DO, RE, MI… The Sound of Music in Our Classrooms Nibia Yermos & Andrea Paradiuk
Music Spiral Get together in groups of four. Take turns to throw the dice. You must speak about the topic in the square you landed on for 15 seconds non-stop. You can do so on your own or you can get your group’s help.
Uses of music in the classroom: Your Ranking In your opinion, which are the most important uses of music? Choose four and rank them. We may use /have…………………. a) …………………………music-related topics for discussion. b) …………………………instrumental music as background to an activity. c) ……………………….. instrumental music as the basis for an activity such as guided fantasies, etc. d) …………………………music-based activities to create a certain effect/atmosphere, e.g. to change students´ mood (energizers, relaxers). e) ………………………… songs leading to language-focused work. f) ………………………… songs leading to writing. g) …………………………music to dance. h) …………………………music to foster multiculturalism. i)
…………………………repeated rhythmic patterns to favour short and long-term memory (for vocabulary/grammar learning).
j)
………………………… music and songs simply as a source of enjoyment/fun.
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1. Song Bits or Song Beats? That’s my chair! You will listen to bits of different songs. If you can identify the song and the singer rush to the empty chair and sit on it. If you mention the name of the song, you get one point. And if you also mention the singer/band you get an extra point! The “Why” Categorization What specific uses can we exploit these songs for? Bad Romance
Thriller
Take on Me
Rude
Morning Train
Hot & Cold
Sugar
Firework
Twist and Shout
Zorba the Greek 1) Songs with a story to develop
2) Songs which generate discussion
3) Songs for writing
4) Songs with a language focus: Grammar or vocabulary
5) Music to celebrate multiculturalism
6) Songs for the joy of singing
Further suggestions: Father and Son (Cat Stevens) / The Logical Song (Supertramp) / Yesterday-Imagine (The Beatles) / Because you loved me (Celine Dion) / Eternal Flame (The Bangles) / I’ve been thinking about you (Londonbeat) / I will always love you (Whitney Houston) / I can’t stop loving you (Phil Collins)
2. Celebrating Diversity: Project Work on Multiculturalism We can use music as the starting point for Project Work based on multiculturalism. We can develop the project along three threads: * Current multicultural reality in our classrooms * Our ancestors * English-speaking communities
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In this project, students can investigate different topics from the communities they have chosen, for instance: * music and dances
* stories, legends & myths
* typical clothes
* food
* symbols and gestures
* customs and celebrations
* young people’s interests
* interesting places to visit
* etc.
Suggested activities •
Students are divided into different groups representing different communities (e.g. Bolivian, Korean, Peruvian, etc.) and are asked to do some research on two or three specific topics (legends and myths, music, food.)
•
They share their findings within their “community groups.”
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They then make up new “topic groups” and discuss their specific findings across communities. They find out similarities and differences.
•
Students go back to their original groups and do a round-up activity for conclusions, discussion and further investigation.
3. Working with songs Almost a Memotest - Music idioms Group work. Turn over one slip at a time and match it to the corresponding music idiom. There is one slip too few. Wet your whistle
As clear as a bell
Face the music
Drum it in
That’s music to my ears
Blow your trumpet It takes two to tango
Which is the extra idiom? DO-RE-MI, or, MI-RE-DO? I- Singing Doe, a deer, a female deer Ray, a drop of golden sun Me, a name I call myself Far, a long, long way to run Sew, a needle pulling thread La, a note to follow Sew Tea, a drink with jam and bread That will bring us back to Do (oh-oh-oh)
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II- Singing with idioms. Now new lyrics will be used including the Music Idioms dealt with previously. DO a) Let’s wet our whistle now RE b) she drummed it in again MI c) Don’t blow your own trumpet FA d) As clear as a bell
SO e) You’ll have to face the music LA f) That’s music to my ears TI g) It takes two to tango That will bring us back to DO,DO, SO
III- Dicing up DO-RE-MI: Singing game Each team throws the dice and sings the song with the sequence suggested in the corresponding column. If the version is accepted, the team gets two points. I
II
III
DO, Let´s wet our whistle now
DO, She drummed it in again
DO, It takes two to tango
RE, she drummed it in again
RE, As clear as a bell
RE, That´s music to my ears
MI, Don’t blow your own trumpet
MI, That´s music to my ears
MI, You´ll have to face the music
FA, As clear as a bell SO, You´ll have to face the music LA, That´s music to my ears
FA, It takes two to tango SO, Let´s wet our whistle now LA, Don´t blow your own trumpet
FA, As clear as a bell SO, Don´t blow your own trumpet LA, She drummed it in again
TI, It takes two to tango
TI, You´ll have to face the music
That will bring us back to DO
That will bring us back to DO
That will bring us back to DO
IV
V
VI
DO, That´s music to my ears
DO, As clear as a bell
RE, You´ll have to face the music
RE, Don´t blow your own trumpet
DO, You´ll have to face the music
MI, It takes two to tango
MI, she drummed it in again
MI, That´s music to my ears
FA, Let´s wet our whistle now
FA, Let´s wet our whistle now
SO, She drummed it in again
SO, It takes two to tango
FA, don´t blow your own trumpet
LA, Don´t blow your own trumpet
LA, you´ll have to face the music
TI, As clear as a bell
TI, that´s music to my ears
TI, She drummed it in again
That will bring us back to DO
That will bring us back to DO
That will bring us back to DO
TI, Let´s wet our whistle now
RE, As clear as a bell
SO, It takes two to tango LA, Let´s wet our whistle now
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Two love stories a) Pre-listening Sorting out. You will receive some lines which belong to two different stories: the orange and the green stories. Discuss your lines with your peers and sort yourselves out into the two texts. Orange text: in one of the lines you´ll see the words “Why, why” Green text: in one of the lines you´ll see the word “Roar” Example: Here someone says she´s tired and in my slip someone says she´s heartbroken. I think we belong together. b) While-listening I) Faulty printer. The printer has gone mad! Can you help us to replace the Angry Birds with the song lyrics?
II) Spotting topics. Listen twice for phrases /sentences which you can associate with the following topics and … …raise both arms …raise a leg
for… Sadness/Regret for…Loving Feelings
Feedback: •
How many times have you raised your arm? Your leg?
•
Which feeling prevails in this song?
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III) The following are some other techniques that can be used when working with song lyrics. a) c) e) g) i) k) m) o)
Jump up lines Celebrities’ song bits choices Spot the extra word/line Spot the missing word Correct one of the words Find a synonym Find an opposite Fill in with the missing word/phrase
b) d) f) h) j) l) n) p)
Associate bits of different songs into a story Spotting topics Scrambled words/phrases/lines Matching half lines Multiple choice Find rhyming words Faulty printer Singing games
c) After listening Incident Lottery: Story building The following are incidents from the two stories. Both Katy’s and Mary’s boyfriends are called John. Pick three numbers from the bag. All the numbers correspond to the incidents in the grid. In groups make up a story including those three incidents. Decide whose story you want to create, whether Meryl’s or Katy’s. 1- She loves all kinds of cats 3- They met at Cirque du Soleil
2- John is allergic to animal fur 4- John tried to chat up one of the owners (Jill)_ 5- John walked out on her because of Jill. 6- She decided her self-esteem needed building up 7- She fell in love with her therapist 8-. John lit the fire rings for the tricks and the curtains caught fire 9- She fell in love with two fire-fighters 10- The lion tamers lost control of the wild animals 11- She was deafened by the roar of one 12-The ear specialist diagnosed permanent of the lions hearing loss 13- She took up tango dancing lessons 14- Her tango coach was drop-dead gorgeous III- Other Possible follow-ups: a. Role-plays and dramatizations: Possible characters: Meryl/Katy/ John / their therapist / the tango coach / their best friend / the lion tamer / the ear specialist / a talk-show host/ hostess… b. Pair/ group/ individual writing: A dear diary entry / A letter to the agony column / An e-mail to… / Writing games based on the original stories or the newly made-up versions (after Incident Lottery) c. Video-taped dramatizations: d. Information search on related topics: Katy Perry´s singing career, her recent visit to B.A., etc.
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Meryl Streep´s acting career, the musical film and play performed in the world and in Argentina, etc. e. Project work: Unrequited Love or Unfaithfulness, through different eyes and at different historical times. Further reading and viewing material suggested: stories, novels , films, etc. for comparison.
Quotations about Music Music is the universal language of mankind. –H. Longfellow •
Music is what feelings sound like.-Author Unknown
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Music is the medicine of the mind. –J. Logan
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Music is an outburst of the soul. –Frederick Delius
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Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. –Ludwig van Beethoven
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Music is love in search of a word.- Sidney Lanier
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There is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.- Edward Elgar
What’s yours…?
Bibliography Coyle, D., Hood, P. and Marsh, D: (2010) CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning, CUP Cranmer, D. (1992) Musical Openings, Pearson PTR Jensen, E. (2008) Brain-based Learning, Corwin Press Madylus, O. (2009 ) Film, TV and Music, CUP Murphey, T. (1992) Music and Song, OUP Prescott, J. (2005) Music in the Classroom: a User´s Guide for Every Teacher, Scholastic Puchta, H. & Rinvolucri, M. (2005) Multiple Intelligences in ELF, Helbling Languages Puchta, H., Rinvolucri, M. & Arnold, J. (2007) Imagine that! Helbling Languages Wright, A. (1995) Storytelling with Children, Oxford http://www.englishclub.com/teaching-tips/music-classroom.htm, visited for the last time on October 2 2015 http://esl.about.com/od/esleflteachingtechnique/a/brainmusic.htm visited for the last time on October 2 2015
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