April is Jazz Appreciation Month: Wakelet for #Elmused

April is Jazz Appreciation Month and in the elementary music classroom, there are wonderful ways to incorporate the theme. I researched various groups, networks, and websites to create this shortlist of resources in the form of a free Wakelet.

Wakelet (https://wakelet.com/)

What is Wakelet? Wakelet is a free, digital, organizational tool that gives you the ability to share links, digital manipulatives, YouTube videos, pdfs, and so much more in one place. When you list a YouTube video, the video will play within the Wakelet app so that no ads, comments, and other videos appear.

Categories

Wakelet lets you create a board with categories so you can organize your materials well. For this Wakelet, I used four categories: Music and Interviews, Play-Along Videos, Lessons and Activities, and Read-Alouds and Books.

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Activities

You can use this wakelet to find lessons, play-along videos, activities, and more, to have your students experience and study various styles of music during the month of April. However, as with any focused theme, I continue it throughout the year. Though a monthly theme helps the students focus, there are many ways to differentiate instruction and use retrieval practices to use the theme throughout the school year.

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March Rhythm Play-Along and Body Percussion Play-Along Videos Featuring All-Female Groups

Here in the States, March is Women’s History Month as well as Music In Our Schools Month. For this month, I chose to create a rhythm play-along video that features a medley of four all-female groups that span four decades of music. The rhythm patterns include whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes, and quarter rests.

Update: I added the Body Percussion Play-Along this week that accompanies the rhythm play-along video!

The groups and songs that are featured are:

Caffey, C. (1981). We Got The Beat. [Recorded by The Go-Go's]. On Beauty and the Beat [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wvue2OT-FA

Holland-Dozer-Holland. (1964). Baby Love. [Recorded by The Supremes]. On Where Did Our Love Go? [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO_zEzrJRuE

Dent, A., Knowles, B., & Knowles, M. (2001). Survivor. [Recorded by Destiny's Child]. On Survivor [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmc8bQoL-J0

Edwards, B., & Rodgers, N. (1979). We Are Family. [Recorded by Sister Sledge]. On We Are Family [Audio File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMVe_HcyP9Y

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The Go-Go’s We Got The Beat

The Go-Go’s are an American All-Female Rock Band started in 1978 in California. It has featured numerous band members and became very popular in the 1980s with the song, “We Got The Beat,” off the album Beauty and the Beat. The musicians featured on this recording are Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, Belinda Carlisle on lead vocals, Gina Schock on drums, Kathy Valentine on bass guitar, and Jane Wiedlin on rhythm guitar. This debut album topped the charts, which was a first for an all-female band that wrote and performed all of their music. “We Got The Beat” is considered The Go-Go’s signature song.

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The Supreme’s Baby Love

The Supremes broke onto the music scene as a premier act of Motown Records in the 1960s. They paved the way for future African American R&B and soul music groups. Their popularity rivaled The Beatles during the 1960s. After a few changes in the group’s members as well as a name change (they started as The Primettes), the group’s members were Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson. “Baby Love”, from their second studio album titled, Where Did Our Love Go?, was one of 12 singles from them that went to #1 on the American charts.

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Destiny’s Child’s Survivor

The song, “Survivor”, comes from Destiny’s Child third studio album of the same name. The Grammy Award-winning song and MTV Award-winning video topped the charts at #2. The group’s members that recorded the song are Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. The group had gone through numerous changes in membership. So much so that a radio station compared them to the show, Survivor. After hearing this comparison, Beyoncé decided to turn that joke into a song, which became a big hit.

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Sister Sledge’s We Are Family

Sister Sledge defined the disco sound and their single, “We Are Family” topped the charts at #3 from their debut album of the same title. It is hard to believe that this iconic song did not hit #1 nor won the Grammy Award that year because it is still a popular song today. The group consists of the sisters, Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy Sledge. After the passing of Joni Sledge in 2017, some of the adult children of the original members have formed the band, Sledgendary, which according to the website, “BRING THE PARTY to any occasion!”

Body Percussion Play-Along Video

Body Percussion Clipart credited to Midnight Music: https://midnightmusic.com.au/2020/12/midnight-musics-body-percussion-clipart-library/

Teaching manipulatives coming soon to my TPT channel (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/S...).

Like my resources? Please consider buying me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/elmusedtech.

Elementary Music Valentine's Day Activities

Need a quick Valentine's Day activity for your elementary music classes?

Here is a list of activities!

I created this Wakelet that includes multiple activities to use in your elementary music classes on Valentine’s Day. It is labeled in five categories:

• Rhythm play-along videos

• Boomwhacker videos

• Valentine games

• Play-Along Videos with body percussion of iconic notation

• Lessons

Enjoy! And Happy Valentine’s Day!

Gong Xi Gong Xi!

I created this play-along because my students know the song well. The Lǎoshī (老师) that worked at our school taught the students this song and they loved it so much that we sing it every year.

This play-along is played twice. The first time is a slow tempo to practice and the second time is the recorded tempo. I used Flat.io to create the notation to help with playing the song.

If you do not know the song, this will be complicated to play and take some time and practice to learn. But, if you do know the song, it should work well.

Encanto Medley Rhythm Play-Along

“Mom…you know what is ironic? When the characters sing the song, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno (no no no)” and they are literally talking about Bruno for the entire song!

And so it begins. This is how I was introduced to Encanto, the movie about the Madrigal family from Disney with music written by acclaimed singer, songwriter, and Tony Award Winner (among other well-deserved recognitions) Lin-Manuel Miranda. After listening to the music on YouTube and Apple Music, my daughters went over every detail of the plot with me and I was hooked. From there, I went down the rabbit hole and read the numerous deep-dives about the movie from how the movie represents dysfunctional families (Arianne Brown, 2022) to how Luisa’s song had to have a cool sound (Julia Dzurillay, 2022).

Decoding the Characters’ Names

Inspired by Cameron Moten’s Elementary Groove Tracks, where he uses words for rhythm patterns and he repeats a phrase numerous times before moving on to another phrase, I decided to use the characters’ names for rhythm patterns and repeat them multiple times before moving on. The result was an Encanto Medley Rhythm Play-Along.

When choosing the songs, I looked no further than my living room. I listened to my daughters belt out, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” to “Surface Pressure”. When I asked them to sing more, they were happy to oblige. From listening to them more, I added, “Family Madrigal” and “What Else Can I Do”. I wanted one more song and chose the upbeat, “Columbia, Mi Encanto” because I felt it completed the medley beautifully.

Similarities to the Music from In The Heights

I first heard of Lin-Manuel Miranda when I went to Broadway in March of 2008 to see his freshman musical, “In the Heights”. I loved it. I saw it with the understudy playing Usnavi, Javier Muñoz. Javier was amazing (and he went to understudy and eventually play the lead role in “Hamilton”). I came back to see it again with Lin-Manuel Miranda playing Usnavi. From there, I must have listened to the soundtrack over 1000 times. When I now listen to Encanto, I hear so much from “In the Heights”. When they sing “Isabela” in Family Madrigal, I feel like I am hearing “Vanessa” from In the Heights. There are more similarities I hear each time I listen. It reminds me how much I enjoy Lin-Manuel Miranda’s songs and arrangements.

Rhythm Play-Along

My younger students will use the manipulatives to recognize, read, and perform the rhythm patterns. My older students will be given the names to see how they decode the rhythm patterns. Then, they will find their favorite instrument and perform it with the video.

This medley includes five songs from Encanto. It uses the rhythms of quarter and eighth notes and quarter rests, as well as repeat signs because many times the rhythms reflect the microbeat and not the macrobeat. Therefore, it can be a bit challenging to perform. However, with some preparation and practice, it can be achieved.

Enjoy the rhythm play-along and come back for the body percussion and manipulatives in the next couple of weeks.

Songs:

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). The Family Madrigal [Recorded by Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz & cast of Encanto]. On Encanto. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtrskpOehdQ.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). Surface Pressure. [Recorded by Jessica Darrow]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErY3eeRFTFg.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). Colombia, Mi Encanto. [Recorded by Carlos Vives]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L74W7Ml9Yww.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). What Else Can I Do? [Recorded by Beatriz & Guerrero]. On Encanto. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBeZSuHI4Qc.

Miranda, Lin Manuel (2022). We Don't Talk About Bruno. [Recorded by Adassa, Beatriz, Mauro Castillo, Rhenzy Feliz, Carolina Gaitán, Diane Guerrero & cast of Encanto]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvWRMAU6V-c.

Resources:

Arianne Brown, K. S. L. (2022, January 15). Parents react to Disney's 'Encanto,' call it triggering and healing. KSL.com. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.ksl.com/article/50328971/parents-react-to-disneys-encanto-call-it-triggering-and-healing

Julia Dzurillay. (2022, January 13). Disney's 'Encanto': Why it was important for Luisa's 'surface pressure' to have a 'cool' sound. Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/encanto-important-luisas-surface-pressure-cool-sound.html/