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)
Melodies by Ear (full sheet, includes all 12 titles--I double-side this with Lines and Spaces for each Clef)
- The Itsy Bitsy Spider
- The Farmer in the Dell
- It's Raining, It's Pouring
- It's a Small World
- Baby Shark
- Theme from Star Wars
- Joy to the World
- London Bridge
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Three Blind Mice
- When the Saints Go Marching In
- Theme from Jurassic Park
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