMO took a final bow to enthusiastic shouts from the audience.

“It is absolutely thrilling to perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This is a magnificent concert hall,” ASIMO said.

Later, cellist Yo-Yo Ma joined ASIMO onstage to receive an award for his efforts in music education. Ma bent to ASIMO’s height and shook the robot’s hand. Ma performed later on the program but didn’t take questions from the media about ASIMO.

Honda spokeswoman Alicia Jones said it was the first time ASIMO has conducted an orchestra, and it may be the first time any robot has conducted a live performance. ASIMO stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility.

ASIMO has its limits. ASIMO’s engineers programmed the robot to mimic Charles Burke, the Detroit Symphony’s education director, as he conducted the piece in front of a pianist about six months ago. But it can’t respond to the musicians.

During the first rehearsal, the orchestra lost its place when ASIMO began to slow the tempo, something a human conductor would have sensed and corrected, said bassist Larry Hutchinson.

“It’s not a communicative device. It simply is programmed to do a sense of gestures,” said Leonard Slatkin, the orchestra’s musical director. “If the orchestra decides to go faster, there’s nothing the robot can do about it. Hopefully, I keep that under control.”

But several musicians also said ASIMO was more realistic than they expected.

“The movements are still a little stiff, but very humanlike, much more fluid than I thought,” Hutchinson said.

Honda has been developing walking robots since 1986. The latest version of ASIMO debuted last year. Honda eventually intends its robots to be companions for the elderly and others in need, such as schoolchildren navigating crosswalks. ASIMO can run, walk on uneven slopes and respond to simple voice commands. It can also recognize faces with its camera eyes.

Honda brought the robot to Detroit to highlight its recent $1 million gift to the orchestra for a music education fund.

At my school we give a performance each month at the PTA meeting, as well as big performances in December and May for all the kids to perform (over three nights.) Our May performance this year is based on a nursery rhyme theme, which has been really easy because the teachers are teaching the nursery rhymes anyway and each class at our school was assigned one at the beginning of the year to perform on the morning announcements (which we do over closed-circuit television.) This means the classroom teachers already have a variety of costumes and props that we can take advantage of without having to reinvent the wheel!

While I was compiling the songs to use in the show I couldn’t find a version of “One, Two, Tie My Shoe” that I liked, so I decided to fire up Garage Band and do it as a rap. It was so successful with the kids that I decided to also do “Humpty Dumpty” and “Jack Be Nimble” this way so that each performance night could have a “rap” finale. The kids are especially tickled once they realize it is my voice on the recording!

It is really a little amazing to see how the kids react when they hear the beat of the song. It is clear that this is the kind of music they hear at home, and you can see why some children’s music is starting to go this way (check out this story from NPR about the album Baby Loves Hip Hop.) My idea to do the nursery rhymes this way has inspired one of our classroom teachers to use Garage Band to create a track to help one of her students learn to spell her name.

Its extremely easy to make your own accompaniments or recordings in Garage Band, especially if you’re using the loop browser. I used the built in mic on my MacBook which I thought was just fine for this purpose (although it does not pick up well if you want to record a group.)

For your amusement (and your use, if you would like) I provide for you my nursery rhyme raps:

Jack Be Nimble

Humpty Dumpty

1, 2, Tie My Shoe

I enjoyed this story on NPR the other day about a village in China where singing is an important part of every day life, and every individual is able to do it.  Author Amy Tan traveled to the village of Dimen and learned how music and song are integral to the traditional culture of the Dong people who live there.  In the audio story there is an amazing recording of the village people imitating the voices of the cicadas.

As an early childhood music educator I was moved by this story because that is just how I would like our culture to be.  I would like for the ability to sing to be as common as the ability to read and for us to recognize it as an important way to remember the past, express the present and simply process the world around us.  How amazing would it be if an entire generation of children was brought up to truly believe that everyone has both the ability to sing and the ability to benefit from musical expression.  Instead we seem to focus on singing as a talent held by just a few.

Here is a short excerpt from the NPR piece including a song the children of Dimen learn about Spring:

“Entering into the village I had little girls singing those songs — those dong songs, the welcoming songs — one at each elbow,” Tan says. “However, the singing isn’t just to welcome tourists, it’s how the culture communicates with each other.”

While these “gate-barring songs” are reserved mainly for tourists and official guests, the Dong song-style is a form of communication every child learns from the age of 5. “And they sing on key, on rhythm, perfectly a capella, in tune with one another,” Tan says.

Young children not only sing to greet but also talk about community and the changing of seasons. The song “Spring Is Here, Swallows Fly” talks about the shortness of childhood, using birds as a metaphor:

After winter we get spring / Swallows fly amidst green leaves / Cicadas sing on top of berry trees / High and low sounds fill the mountains / Cicadas’ songs are so beautiful, let’s stop and listen / You can hear the mountains and forests resounding / Even the birds would stop and listen / There is music, there is love / All four seasons are filled with happiness / We are happy in our hearts

I am completely opposed to activities that kill time without teaching the children anything about music.  The way I see it these kids get very, very little exposure to formal music education, and it behooves us to make the most out of every single minute.  Of course I find adhering to this standard rather difficult at this time of year when the kids are distracted and crazy by the lovely weather and I am, frankly, exhausted. In the week before Spring break I found myself casting about for some activities that would be fun and engaging enough to keep the kids involved (and out of trouble!) but would also trick them into learning something, and I settled on my 12′ parachute and a set of 18 bean bags.

I am telling you in all honesty that I believe the parachute has magical powers over 5 year old children.  It is colorful, and it behaves differently than other things we play with, and you can do so many things with it.  The simplest circle game that we’ve played a million times (in this case “Three Gallant Ships” out of Feierabrend’s Preschool and Beyond curriculum) is fresh and new and interesting for a million more times.  Honestly I’m not sure why I haven’t used the thing more often, it really isn’t that hard to get it out and put it away and it really does get the kids involved and singing and playing (although I would definitely only add the distraction of a parachute to a song or circle game the kids already knew quite well.)

The bean bags are a powerful tool because once you pass them out there are SO MANY things you can use them for. You can pass one or two around the circle to practice steady beat.  You can throw one back and forth to kids and follow the arc with your singing voices.  You can make up a simple song about carrying it on various parts of the body with repeating words that make all the kids comfortable joining in.  Its powerful stuff.

Admittedly I am really focused on giving my students opportunities to play while they learn (or rather play in order to learn) so perhaps I am more enamored with these things than the average person would be.  In any event I would encourage anyone to find a way to take advantage of all that energy the kids have and channel it into some productive play, rather than attempting to wrestle them into orderly submission.  Not only will they be more likely to learn but you may find yourself re-energized by their delight and motivated to finish out the year with some real creativity.

Lately there has been a lot of discussion on one of the music teacher message boards I frequent regarding whether or not American Idol is hurtful to the cause of authentic music education.  The very good point has been made that contestants on American Idol do not sing in a style or use a tone of voice that is consistent with the style and tone that we spend so much time trying to teach our students.  Furthermore the attitude taken in the audition round, in which “bad” singers are presented for public ridicule and laughing at them is even encouraged, is certainly out of step with the environment most of us try to breed in our classrooms where everyone is welcomed to try their best and no effort is ridiculed or laughed at.

Rather than blaming American Idol and refusing to watch it or discuss it with our children, I think we should use it as a jumping-off point for a conversation about different styles of singing and tones of voice, and when it is appropriate to “belt” or embellish and when it is not.  Instead of pretending like the real world is as warm and fuzzy as a fifth grade music classroom, how about being honest with our students that the music industry IS very harsh, and not everyone belongs on stage or on their own album, but that doesn’t mean that everyone can’t be a lifelong music lover and amateur singer.

The Smartboard activity is going GREAT. The kids really enjoy interacting with the board and the site I’m using provides just enough interaction for them to get their feet wet but not so much that we’re overwhelmed or have to spend ages giving directions.

One of the other things I’m doing this week is a shaker activity out of this wonderful book called 101 Rhythm Instrument Activities for Young Children.

I think of all the books I use in my classroom this is one of the ones I go to the most. It features a LOT of activities that are appropriate for my 4 and 5 year olds, using all sorts of rhythm instruments and incorporating some of their curriculum objectives as well. For example right now many of our classes are learning about eggs and seeds and the life cycle of animals and plants, so the shaker activity we did involved pretending to dig a hole, plant a seed and watch it grow. As we put our shakers away I let each child tell me what they “grew”… their imaginations are so impressive!!

Anyway, I’d be lost without this book. If you teach young children and you want to get them onto some simply rhythm instruments but aren’t sure what exactly to do, it would be a great investment.

I am using this great flash activity on my Smartboard today. It is from the Reading is Fundamental website (which has lots of great flash songs and stories) and offers the children an opportunity to interact with the story.

There is not a musical element to this flash, but I am creating one by having the children sing the words on the main page as a refrain on so-mi:

I went to the jungle and what did I see?
I saw a lot of jungle eyes looking back at me!

This is a perfect activity for my pre-schoolers because it gives them a chance to use the Smartboard for the first time without being too complicated. They also love almost anything with animal sounds, especially jungle animals!

Link to this activity on RIF.org