Teacher Tuesday: teaching high and low pitch

I'm focusing on high and low pitches with kindergarten this week, so today I thought I would share some of my favorite ways to explore and understand high and low sounds with young students. If you missed it, make sure you check out my earlier post on using the book "Mortimer" in music class- that is one of my favorite ways to reinforce and assess my students' understanding of high and low, and we will be leading into that book very soon with my kindergarten classes!

1. There's Someone Standing on a Big High Hill

This song is great for all kinds of concept practice- instrument playing, solfege, rhythm, pitch matching... First we all sing the song together, then I do something (sing, play an instrument, clap a rhythm, dance etc) for 4 beats and students copy. Of course eventually I have students lead while everyone copies as well. But this the melodic contour of the song is also perfect for teaching high and low:

Last week I had students review instrument playing technique by having them echo different patterns on instruments. This week we will be thinking about the high and low notes in the song by moving up and down with the melody- first showing the melodic contour with our fingers (drawing it in the air), and then with our whole bodies (crouching down for low and stretching up tall for high). The students always notice on their own that the melody makes the shape of a "big high hill"!

2. Mr. Brown and Mr. Black

I found this story on Beth's Notes last year, although I can't seem to find the direct link anymore (if you are not familiar with this site, run over there now! It is a treasure trove!). It is a fun way to practice high and low and also ties in nicely with the "Someone Standing" song because it is about another hill.

The first time I tell the story, I split the class in half and have one side act out Mr. Brown and the other side act out Mr. Black with motions. They pretend to walk up and down the hill by getting shorter and taller while walking in place. The second time I have them sing notes going up and down while drawing the shape with their finger in the air. The third time we do the story, I have them gliss on the xylophones and glockenspiels. This is the first time I introduce barred instruments in kindergarten, and they love it! It is a great way to get them to transfer their understanding of high and low to pitched instruments, and it leads nicely into the Mortimer book as well.

What are your favorite lesson ideas for teaching high and low? I'd love to hear them in the comments!