Using Movement to Teach Musical Concepts

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Season 1 | Episode 14

Show Notes

Do you have ideas for movement activities tied to creativity or as a scaffold to notation?

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A Movement Framework

• What is the purpose of the activity?

• What is the essence of the musical concept?

Rhythm:

• Rhythmic understandings are duration understandings. How can we use our bodies to show duration?

  • Who Has Seen the Wind

• Metric understandings are about duration and weight. How can we use our bodies to show duration and weight?

  • As I Was Walking Down the Street - combining skipping and stepping

Melody:

• Melody is about relationships of pitch - high and low. How can we use our bodies to show high and low?

• Harold and the Purple Crayon: vocal exploration and movement exploration in the first page, connected with barred instrument exploration and movement

  • (Movement influences the melody or the melody influences the movement?)

• Lines That Wiggle: Make a line that you see in the book, transition to singing the line

Form:

• Form is about same and different. How can we use our bodies to show same and different through echoing and contrast?

• Create eight beats of ______ expressive word. Then create eight beats of a contrasting word ______.

  • Could be done as a solo, could be done in partners

  • Could be done to the teacher improvising or it could be done to an existing song

• Structured movement: form in folk songs

Expression:

• Dynamics are about large and small sounds. How can we use our bodies to show large and small?

Texture:

• Movement round