Melodies by Ear

On the last week of small groups, I like to have students figure out how to play some melodies by ear.  This isn't their first exposure to learning something by ear--we do echoing throughout the year, and students would have learned the two-measure melody from "Medieval Kings" by Soon Hee Newbold a few weeks earlier--but I want to give students another idea of what is possible with their instruments before we part for the summer.

First, I'll remind students that while we've spent a lot of time this year learning to read music and learning new music by reading it on the page, that that's not the only way musicians can learn new music.  I'll say, "If I told you the first notes of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" are open D, D, open A, A, could you figure out the next part?  I'll let students work on it on their own or help guide a student who might be struggling and then have someone share before we all try it.  (Or, if we have played Twinkle earlier in the year, we might try "Hot Cross Buns" instead)  It can be helpful to have the D Major scale with solfege up so I can point to notes as a visual cue if needed too.  Once most of the students have at least the first phrase of Twinkle in their fingers, I invite them to try out any of the options on their Melodies by Ear sheet.  "Baby Shark" is a popular one!  While I don't talk about the transposition bit at the bottom, it is there in case anyone needs an additional challenge :)

Melodies by Ear (half-sheet, includes 10 titles--print double-sided and cut in half)

• Word document 
• PDF

Melodies by Ear (full sheet, includes all 12 titles--I double-side this with Lines and Spaces for each Clef)

• Word document 
• PDF

Contents:

1. The Itsy Bitsy Spider
2. The Farmer in the Dell
3. It's Raining, It's Pouring
4. It's a Small World
5. Baby Shark
6. Theme from Star Wars
7. Joy to the World
8. London Bridge
9. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
10. Three Blind Mice
11. When the Saints Go Marching In
12. Theme from Jurassic Park

Some songs are more popular/better known than others, but I think most, if not all, of my students have recognized at least one of these.  Which melodies would you add to this sheet?

Lesson Plan Overviews and Agenda by Week

 

I wanted to share sample lesson plans + agendas + resources for the entire school year.  To view, here's the link:

• Lesson plan overviews and agenda by week (Google Sheet)

You'll see the year organized by week, with 5th grade (first-year orchestra) on the left and 6th grade (second-year orchestra) on the right.  The blue week number in the first column is a link to that week's lesson plan, and the image of the agenda/white board in the second column is a link to the Google Drawing.  Feel free to make a copy of either and then edit them for yourself.  The fourth column lists links to corresponding blog posts.

Then, the link below is more specific lesson plans for each week, including full orchestra rehearsals too--not just small groups.  Because the repertoire changes each year, I called pieces things like [String Fest Piece #1], [String Fest Piece #2], or [Spring #1] with pretty broad lesson plans for those. (Please see this post for different repertoire options)

• Lesson plans by the week (first-year orchestra) (Google Doc)
• Lesson plans by the week (second-year orchestra) (Google Doc)

In my district, orchestra begins in 5th grade with 30 minutes of small-group learning once a week and 30 minutes of full orchestra once a week.  (6th grade is still elementary school in my district.)  The school year begins just after Labor Day and ends the first or second week in June.  The first week of school for me is spent recruiting and finalizing rosters and creating the first small group rotation schedule (most students will have signed up the previous spring), so small groups begin the second week of school, hence 35 weeks of lesson plans.  Full orchestra rehearsals begin the third week of small groups (so the fourth week of school, about the last week of September).  For performances, we have a winter concert in early December, a district-wide String Fest field trip and concert the end of January (right as the second semester is starting), an elementary orchestra Solo/Ensemble festival in March, and then a spring concert in early-to-mid May.  Orchestra Expressions is the method book we've used for several years, and then I have different supplements and composition worksheets and other resources that I've created as well.  I hope seeing the school year mapped out in this format with one orchestra teacher's plans helps with both long-term planning and individual lesson plans!