Elementary Music/Music Technology Blog

As I blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays of each week, I thought that this week’s theme would be software (and lessons) for the elementary general music classroom. There are numerous products out there that elementary students can use in a variety of classroom settings, whether you teach “a la cart”, have one computer in the classroom, or can access a computer lab.

The Sibelius Groovy Series is a wonderful way for even your youngest students to begin creating music. There are 3 programs in the Groovy Series: Shapes (for ages 5-7), Jungle (for ages 7-9), and City (for ages 9-11). These ages do vary because you can easily use Shapes with grades K-3, Jungle with grades 2-5, and City with Grades 5-8. Each version assists the teacher with presenting, making conscious, and practicing the musical concepts of sound, rhythm, and pitch. Each version has two basic modes: Explore and Create. The explore mode presents a variety of concepts such as beat, high and low, dynamics, meter, and more, in a visual and aural way. The create mode allows the students to use the skills that were experienced, learned, and practiced in the explore mode to create a song. The create mode also includes all of the basic musical elements required to create a song: melody, rhythm, chords, arpeggios, bass, tempo, dynamics, instruments, and bonuses. The bonuses include unique sound effects that compliment the style of the music. For example, in Groovy Jungle, the bonuses are animal sounds from the rain forest.

I have used Groovy Shapes with my students in grades Kindergarten and One and Jungle with students in Grade Two. We have used it with one computer connected to a TV or SmartBoard (an interactive whiteboard), in five groups with access to five computers, or in the computer lab. We have also used Groovy to reinforce musical concepts that have been taught in class.

Lesson 1: When my first graders were studying the concepts of dynamics, mainly forte (loud) and piano (soft), we first sang songs using forte and piano. Then we moved to orchestral excerpts that were both forte and piano. Finally, we played a musical game such as “Hot and Cold,” however it was titled “Forte and Piano,” where one student would hide an instrument in the music room and another child had to find it. When the child was close to the instrument, the students would say “forte” loudly. When the student was far away from the instrument, the students would whisper “piano.” After we played the game, I would reinforce the concept of forte and piano by having the students perform the Groovy Shape lesson titled “dynamics” together. This could be done with one computer connected to a SmartBoard or a TV and having each student take a turn, or in a computer lab where each child works at his/her own pace at his/her own computer. Once we completed the lesson, I had the students go to the create mode in Groovy Shapes and add dynamics to a song that I created for them. This lesson was done with 5 computers and the students were split into 5 pre-assigned groups.

Lesson 2: Another lesson that we have completed in Kindergarten music class was to create a song in a specified form. My kindergartners learned about Vivaldi’s Spring, Movement 1 by listening to the music, moving to the form of music, ABACADAEA, and drawing to pictures that represented the form–we used trees for the A Section, and other Spring objects like birds, river, thunder storm, and sun for the B, C, D, and E Sections. Afterwards, we created a song using Groovy Shapes with the same form as Vivaldi’s Spring: ABACADAEA. I created the A Section and the students created the B, C, D, and E sections. We performed this lesson as a group with one computer connected to a TV.

Lesson 3: Finally, if you have Sibelius 5, you can use the Groovy Music Mark-up plug-in to create songs in Sibelius and turn them into Jungle or City melodies, rhythms, bass lines, etc. I have utilized this plug-in when I want to take a traditional folk melody like “Lucy Locket” and turn each phrase into a Jungle butterfly. One I have completed this, I then rearrange the phrases and have the students in K-4 rearrange them back to their proper order. It is a great way to assess your students.

Resources:
If you would like to hear examples of my Kindergartners’ works with the form of ABACADAEA, or my 1st graders’ works with dynamics, please just click on the links below.

Grade 1: 1C 1S 1M

Kindergarten: KK KM KC

To see the lesson about Vivaldi’s Spring, just click here: form_fun.pdf. This comes from my book of lesson plans that enhances the elementary music classroom curriculum with technology: Technology Integration in the Elementary Music Classroom, published by Hal Leonard in coordination with TI:ME.

To learn how to use the Groovy Music Mark-up plug-in, just go to Sibelius Groovy Music and scroll down to the “downloads” section. There you will find a pdf file titled “Groovy Hints & Tips for teachers“. This pdf file shows you how to use the plug-in along with how to use many other short cuts and tips in Groovy.

Groovy is for MAC and PC and has a website for you to share all of your students’ works with other students in the US and England.