(The teacher may present this in up to 3 private or partner lessons, or can also be done at a party or workshop. Suitable for beginners up to grade 5)
1. 1st Lesson
a. Materials needed:
Piano or keyboard
4 or 5 art paintbrushes of various sizes and shapes
Prepare 5 Gesture cards as follows:
|
DAB® |
quarter notes |
series of short lines |
|
|
|
|
PRESS® |
whole notes |
rows of long lines |
|
|
GLIDE® |
legato |
wavy lines |
|
|
FLICK® |
staccato |
dots |
|
|
PUNCH® |
accent |
large black circle |
|
b. Concepts:
Hand gestures. Musical gestures.
The sounds represented by a quarter note, whole note, legato, staccato,
accent.
c. Procedure:
1. Discuss various hand gestures. Ask the student to guess what you are saying with your gesture. Ask
the student to make a gesture while you guess (stop, come, shhh, hello, thinking, look!
pointing, etc.)
2. Use the music rack as an easel. Explain that artists and musicians also use their hands to make gestures that have meaning. Display a gesture card. Using black keys only, play that sound
with one hand and use a brush stroke on the music rack to describe it with the other hand.
Ask the child to draw it in the air with you. Repeat, allowing the child
to use the brushes. Start with PRESS®
(whole note). Ask them to have the brush ready, wait and listen until the
sound starts to pretend to paint, and listen for an ending to lift the brush.
2. 2nd Lesson: (This step can probably be omitted for grades 4 and 5 or if done all in one presentation).
a. Materials needed:
Piano or keyboard
Gesture cards from Lesson 1
5 squares of paper per student
crayons for each student
b. Concepts:
Review the sounds represented by a quarter note, whole note, legato, staccato, accent.
Listening and Graphic Notation Dictation.
c. Procedure:
1. Review dab, press, glide, flick, and punch. Show the corresponding Gesture Card for each.
Ask the child to draw each in the air as you play. Put the Gesture Cards
away.
2. Graphic Notation Dictation: Give the child 5 squares of paper and some crayons. Ask them
to draw the sounds they hear as you play.
3. Arrange the paper squares on the music rack in any
order. Ask the child to play the sound each represents. Or play a guessing game. Ask the child to hold up the card
she hears as you play. Ask her to play for you, and you guess which card to hold
up.
© 2004 by Lorraine Crist-Campman. All rights reserved.
