3.      A Halloween Story

1. Materials needed:

piano or keyboard

Gesture cards from Lesson 1

Teacher’s Guide Chart

Halloween Story board (copy onto orange paper)

crayons

scissors

A Halloween Story (or make up your own story!)

2. Concepts:

The sounds represented by a quarter note, whole note, legato, staccato, accent.

High, middle, low.

Graphic Notation

3. Procedure:

Place Gesture Cards on music rack.  Set the stage by talking about Halloween and asking the student(s) if they know what they will be for Halloween this year.

Tell them we will be telling a Halloween story using the piano.  Give each child a Halloween storyboard. 

Tell them the story starts with some Trick-or-Treaters going door to door.  They come to a very old, creaky-looking house.  They knock on the door.  Ask a child to make that sound on a piano key.  How would we draw it?  Fill in the Storyboard squares (see Teachers’ Guide for suggestions)

The door opens with a creak.  Shall we explore the first room, or go up or down the stairs to the attic or the cellar?  What kind of creature do we find in each location?  How would they sound?  How would we draw that sound?  Would we play it high (attic), middle (first room) or low (cellar/dungeon)?  What is waiting for us on the porch as we leave?

Finally, cut the storyboard apart and allow the student(s) to select the order of appearance of each character by arranging them on the music rack.  The order of characters and location they are found can be different each time you tell the story.  Ask each child to tell Mom the story when she gets home.

Sample story:

Johnny and his friends are out on Halloween night.  They are going door to door trick-or-treating.  They come to a very old, creaky-looking house.  Johnny goes up to the porch and knocks on the door.  The door opens all by itself!  Everyone creeps in cautiously.  They enter a large, empty room full of cobwebs.  At the far end of the room is a closet door.  The kids open that door and a skeleton is in there dancing!  They slam the door shut and run up the stairs.  They step into the attic.  There is a bat there, flying and swooping and gliding.  Everyone turns around and goes back down the stairs.  It is very quiet, so they decide to explore the cellar.  It is very dark down there, and before they can turn on their flashlights, a ghost pops out and shouts “Boo!”  The kids scream and run back up the stairs and out the door.  They stop on the porch to catch their breath.  That’s when they notice the grinning jack-o-lantern.  They take a step forward, but suddenly it disappears!  Look, now it’s behind you!  As they turn, it disappears again.  Now it’s over there!  Johnny says, “This is too weird, let’s get out of here!”

© Copyright 2004, Lorraine Crist-Campman

Teacher’s Guide – A Halloween Story

These are only suggestions; your students may have their own ideas!