● Repeat:

1. Take the major pentatonic scale:

1 2 3 5 6 [1]
2. Remove scale degree 6:
1 2 3 5 [1]
a. Practice leaping from 5 up to 1
b. (Optional) practice leaping from 1 up to 5
3. Take 3 and make it a bit lower:
1 2 -3 5 [1]
a. -3 doesn’t need to be precisely a half step away, but should be
noticeably lower. Two possible ways to implement this:
i. Practice singing 3 to -3, noticing the difference
ii. Practice singing 2 to -3, noticing the distance
iii. These two methods can be combined to get more precise
with student’s intonation, but this shouldn’t necessarily be
a goal
4. Add passing tone between -3 and 5 (4):
1 2 -3 4 5 [1]
a. This is done after the lowering of 3 so that 4 is placed more easily
between -3 and 5.
b. Practice running up and down the scale between 1 and 5, paying
special attention to any intervals a student needs extra work with
● Repeat:
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWMDJU7atI0 (0:00 until 1:05) This is a
performance of a Sanjo variation. Sanjo is a style of music played by an
instrumental soloist accompanied by a drummer that starts slow and gradually
gets faster. The specific pitch collections are also subject to change as the
performance progresses.
○
● Respond:
○ Select simpler parts for students to sing along with
○ Analyze melodic content, look for gestures to have the student imitate vocally
■ Allow the student to make their own observations unprompted, but
teachers should have a list of their own thoughts after listening to the
excerpts before a lesson. Give validation to the students observations;
explain to them the value of their thoughts (no wrong answers).
○ Have the student sit down at a piano and try to repeat bits of melody at the piano
■ If a student has trouble with a specific section, help them sing through it.
Reinforce the link between singing and the piano by having them play and
sing simultaneously.
● Expand:
1. Improvise a short melody with this scale (between 10-15 seconds, but if the
student would like to elaborate more they may). Encourage them to try melodic
gestures discussed and found in the audio examples.
2. (Maybe) Using the 5 notes of this scale, try adding chromatic tones (non-scale
tones), changing scale degrees, or taking away pitches to see how they interact.
Make 3 changes to the current Nando-Kyemyonjo and play and sing this scale up
and down.
a. Encourage the student to talk about why they made these changes and
what they like about their new scale
b. If it ends up being another scale, do not discourage their rediscovery.
c. (Optional) Ask them to write a short composition using this scale. They
can select from the following prompts:
i. Sunrise over a forest
ii. Looking up at a tall waterfall
iii. Busy street in the city
iv. Hot day at the beach
v. Drifting down a river
vi. Any other nature scene (ask student to specify)