Supplement: D Major Sheet

At the beginning of the year for second-year students, I like to start with this sheet of pieces in D Major for review.  We don't get to all the pieces together in class, but it's a nice supplement for those that want extra music at home.  The D Major scale is provided as a reference on the the top of the page.  "Hallelujah" is a round that we spend quite a bit of time on during the first weeks of school.  We spot the D Major scale hiding in the second line and work on the skips in the first line.  Eventually students will get an opportunity to lead their group for the round by standing in front of the orchestra, taking a breath to start off their group, and playing along.  Over the years, I've switched out pieces here and there, so I have a couple versions of this D Major sheet.

Contents of Version 1:

• D Major scale
• Hallelujah!
• A Mountain View
• Do, Re, Mi, Fa
• Where is John?
• Play from "For Children"

D Major Version 1 (Word document)
D Major Version 1 (PDF)

Contents of Version 2:

• D Major scale
• Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow
• Hallelujah!
• Do, Re, Mi, Fa
• Where is John?
• Play from "For Children"

D Major Version 2 (Word document)
D Major Version 2 (PDF)

Contents of Version 3 (also includes a version at the end with Alpha notation):

• D Major Scale
• Do, Re, Mi, Fa
• A Mountain View
• Gopala
• Shortnin' Bread
• Sea Shanty
• Hallelujah!

D Major Version 3 (Word document)
D Major Version 3 (PDF)

 Enjoy!

Together We Will SCALE New Heights! Bulletin Board

With the new school year quickly approaching, I created a bulletin board that is welcoming, punny, and music-theory based: "Together we will SCALE new heights!"

I used the same color scheme for the solfege and scales that I use in the classroom, just on a smaller scale (2-inch squares for the letter names).  Thanks to my mom for letting me use her Cricut to cut out the letters, and then here are the key signatures and images of the hand symbols.  These are the three scales we focus on in beginning orchestra as well as the first scale learned in band.

Happy school year everyone!

Transposition

During sixth grade orchestra, students study the keys of D, G, and C Major.  Students play scales, write compositions, and perform pieces in each of those keys throughout the school year.  At the end of the year, we make connections between the three keys by transposing melodies from one key to another.  We talk through a worksheet together (I usually don't take the time to have students write out all the transpositions on the worksheet, though at least they have the sheet if they'd like a reference or to fill it out on their own later), and we use the solfege Velcro scales as a visual to move from one key to another.  The opening to "Frere Jacques" is the melody we work through together.

Next, I bring out the laminated transposition cards.  These are color-coded by clef, which makes for easy sorting.  Each student gets a different card, and they follow the directions, playing the melody as given and then transposing it to the two other keys starting on the given pitch.  Once completed, students can trade their card in for a different one.

There is a bit of range between "easier" and more challenging melodies as well as between very familiar melodies and not-so-familiar ones, so I take that into consideration when I'm passing out the initial transposition cards.

If I were to adjust these transposition cards, I'd write in the starting solfege syllable for clarity.  While the instructions do say which pitch to start on, students don't always realize that a piece doesn't necessarily start on "Do" and try to start a piece that begins on "Mi" on a G in G Major, for example, instead of a B.  Still, most students have success working through these cards either on their own or with my support.

There are options about which octave to start in, and some students make the connection quickly that many of these can be played with the same fingering but up or down a string.  Once they have caught on to that, I'll have students play up or down an octave so that the fingering will have to change (which usually means that the low second finger will be needed).

While we don't spend very much time on this unit, I like how it ties the whole year together and students can see how they can move between keys.  Students enjoy looking through the different cards and choosing their favorite melodies to transpose--and they enjoy the satisfaction of successfully playing their melody in the various keys.

Transposition handout:

• Word document

• PDF 

Transposition cards with melodies and directions:

• Word document

• PDF

Melodies included (in no particular order):

• Mary Had a Little Lamb
• Largo from the New World Symphony
• America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)
• Ode to Joy
• Yankee Doodle
• Long Long Ago
• French Folk Song
• Mattachins (Sword Dance)
• The Alphabet Song
• Yankee Doodle

Others that I have since typed up, but aren't included here are:

• Happy Birthday
• Spring
• Jingle Bells

Enjoy!

Magnets

You can make a lot of handy classroom tools with a laminator and magnets :)

The clefs and notes come from a package of musical symbols, and I made the instrument labels with a Cricut cutting machine.  These are easy to see from even the back of the room (though my color choices were maybe not contrasting enough on the instrument labels), and having these movable notes saves on time in class and dry-erase marker usage.  Because I mostly use quarter notes on the board, I cut the dots off the dotted quarter notes and the flags off the single eighth notes (and I cut the note-heads off the single sixteenth notes and glued them on top of the half notes) to create more of the quarter notes.  The alto clef came from a Google image search.

I use these magnets most often when introducing new notes to my students.  For practice, I'll have a student come up and point to different notes and their classmates will play what they see, performing this improvised creation.  Then, if I have a small group of, say, violas followed by a cello or violin group, it's easy to move the notes up or down on the staff as needed as the kids are coming in and unpacking versus erasing the marker and drawing new notes.  One of my schools has a white board with the staff lines built in to the board, which is great for a music classroom.  For my other school, I bought a sheet that goes right over part of the white board and has three staves on it. 

Note: since then, my school bought a double-sided whiteboard on wheels for the band/orchestra room.  One side has staff lines, which is much appreciated, and the other side is plain white.  I also have enough magnets now to post the five notes for violin/viola/cello all at once so I don't have to switch them for each new instrument group.

Solfege and Major Scales

Here's a colorful solfege scale, complete with hand signs.  I also made squares of letter names for the different major scales introduced in beginning orchestra (D, G, and C Major) that line up to the solfege.

Using long strips of colored paper as the background, add Velcro stickers to turn these into interactive  teaching tools.  Scramble up the notes of the scale and have students arrange them in the proper order.  Or have students point to notes of their choosing for their classmates to play for a quick way to practice new notes being introduced and to explore composition and improvisation.