Lesson Plan for the Elementary Music Class (Peer #4)

Teacher Name___John Eldridge_________ Target Grade Level_____2_____

Standards Being Addressed:

• Improvisation
o MU:Cr1.1.2a - Improvise rhythmic and melodic patterns and musical
ideas for a specific purpose.
• Song/Arrangement/Body Percussion
o MU:Pr6.1.2a - Perform music for a specific purpose with expression and
technical accuracy.

Materials of Instruction:

• Xylophones and/or metal marimbas

• Sheet music of the song ‘John Kanaka,’ an old sea chantey
o Source: ‘Purposeful Pathways: Possibilities for the Elementary School
Classroom’ by Roger Sams & BethAnn Hepburn
• Sheet music of Orff accompaniment parts
• A good attitude
Lesson Sequence (lessons may have more or less activities as appropriate):

Entry Activity/Transition:

1. Get the students to sit in a circle with the teacher, all of them having a mallet instrument.
2. “Hello friends, today we’re going to learn a new song! It’s a song that sailors used to sing
when they were sailing on the ocean.”
3. Briefly explain what sea chanteys are. They were sung by sailors on merchant boats
because, when they all sang together, they could be sure they pulled the ropes at the same
time.
4. “It goes like this, listen.” Establish time and tonality with lower Orff xylophone part (F &
low C) and sing the whole song for them.
a. I heard, I heard the old man say
b. John Kanaka-naka tulaie
c. Today, today is a holiday
d. John Kanaka-naka tulaie
5. “Do any of you know this one? It’s called ‘John Kanaka.’”

Activity #1 Objective: (This is where you teach the students to sing the song. Use the
“whole/part/whole” teaching process.)

1. Get the students to tap the beat somewhere on their body (~128 bpm). Model this by
tapping both hands on lap.
2. “Okay, now repeat after me. I’m gonna say a line from the song, and I want you to
repeat it back to me.” Start the Orff part back up. Speak the first line to them (‘I heard, I
heard the old man say’) and have them speak it back.
3. Do the same for the next three lines of the song.
4. “This time I’m gonna say the words, and I want you to listen and say the words that I
leave out.” Do the same as before, but cue them to say the last word of each line
5. After doing all four lines, do them again as an extended fill-in-the-blank (teacher
speaks first half of the line, students speak the second half on cue). The Orff
accompaniment continues throughout.
6. “Now that you know the words, I’m gonna teach you how to sing it.” Establish do-mi-
sol tonality and emphasize that the song starts on ‘mi.’ While playing the Orff
accompaniment part, sing the whole song on pitch.
7. Do the echo singing activity again, but on pitch this time. Have the students repeat the
lines back while singing the notes.
8. “This time, I only want you to sing the song in your brain, okay? Have you ever had a
song stuck in your head? I want you to play the song in your head without making any
noise, can you do that?” Establish tonality again, give them the starting note, count off,
then start by singing the first ‘I heard.’ After that, just mouth the words.
9. “How did you do? Are there any spots you forgot?” Review any lines as necessary.

Assessment: Sing the entire song together as a class and observe how they do. Pay
attention to note accuracy to gauge whether they are ‘hearing’ the notes in their head.
 Transition: “Great job, you guys! Let’s move on to the next part of the song.”

Activity #2 Objective: (This is where you teach the students the harmonic accompaniment,
either a vocal, recorder, xylo or uke accompaniment. Be sure to go from “simple to
complex” and use body percussion to teach the parts, singing the song over the top at
each step.)

1. Get the students to start tapping the beat again. “Watch what I do.” Start alternating
hands so the right hand is on 1 and 3, while the left hand is on 2 and 4. “What was I
doing differently?”
2. Have the students try it. When they have the pattern solid, sing the song again.
3. “Alright, pick up your mallets and make sure you have a xylophone in front of you.
Everyone, with the mallet in your right hand, put it on F.” Show them the correct bar if
necessary. “Now put your left mallet on C.” Hit the lower C so they can hear it, but don’t
tell them exactly where it is. Let them take a second to find it.
4. “Now watch what I do.” Play the lower Orff pattern on F and C. “You remember
when we were patting with our right and left hands? Is this the same as that or is it
different?”
5. When the students are steady with the accompaniment pattern, sing the song again.
6. “Now, we’re gonna do the same thing, but on different notes. With your right mallet,
find the high C and put it on the bar.” Do the same guiding as before so that they end up
with the right mallet on high C and the left mallet on A.
7. Demonstrate the upper accompaniment pattern, then play the first few notes of the
song. “Hey wait a second, didn’t we hear those notes somewhere else?”
8. Have the students play the upper accompaniment, and when it’s solid, sing the song
again.
9. “Okay, now we’re gonna get into two groups. This half of the class will play the first
pattern on F and low C, while the other half will play the second pattern on high C and
A.” Remind them how both the patterns sound.
10. Get them to play the two parts together.

Assessment: While the two groups are playing their parts together, sing the song one
more time. Listen for correct notes and whether the two patterns are lining up.

Transition: The students continue playing their parts. Sing the melody on ‘loo’ for
every syllable. “What did I do differently that time?”

Activity #3 Objective: (This is where you have the students improvise through modeling.
Be sure the harmonic accompaniment is being played—by you, by a small group of
students, or some other way---model the improvisation, and ask “What did I do
differently?” Then help the students move safely into improvisation, culminating in each
student doing some sort of improvisation).

1. “Yeah, I wasn’t singing the words that time, I just did the notes. Listen to what I do
this time.” Get the accompaniment going again. Improvise a two-measure melody on
‘loo’ using just ‘mi,’ ‘sol,’ ‘do,’ and ‘re’ (but mostly the first two). After that, sing “John
 Kanaka-naka tulaie” from the melody. Repeat this one more time (two-measure
improvisation, two-measure refrain). “What did I do that time?”
2. “Yeah, that’s exactly right! I made up some stuff that time. How long did I go for?”
Explain that it was the same length as the original song.
3. “Which part of the song stayed the same?” Explain that “John Kanaka-naka tulaie”
will be constant, and we’ll be making things up in-between.
4. “Here’s what I want to do now, let’s have you guys make up your own melodies. So
it’ll go like this.” Demonstrate that the teacher and class will alternate improvising,
while the teacher plays the accompaniment (Teacher improv + refrain + students improv
+ refrain). “If you’re confident and you want to try playing your mallet part from before
while we sing, that’s great, go ahead.”
5. Do some question/answer improvisation. At this point only the teacher is playing the
accompaniment, the students are only concerned with loo-ing. Improvise for two-
measures on ‘loo’ like before, then sing the refrain together, then have the class
improvise for two measures, then sing the refrain again. Do this at least four times.

Assessment: Get the class to start playing their accompaniment parts from earlier.
Starting with the teacher, continue alternating improvisation and refrain. Going in a
circle, each student will get to try two measures of vocal improvisation. In-between turns,
everyone will sing the refrain of the song together. They don’t have to play xylophone
while they improvise but encourage them to keep playing during the other turns.

Transition: “Awesome job guys, that was really fun. All of you just made up your own
little songs! How cool is that?”

Closure: “Don’t you kinda feel like a pirate after singing that song? Doesn’t it make you want to
sail across the ocean? That’s a song that real sailors would sing.”