Observation #4

2/2715

Different warm-ups for each day. They know from the piano intros.
- ee eh ah oo
- Allelujah. "Try in one breath".
- "Tigers"?
- Bickie Bi
- Wee oh wee (in thirds)
- And shoot! (with hand signs)---> great idea!

Warm-ups didn't go too high.

Bethany then moved to the new piece, "Dance Evolution Medley", which is a medley of popular hits. She told the kids that they will do dance moves later. To begin, they listened to the recording. It was apparent that Bethany prepared the parts on the piano before the rehearsal. One of the terms was the tempo, a 50's shuffle, so she taught what the term meant. "It's like a swing," she said.

Told the kids to now put their iPods, iPads, phones, etc. away becuase it was time to start rehearsal/time to sing. A few kept them out after this was announced, Bethany told the students, "If I see it one more time, it'll go in the front."

"What is unison?" Bethany asked the group, double checking the terminology. Once the word was defined, she asked when it was no longer in unison.

"Too much going on. I'll wait." She waited patiently for the group to get back on track.

The group rehearsed some more, working through the song. "Listen to it. Audiate." I love the word audiate. So important. However, I don't agree with the idea of plunking out notes for the group to repeat. This way, they are only learning by ear instead of reading.

She then played the two phrases that were in unison. "Same or different?"

Drop a drop of water into the hot pan. "What's it sound like?"
- quick.

One student was talking and getting off track. She turned to him and said, "We're not talking about that right now."

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

Song Volleyball

Pick a word and have to sing a song with the word in it. Go back and forth between groups. The students were very excited and loved this activity. They have to sing the part with the word on it.

Most were on iPads and iPhone once the activity started. Perhaps to look up the songs?

This took up the last 35 minutes of class.