MARCH BREAK SONG WORKSHOPS
2008
About a year and a half ago I took my first five guitar lessons. I had learned six or seven chords and I still didn’t strum very well… but I loved learning! After many months I could see a steady growth in my playing ability and I began to create little ‘ditties’ which have grown into a few songs.
One song was created especially for teaching children about how important turtles are. I begin the class by introducing the music for the song. Then I ask questions like ‘Why is music important in our lives?’, “How old is the first song?”, “Do songs tell people what we think is important?” and “Are turtles important?”
Instead of telling the students what I know I ask them to tell me what they know. It makes them feel confident to have someone interested in what they have to say.
I ask the students to answer questions so that we can use their answers to write the lyrics for our song. How do you feel about turtles? What do turtles look like? Where do they live? What do they need to be happy?
Here are their answers…
The Turtle Song
I think turtles are great!
They’re big and round,
just like a plate.
They live in the water
most of the time.
Turtles need more room.
Away from cars that zoom.
They live in the water
most of the time.
They hunt in the water.
They play in the water
and they nap in the sunshine
the rest of the time!!!
2008
About a year and a half ago I took my first five guitar lessons. I had learned six or seven chords and I still didn’t strum very well… but I loved learning! After many months I could see a steady growth in my playing ability and I began to create little ‘ditties’ which have grown into a few songs.
One song was created especially for teaching children about how important turtles are. I begin the class by introducing the music for the song. Then I ask questions like ‘Why is music important in our lives?’, “How old is the first song?”, “Do songs tell people what we think is important?” and “Are turtles important?”
Instead of telling the students what I know I ask them to tell me what they know. It makes them feel confident to have someone interested in what they have to say.
I ask the students to answer questions so that we can use their answers to write the lyrics for our song. How do you feel about turtles? What do turtles look like? Where do they live? What do they need to be happy?
Here are their answers…
The Turtle Song
I think turtles are great!
They’re big and round,
just like a plate.
They live in the water
most of the time.
Turtles need more room.
Away from cars that zoom.
They live in the water
most of the time.
They hunt in the water.
They play in the water
and they nap in the sunshine
the rest of the time!!!
Jim
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment