This post includes activities for Let's Play Music Connections Lesson 5: Intervals and Staff Relationships
Music Samples
Listen to this Alouette Animated Variation as you clap the rhythm of the piece. Can you spot 2 measures in your music where the melody is different than the video?
Theory
Choose some games to play and review spotting and hearing intervals.
Click the rhythm pattern that you hear. It may help to echo the rhythm bug language that you hear (quarter=bug, 2eighths=beetle).
Print the “Rhythm Trick or Treat” Game.Choose a card. Earn a “treat” or do the “trick” by clapping/counting the rhythm.
Improvisation
Activity 1:
Improvise a melody using the rhythm pattern on the “trick or treat” cards with notes from the scale of your choice.
Activity 2:
Borrow the rhythms and harmony from "No One's in the House" and change up the melody notes using notes from the C Scale to create your own improvisation. Hint: Choose a note from the left-hand chord to start each beat.
Activity 3:
Watch Create First Agree to Disagree Duet and Solo. Then create melodies in your right hand that include eighth notes and quarter notes while your L.H. plays the steady quarter note beat.
Watch Part 4 Bug Slug (Bug Slug then climbing up, Bug Slug, then climb back down, etc.)
Listen toFive Four, Three, Two, One… Blast Off! (starting at 9:08). As Jerald Simon (the composer) plays it the 2nd time, count out loud, and say the ACCENTED counts louder. (1 and 2 AND 3 and 4 AND).
Listen to Gold Star Audio Playlist Songs as you follow along in the music and count and clap the melody rhythms. Choose a Song You’d Like to Learn Next Week
This post includes activities for Let's Play Music Connections Lesson 3 on Note Naming and Chord Variations.
Music Sample
Listen to this version of the A section of Russian Sailor Dance as you clap on the staccato notes and slide your hands together on legato slurs and half notes.
Theory
The B section of Russian Sailor Dance has a different time signature than the A Section. Watch this Time Signature Video to learn about the meaning of numbers in the time signature and hear music examples.
Try the PedaPlus Flash Notes Game to see how quickly you can identify notes on the staff and piano keyboard.
Chord Variation Improvisation
Improvise melodies using notes from the scale in any order while you play left-hand chords in the style of your choice. Listen to these Sample Improvisations for ideas.
Then take turns acting (silently), sculpting or drawing the words for your teammates to guess (large group) or play the VMT Articulation Ivy Game (small group).
Expressive music is often like a story with moments of tension, rising action and resolution. Identify the form and the main phrase goals of each section in a piece to choose appropriate micro dynamics. Watch an example in the Moonlight Sonata Tutorial above starting at 20:30.
Rubato
Try to sing along with or lead the music of the Happy Birthday song examples in the video with strict time and rubato.
Pedaling
Watch the video about Intermediate Pedaling Tips including clean pedal, timing and depth of pedaling
Practice first by ghost playing the left hand to exaggerate the difference in balance between hands and help the melody to sing out. Watch this ghost practice tutorial if needed to review this practice strategy and see it in action with a different piece.
An ecossaise is an energetic country dance in 2/2. Listen for the "Jump-Drops" in the Ecossaise in G by Beethoven WoO23. What do you imagine the dancers doing during this part of the music?
Because Baroque music had few expressive marks written in the original score, different performers may have varied dynamics, phrasing, articulation, tempo, and rubato as they choose how to add musicality to the piece.
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