Game Plan 3 Ukulele Supplement

Transcription

1 Game Plan 3 Ukulele Supplement Because of the way the ukulele is tuned, it puts it at a unique advantage to play pentatonic melodiesthe open strings basically form a pentatonic scale, with the exception of Re and high Do. From lowest to highest, the open strings are C, E, G, A. So when beginning to teach single-note melodies, don t label the strings as letter notes right away. Instead, label the strings as their corresponding solfege syllables in the key of C. The diagram below also includes the stickers used in my ukulele method for older students. If you have these stickers, they can serve as a useful landmark for 3 rd graders. So from this point, you will not refer to the C string, but instead to the Do string. The reason for this is to have the students focus on the solfege intervals (which have a very definitive up-and-down pattern) and not the letter notes (which can be a little vague). The solfege will be replaced with letter notes eventually, but the melodies played in C mostly utilize open strings, so it s not necessary yet. There are limits to this- in order to play any melodies with low So, low La, ect., the key will have to be changed. But the students will start playing melodies in the key of F at around the same time that those intervals are introduced and the solfege is phased out in favor of letter notes. For now, the four open strings, with the addition of Re and high Do, are all that is needed. It s also worth noting that a ukulele in standard tuning has the same functional range as your basic recorder or xylophone, so students will be able to switch between the instruments (once letter notes are being used) without too much confusion. Setting Up- I find this procedure efficient, but you are free to come up with your own. I dismiss the students by color rows to come get a ukulele and bring it back to their spot on the carpet and open their cases. Then, when all students have an instrument, I have them line up in front of a xylophone, which I use to check pitches. Then I quickly go down the line and check each students instrument. I do NOT let the students tune the instruments themselves. When their instrument is tuned, they go back to their seat. This is also a good time for them to collect any worksheets that we will be working on, and they can look over the worksheets while the other students are being tuned. This whole procedure, with a little practice, can be done in 5 minutes or less. The following is a brief rundown of each worksheet. For the most part, these go along with activities and songs in Game Plan and it works well if they re introduced around the same time line. Of course, that s only a suggestion, and it depends on the class and the students. SLM Melodies (Sept. Wk. 2)- In 2 nd grade, the students focused mainly on SLM and MRD melodies and had some experience reading these on a three-line staff. To begin with in 3 rd grade, the students will again start with SLM melodies.

2 Except this time, they will not be strictly working with a staff. The reason for this is that the GamePlan flash cards for SLM and MRD melodies changed in between the keys of C (for SLM) and F (for MRD) for readability reasons, but this did not lend itself to combining the 5 notes together without a full five line staff. The way that the melodies are written on these worksheets position the notes (or words) like they are on a staff, but without any of the lines. So, for example, students can easily see that So is always higher than Mi, but they won t focus on which particular lines or spaces the notes are on for the time being. Introduce the students to the So, Mi, and La strings on the ukulele. Go over how to properly hold the instrument, and model how to pluck the strings with their thumbs- young kids tend to want to put their thumb all the way under the string and pluck up. Don t let them do this. Show them how pluck the string downward, gently but firmly. Let them experiment with these three strings, but ask that they avoid the Do string (lowest, thickest) for right now. The first worksheet has 6 SLM patterns, three notes each (these are adapted from the GamePlan 2 nd grade flashcards). Have the students try to play each pattern with the ukuleles. Aim for three steady beats, but really just have them work on one note at a time, just like reading a sentence. To assess, mark off each melody that they are able to successfully play. The Golden Rule You can use this song from the Game Plan 3 book(pg. 6, Sept. Wk. 2) to isolate and practice the La-So-Mi pattern. Sing the song first, and make the connection with the corresponding pattern from the first worksheet. Try having the students play La-So-Mi on the ukuleles while singing back in school and golden rule at the same time. Then try having them substitute playing L-S-M for the text (no singing). MRD Melodies (Sept. Wk. 3)- Just like on the first worksheet, the melodies on the second worksheet have been adapted from the Game Plan MRD flash cards used in 2 nd grade. To play these, introduce the students to Re and Do on the ukulele. The Do string is the lowest string on the ukulele. Create short patterns for the students to copy to help them practice this (S-M-S-M-D, and so forth). Re is trickier- it will be the first note that is no tplayed with an open string. Introduce the students to what a fret is (the space between the metal bars on the neck), and have them put their middle finger on the second fret of the Do string. Some students may want to use their first finger (the ring and pinky are usually avoided anyway, since they re weaker and more uncomfortable to use), and this isn t a big problem. But getting used to using the middle finger on the 2 nd fret sets the students up to be able with better form and finger positioning, and so it should be encouraged. Remind the students to press hard, pluck gentle. Their left hand should press the fret more firmly then their right hand thumb should pluck the string. As the students get the hang of these two new notes, have them try to play the three note patterns on the second worksheet (consisting entirely of MRD patterns). Like with the first worksheet, aim for having the kids be able to successfully read one note after the other, as steady as possible. Check off each pattern they re able to play.

3 Worksheet #3 (Sept. Wk. 4)- The two melodies on this worksheet are to practice the 5 notes learned thus far, and to establish familiarity with various solfege patterns (most should also recognize the second melody, making it more natural for them to play). The students are also practicing rudimentary music reading, as they interpret what notes to play as they read them on the paper. The notes are contoured as if they re written on a staff, but the lines are omitted so the students just focus on the intervals and the shape of the melody. In Game Plan 3, Oct. Wk. 1, the students are introduced to the five line staff and where pentatonic notes would be placed if the bottom space was Do (key of F). The students could theoretically play patterns from the five line staff on the ukuleles with the skills they have so far, albeit in the wrong key. It s up to you whether you think you should do this. You may end up having to re-teach them that the bottom line is actually the F note and not always Do (and not always the Do string, which is C). This can be pretty confusing for this age. I like to keep the five line staff separate from the ukulele melodies for now, and I m actually pretty direct about saying that we aren t combining these two ideas yet. No new ukulele material will be introduced for a while so students can have time to practice these two melodies, and there are plenty of other things to do in Game Plan between now and November. Great Big House (Nov. Wk. 2)- Great Big House is introduced in Game Plan 3, Nov. Wk. 2 (pg. 36). My suggestion for the songs taken from Game Plan is this- teach how to sing the song and do the activity/orff orchestration first, then proceed to teach the melody on ukulele. This song incorporates high Do (Do ). To play Do, the students press down the third fret on the La string (the A string). It s best that they use their ring finger, and keep the first and second fingers pressed down behind it. This is the first ukulele song to combine words and melody. The words (or syllables) are written in the boxes, and the solfege is written underneath each box. Again, this incorporates reading strategies, both literal and musical. The students are interpreting which note on the instrument to play, while matching it to the correct word. Keeping this in mind, it s helpful to have the students focus on playing just one note at a time, while saying or singing the word or syllable the note goes with. Because the students will already know how to sing the song (as you practice that first), they will have an idea of how the song goes. Since the real focus is reading notes sequentially, you will notice that rhythms are not included. The students practice rhythm in other ways through the curriculum, and it s an extra layer of information that s not necessary at this point. Li l Liza Jane (Nov. Wk. 4)- This song is more good practice using Do, and it s also a little longer that Great Big House with a very well defined B section. The rhythm is a little more varied than Great Big House, so the notes are spaced out in ways to reflect that. Again, the students should sing the song first, and then use that knowledge to help them play it. Three Little Monkeys (Jan. Wk. 2)-

4 Again, good practice using all five notes of the C pentatonic scale and Do Don t Stop Believing (Jan. Wk. 4) Most kids recognize this song by Journey (or if they don t they always like it). It s reached a point where this song practically a folk song in its own right. Note- the original recording is in E, but they ll be playing it in C. So teach them to sing the song first and accompany them on the piano. The chord progression for the verse is simple- I-V-vi-IV, I-V-iii-IV. The melody nicely incorporates a pentatonic melody, with the addition of a passing Fa. So this song is used to teach two new concepts: how to play Fa, and the concept of an open note and a closed note (this idea is only applicable to stringed instruments, but it s language you are going to want the students to understand as you prepare them to play melodies in the key of F). To play Fa, the students press down the first fret of the Mi string. The only finger that really makes sense for this is the first finger. Now, if you ve been following the fingering suggestions up till this point, you ll have one note played with the middle finger (Re), one note played with the ring finger (high Do), and now this note played with the first finger. The students hands are in a good position to move from one note to another. The other new concept you ll teach with this song is closed So. On stringed instruments, there are usually several ways to play the same note, and in this case, you re differentiating between playing So with an open string (no fingers), and playing the same note So by pressing down a fret (making it closed ). Show the students how pressing the third fret of the Mi string produces the same note as plucking the So string. And since closed So is played on the third fret, just like Do, they should use their ring finger. After practicing how to sing the verse melody to Don t Stop Believing, have them try to play it, and instruct them that for this song, they need to use closed So. The next to worksheets are include the pre-chorus to the song, and technically the melodies are pretty similar. You don t need to include these if time doesn t allow, but they can be helpful for students that quickly master the verse melody and want to continue the song. Rocky Mountain (Feb. Wk. 2)- This song is introduced in Game Plan 3 on pg. 84 (Feb. Wk. 4), but I like to do it sooner. Also in Game Plan, this song is in D, but for our purposes we ll do it in C. Sing through the song and do the Orff orchestration if desired. And then have the students work on playing it- the melody is not difficult. They can use open So or closed So- you can choose. The objective with this song is to have the students begin to make the connection between solfege and letter notes. Working in groups, have students try to figure out which xylophone bar matches the pitch played by the Do string. Lead them to discover that the answer is C. Talk about how there are two ways of labeling notes- with solfege and with letters- and lead a brief discussion on why we might have to separate ways of doing this. The reason you want the students to arrive at is letter notes always stay in the same place, while solfege can move around, like a ruler. Put

5 another way- letter notes are the name for the note itself, and solfege is used to measure how far apart the notes are (intervals). To illustrate this, you will need two tools- the xylophone chart and the Pentatonic Scale Finder 5000 (both can be printed from the website- and you should make as many as you can ahead of time). Show how C is the lowest note on the xylophone chart, just like it s the lowest note on a ukulele. Also point out how we ve been referring to the lowest string as Do. Using the PSF5000, have the students find out what the letter names of the other notes are. Some may point out that there isn t a Fa- tell them it s not important just yet and have them focus on C pentatonic notes. Working in groups, have the students write the letter note names of each note in Rocky Mountain, above the text boxes. And re-iterate this fact about letter notes: they always stay in the same place. So while Do can move, the C note cannot. Regardless of whether we are calling the lowest string the Do string (and we are about to stop doing that), it is always C. Now re-introduce each string with its proper letter name- Do=C, Mi=E, and so forth. Also note that Re=D (D is not to be confused with Do!), and Do =C. Minor Melody Worksheet (Feb. Wk. 4)- These melodies are originally introduced in Game Plan 3 during the second week of February, but I have them pushed out a little further. For this worksheet, the students will finally start incorporating solfege, letter notes, and the five line staff all together (and I m assuming you ve been working with the students on where notes go on a staff when Do is the bottom space). Point out the three pieces of information given by the worksheet- that Do=F, the bottom space=do, and the note below the staff= low La (and this makes sense because notes can be lower than Do) With this in mind, have them label the rest of the notes in solfege, writing the solfege syllables below the noteheads. Then, using the xylophone charts and PSF5000 s, have them find what the letter note of each note is (remember, it s given that Do=F). Show that the note previously referred to as Fa is actually the letter note F. Students may have noticed that it was the missing letter between E and G on the PSF5000. Show how every note on the worksheet is a note that they already know how to play (D, F, G, A, C )- it s just that now they have to think of the letter note name too. With all this in mind, have the students practice the melodies after labeling them, encouraging them to use closed G (previously closed So). To help the students with the transition to note names, present and project the Ukulele Notes Chart at the front of the room (it can be found on the website).

6 I Got A Letter (Mar. Wk. 2)- This song is introduced in Game Plan 3 during the first week of February. It s fine to have introduced it then since the students will be returning to something familiar, but you can also push it out further in the curriculum. The focus here will be playing the melodic ostinato and low So. Note that we are doing the song in the key of D minor, not E minor as written. Working in reverse, have the students figure out the solfege for the ostinato if Do=F. Have them write the solfege beneath the words. They will find that C=low So. Have them practice the song in groups- some play the ostinato, while others try singing the melody at the same time. Or have one student play the ostinato, and others progressively join him or her until everyone in the group is playing it together (this helps practice group playing and listening). These are just suggestions. Captain, Don t Side Track Your Train (Mar. Wk. 3)- After singing this song and practicing the Orff accompaniment, have the students figure out the letter notes based on the information that Do=F. It s a longer melody and the students may find it challenging, but you can scale it back by having them only focus on Number three in line/coming down the line. This pattern is also one of the patterns they looked at on the Minor Melodies worksheet (Game Plan also highlights this). Just like they did with The Golden Rule back in September, they can substitute playing the melody for the words during that part of the song, or sing and play the melody at the same time. More ambitious students can try to play the whole thing. Scotland s Burning (April Wk. 2)- This is another good song to practice low So and changing solfege into letter notes. Since it also uses normal So as well, the students can see how the two notes sound different but have the same letter name, just like Do and high Do (and it s helpfully the same note in both cases). If some students are able, have them try to perform this as a canon in groups, as it s intended to be sung. My Horses Ain t Hungry (May Wk. 1) The ostinato in this song presents a good opportunity to start working in the key of G- using the PSF5000, have the students figure out the letter names of the notes if Do=G. Then show them how to play B: 2 nd fret of the A string, using their middle finger. Display the Ukulele Note Chart as a helpful visual. Open G or closed G is fine. In The BAG Worksheet (May Wk. 3) These last two worksheets combines writing notes on the staff, converting solfege into notes, and transposing. On the first sheet, the students find what the notes are if Do=F, and then copy the rhythmic note above onto the correct line or space. Then they do the same thing for Do=G. After the students are done with both sheets, have them try playing the melody in both keys.

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