Musical Experience: Introduction to Improvisation Through Body Percussion Lesson Plan
If this lesson plan was taught in Ontario, the curriculum strands: 2B2.1 - “Express thoughts, feelings and ideas about experience and performances in a variety of ways”, and 3C1.2 - “Apply the elements of music when singing, playing an instrument and moving” would be relevant guides
Lesson Steps:
Stand in a circle with the class and ask what interesting sounds they can make with their bodies and surroundings today? If someone shares your same thing, keep it to yourself! Let a few of them demonstrate.
Q: “What is the name for making music by hitting/Clapping/stomping?” A: “Body percussion.”
Start stomping a steady beat with the class. Demonstrate a few patterns yourself and/or ask students if they know some interesting ways to keep a beat.
After sharing a few beat pattern examples, say that to start we will just be using just thigh slapping and stomps. We will have a few practice rounds with 4 bars of straight beat and 4 bars of everybody testing out some beat pattern ideas.
Tell the class that we are going to go around the class and everyone will make up a beat pattern for 4 stomps/beats when it is their turn. Between each person we will stomp 4 beats.
Ask the class what action or sound they could add to our repertoire. “We have stomps and thigh slaps, what are 2 other actions we could add?”
Repeat steps 4 and 5, but now with 4 total options for body percussion.
Go around the circle again and this time individuals will make up a pattern for 4 beats, and class repeating for 4 beats.
Time permitting, the class can demonstrate around the circle again, but this time with any body percussion not exclusive to the 4 examples we have accumulated at this point.
Discuss the exercise with the class. Ask what the technical name for “making up music on the spot” is. What style of music have they seen it in? What types of music could it be a part of? Could it be in popular music? Classical?
Note: Especially with older students, it may be valuable to not refer to “making up the beat patterns” as “improvisation” until the end of the exercise. Often people get nervous when they hear the word “improvisation” and it may hinder their feeling of creative ability during the exercise. Focusing on getting the exercise going before discussing terminology helps retain engagement and prove to nervous students that they can participate successfully!
Teacher Reflection Questions:
What did we learn? How did we learn it?
How could you use this plan in future?
How could this be integrated into other concepts we’ve covered in this class?
Lesson Plan: Chapter 6: The Moving Child
Project #4 - Select a sample experience in Dalcroze eurhythmics, and prepare a ten-minute lesson to teach in class. Develop that same idea into a thirty minute lesson.
10 Minute lesson: 1. Clap quarter notes as you teach a song in 4 sections (eg. Kookaburra) in just words and pitches. 2. Once the class has learned the song have them clap quarter notes as well and walk randomly around the room singing it on repeat to solidify the song in their memory and get them moving. 3. Bring students back into the circle and ask where the highest pitch in the song is. Help by singing the song again and putting up fingers to show what section you are in (in Kookaburra it will be section 3). Ask the students to make their bodies as tall as possible. Repeat this asking where the lowest pitch is found (they might say the end of the song but in Kookaburra the lowest pitch can be found in section 1 and 2 as well). 4. Have students stand at a natural height and slowly plan out movements section by section based on the melodic movements until you can physically demonstrate the melodic line of the whole piece. 5. Include clapping in the next few repetitions. 6. Number off students 1-4 and perform the song while demonstrating the melodic line and clapping the pulse in a 4-part round.
This lesson has students analyzing the melodic flow of a song by ear and connects it to the body, kind of like a precursor to learning solfege signs. Students have to this about what pitches are higher and lower than the last ones and physically represent that in their stance. Re-adding clapping makes for another layer of coordination for students, especially if they are learning the other concepts quickly. Then performing these in a round at the end challenges students to perform the skills they learned in a large group setting, more independently. If the class is successful at all of these steps the teacher might gradually speed up each new repletion in or out of the round.