Teaching Rondo Form

After introducing the basic idea of form, same and contrasting sections, etc in the younger grades, I introduce specific forms from Western classical music in the upper grades, relating it to how it is used in modern music as well. I teach Rondo form in 5th grade, which is easy to relate to many contemporary musical genres and is a great way to have students respond to and create with 3 or more contrasting sections. Here is an overview of the lessons I use to teach Rondo form.

1. Identify Rondo

I introduce Rondo form by having students follow along with this simple cup routine to go with "Sleigh Ride". I always like to have students experience the form first, usually through some type of movement, and then have students recall what they did in what order to help them discover the order of the same and contrasting sections. Because the routine is so simple my 5th graders are able to quickly pick up the moves for each section and do it in one run-through so they get the idea without taking too much class time to rehearse anything, and because the song is familiar for many of them they can recall the order of the sections more easily afterwards. 

After doing the cup routine I have them tell me the order in which they did the different cup moves for each section, review how to label same and contrasting sections with alphabet letters, and identify the ABACABA form, and I introduce the term "Rondo". I explain at this point that Rondo form has the repeated A section interspersed with any combination of 2 or more contrasting sections. Once they have the basic idea of what a Rondo is, I show them another quick example, like this one.

2. Perform in Rondo

Once they have a basic understanding of what a Rondo is, I use this rhythm playalong video to have them practice actually performing a Rondo (I love this one for my 5th graders specifically because it includes the eighth/ sixteenth note combination rhythms they are learning as well!). I have them practice counting and clapping the rhythm patterns in each of the 3 sections, then I hand out 3 different instruments to each student (simple, small instruments that I have class sets of, like egg shakers, jingle bells, and rhythm sticks) and assign each instrument to one section. They set all the instruments down in front of them and I tell them they need to read the rhythms and also think ahead to know which instrument to play when! It keeps them thinking about Rondo form and helps them experience it more concretely. 

3. Create in Rondo: Class Composition

The next step with learning about any musical form is to create! I start in 2nd grade having students create contrasting sections for a given A section as an introduction to creating contrasting sections to arrange in a specific form, so I start with the same task here. I pick a short song and have them all learn it- I like to use something silly so the 5th graders aren't as self-conscious about singing, like my current favorite, the chorus from Jack Black's "Peaches" (which, bonus, ties in with the next composition project). Once they know the song, I have them work together to create 2 short, simple sections to use as the B and C for our Rondo. With the "Peaches" song for example, I have them list other Mario character names and we "rap" them on the beat for the B section, then they choose a few simple instruments and play the rhythm of one of the melodies from the Mario soundtrack for C. Once we have our 3 sections we review the order we need for a Rondo and perform it as a whole song.

4. Create in Rondo: Individual Composition

Once they understand how to create contrasting sections and arrange them in Rondo form, we jump into creating a Rondo from scratch. I actually use the video game composition project (get all the materials and directions for that project here) for this. Students come up with a concept for a game that has 3 scenes or levels, with one of them being the "home" or "main" scene that the player returns to and the other 2 being sort of "side quests". Then they create music that evokes the image of each of the 3 scenes, and put them together in Rondo form.

There are certainly a lot of other great lesson activities and examples I've used over the years to introduce Rondo form, but those are the lessons I'm currently using! If you want to see the detailed lesson plans along with all of the visuals and materials for the lessons, you can find them in the Organized Chaos 5th grade curriculum. What other lessons do you like to use to teach Rondo form? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments!

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"Hip and Hop Don't Stop" Music Lesson Plan

After having this book sitting in my closet for a few years I finally used it in my Kindergarten music classes last month and I'm so happy I did! If you're looking for a fun way to practice fast and slow in elementary music, or update your "tortoise and the hare" lessons like I did, this is a super fun one that worked out beautifully and ended up being a great way to introduce rap with my youngest learners!

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The story, "Hip & Hop, Don't Stop" is about a rabbit who raps fast and a turtle who rap slow who recognize each other's talent and end up becoming friends, and verses rapped by each character are sprinkled throughout the story. To be honest I don't remember how I came across this book but when I found it I knew it would be a perfect way to replace my old lessons in a modern way while also incorporating hip-hop music and rapping in my Kindergarten lessons, which is something I've been looking for more ways to do intentionally and authentically for a few years.

I introduced the lessons by reading the story and telling students to do the "DJ move" (one hand on their ear, the other hand "spinning" in front) on the steady beat every time one of the characters raps. As I read the story, I exaggerated the tempo of each verse to make the difference very obvious. After the story I asked them to tell me which character was fast and which was slow. Then I played the first part of two different tracks I found online (I found these without spending a lot of time looking around, so I'm sure there are better examples!): this one for fast, and this one for slow, and I told them to do the DJ move again while they listened and identify the tempo. I wasn't sure if they would be able to tell them apart easily, to be honest, because the difference in speed is not as exaggerated (the fast one is around 100bpm and the slow one is around 83bpm), but they got it right away. 

The next lesson we reviewed the story, then I told them we were going to rap like Hip and Hop. I copied one of the verses they each rap towards the end of the story on the board, and we practiced rapping each one, getting it up to speed to rap with their respective tracks. It took a while for them to be able to do the raps with the tracks, and a few kids said "wow, I didn't know rapping was hard!" (which is a wonderful concept for students to experience at a young age!). But they were motivated and did not get frustrated at all, and they were so proud of themselves when they got it. After the rapping I had them spread out around the room and told them to "hop like a bunny" when they heard the fast track and "crawl like a turtle" when they hear the slow one, and I switched back and forth between the two. 

After those lessons we moved on to some other lessons on fast and slow (you can see some of my favorites for that in this blog post), but I'm planning to use this as a jumping off point to have students create with fast and slow tempi by writing a rap for Hop and a rap for Hip and practice performing it with the tracks. I'm thinking I will pick one simple topic that's relevant at the end of the school year, like summer break plans or what it's like to be in Kindergarten, and ask them to think about what they think each character would rap about that topic and come up with a short verse for each of them together. It will also be a great way to start building in the concept of rap writing and rapping earlier on (you can read more about the lessons I do with my older students with rap, within the context of hip-hop in general, in this post).

I have used the Aesop fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare", since my first year of teaching to practice fast and slow with my Kindergartners. I've used different variations over the years, but the basic idea is to have the students sing a bunny song fast while moving their hands like bunny ears on the beat every time I mention the hare, and sing a turtle song slowly while moving their hands like turtle feet every time I mention the tortoise. Besides being great for having them repeatedly practice singing and moving on the beat with the two contrasting tempi, and incorporating a familiar story, I also like being able to use the bunny ears and turtle feet as cues to have students play/ sing/ move fast or slow in subsequent lessons. But truth be told I have been ready for a change for years now- most of my students already know the story from preschool so it's not as exciting as the other stories I use in my lessons. So this has turned out to be the perfect replacement that keeps the things I loved about my old lessons while updating it to something more engaging that adds a new element to my curriculum as well.

Have you ever used this book in your lessons? You can see all of my lesson plans using books in this post. What other lessons do you use to teach fast and slow in Kindergarten music? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below!

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Benefits of Daytime Concerts

I switched to doing all of my school concerts and performances in the morning about a decade ago, and I don't think I will ever go back to evening concerts- at least not in my current school community. After some online comments on the topic of evening vs daytime concerts made the rounds on social media last week I thought it was time to share my reasoning here- if you are considering whether to make the switch, or hoping to convince your school principal or community that it's the right idea, I hope this post will help.

After singer and talk show host Kelly Clarkson said on a podcast recently that she didn't understand why her children's school held their concerts at 10am instead of in the evening because it conflicted with her work schedule, I posted a video response on Instagram (you can see that on IG here). In this post I want to expand on my reasoning more completely, since I can't say everything I want to say in a social media reel! So here is why daytime concerts work better for my school community than evening concerts.

Elementary-aged children can't all come to school at night

The most fundamental aspect everyone needs to understand about this question is that elementary school students cannot all come to school in the evenings. There are lots of reasons that vary from family to family, community to community, whether it's needing to take care of younger siblings, having no transportation, having a busy extracurricular schedule with soccer games and piano lessons that happen after school, etc. But no matter what night I pick, there will be students that can't come to school at night.

There are certainly ways to help combat this issue, and my first few years of teaching I, with the help of my school principal, did them all: communicate the date and time months in advance, provide childcare and food for students after school, make sure students and their families understand the importance of attending, etc. But there never was, and never will be, a way to ensure every student can be there outside of school hours. 

Concerts are important educational opportunities

The second thing to fundamentally understand is that the reason we have concerts in the first place is for students to have the opportunity to practice, and learn how to, perform. It's part of the music curriculum that I teach, and it's embedded in the national standards for music education. If I want to ensure equal access for all of my students to all of the educational opportunities I am providing, I can't do my concerts outside of school hours. 

Most performances depend on all members

Besides the individual students who miss out on the experience of performing if they can't be there for the concert, their absence negatively effects the rest of the students' performance experience as well. The type of concerts we're talking about here is ensemble performance- choir, band, orchestra, etc- where students are performing together in a group. Missing voices and instruments means even the students who are there will not be able to perform their best, and their experience will not be as positive.

Most kids perform better in the morning

Maybe a less obvious switch I made was from afternoon to morning concerts. I used to do dress rehearsals and sound checks in the morning and have the concert in the afternoon, and it was always frustrating to see them so often do better in the rehearsal than they did in the performance because they were tired later in the day. You also have the added hassle of either trying to keep their concert clothes clean and their hairdos intact all through classes, recess, and lunch, or needing to change clothes in the middle of the day at school. And anything that happens in the morning can throw students off their game, whether they're frustrated by a difficult math test, or hurt because a classmate didn't want to play with them at recess. It's hard enough for adults to set all of that aside and put on a great performance, but it's even more challenging for children. Doing the concerts in the morning ensures more students are fresh, alert, happy, and calm, and they don't have to stress about keeping their clothes clean all day.

Teachers perform better in the morning too

Just like the students, I am definitely much fresher in the morning! As the conductor of the music and coordinator of all the logistics, I have to be at my best to make sure I can make the concert a positive experience for my students. When I used to do evening concerts it was so much more difficult for me to perform at my best because I was so exhausted from a full day of teaching on top of preparing for the concert.

Not every working parent works during the day

The other factor that convinced me that evening concerts were not worth the trouble was finding out how many of my students' families work in the evenings. Of course it's important for my students to be able to have their families and loved ones there to support them! But I did not find that more families came when I had concerts in the evenings- I actually have a bigger parent audience now that I do my concerts during the day. Family members all work at different times of day, and I find the ones with daytime work hours seem to have an easier time getting time off, or adjusting their work schedule, to be able attend than the ones with evening work hours.

Students and teachers can attend

I know it's a bummer for family members who can't come to their child's school concerts, and it's sad for the students who can't have their family there. I've definitely had to console students who were discouraged seeing their classmates' families cheering them on while they had nobody there from their family. But that will happen even if the concert is in the evening, and when it's during the day time the rest of the school is there to cheer on all of the students, so I know every student has someone they know that can cheer for them, whether it's their other teachers, their classmates, or siblings in other grades. The audience is so much bigger at daytime concerts not only because more families come but because the rest of the school is there to watch as well! And as an extra benefit, the students who are not performing have the added educational opportunity to hear the music, attend a concert, and practice being an audience member. 

In my mind, there is no contest: for elementary school concerts, daytime wins. 

To see all of my posts on concerts, click here. For my posts on teaching elementary choir, click here. Have thoughts or questions to share? Please leave a comment below!

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3 Ways to Teach Fast and Slow

One of the main focuses in Kindergarten and preschool music is musical contrasts, including fast and slow. I have done so many fun lesson activities over the years to introduce and practice fast and slow, but here are some of my current favorites to use with Kindergarten!

1. Little Red Caboose

I'm pretty sure I've been using this since my first year of teaching but it's still one of my favorites! I teach students the song by having them move their arms like the train wheels on the beat while they listen to me sing, then sing along with me. Once they can sing it while moving their arms on the beat we form a "train" and walk on the beat while still singing and moving our arms, and then we gradually speed up until we are practically running around the room! 

2. Fast and Slow Identification

I make the connection with the story of the tortoise and the hare, and then use tracks that switch back and forth abruptly between fast and slow to have students identify which one they hear by moving "turtle hands" on the beat if it's slow, and "bunny ears" on the beat if it's fast. You can obviously use any music that switches back and forth between the two speeds, but I have successfully used this one, this longer one, and of course Hungarian Dance No. 5 is a classic.

3. Encanto soundtrack

The obsession with Encanto has certainly died down a bit since the initial craze but I find my younger students especially still love any reference to the film, and it's fun to use the soundtrack by Gremaine Franco, not just the songs everyone knows by Lin Manuel Miranda, as examples in lessons! I use this after students are comfortable with the concept of fast and slow, because the beat is not as simple for them to hear in these tracks, but I use Meet La Familia (slow) and El Camino de Mirabel (fast). First I have them listen to the first part of each track while patting the beat they hear to decide which is fast and which is slow. Then I hand out a few different types of small hand percussion instruments and have students play along. 

*BONUS: Moana play-along

This one is a challenge for Kindergarten but it's a fun one to use at the end of the year to review both fast and slow and reading quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes with an easy activity that is engaging for students and low prep for me :) 

Of course we practice fast and slow all throughout the year with tons of other lesson activities but these are some of my favorites that really focus on the concept and help solidify it for students! If you want to see some of my other teaching strategies for tempo, including for older students, check out this post:

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