"ALLEY CAT SONG" LESSONS
Utilizes form and rhythms of quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes in pairs.
This lesson can be extended into many lessons to cover many of the musical elements.
PREPARATION: ECHO RHYTHMS
Play the audio of "Alley Cat"and while listening investigate:
FORM and PATTERNS
Student Generated Chart of "ALLEY CAT"
PERFORMANCE #1
.....1. GRAPHING CHART INFORMATION
..........a. A mathematical graph of the beats that visually shows the musical form.
...............1) "ALLEY CAT" FORM: Intro/A/A/B/A/CODA
..........b. Each square represents one "heart beat" in the music.
...............1) Music is ever present at all times in our bodies
..........c. Compare FORM in music to:
...............1) Form in writing
...............2) A "sandwich" 2 pieces of bread (INTRO and CODA) with cheese and turkey in between
...............3) Other things that have form (any other ideas?)
..........d. Look for the colors to form many types of mathematical patterns (sometimes patterns within patterns).
...............1) These visual patterns can also be heard (and quickly memorized) easily by the ear as patterns of sound.
.....2. PERFORMANCE INFORMATION USING THE ALLEY CAT GRAPH CHART
..........a. Each color is a different body percussion movement.
..........b. Students to play with help of the teacher but then be able to follow the chart without that help.
...............1) Students learn to track with their own eyes and listen to the patterns of sound on their own.
PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
PERFORMANCE #2
USING THE ALLEY CAT GRAPH CHART
REVIEW PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS: NAMES and HOW THEY ARE PLAYED
.....1. Exchange body percussion to instruments
..........a. Blue is any choice
..........b. Wood sounds play the color yellow (A SECTION)
..........c. Scraper and shakers play pink (B SECTION)
.....2. Students play with and without the help of teacher tracking
.....3. Students exchange instruments and play different parts
SIMPLE RHYTHMIC NOTATION
QUARTER and EIGHTH RHYTHMIC PATTERNS INTRODUCTION
Student Generated Chart of "ALLEY CAT" RHYTHMS
ALLEY CAT RHYTHMIC CHART WITH QUARTER and EIGHTHS
INTRO. TO BASIC RHYTHMS and their notation
.....1. What is a quarter note?
..........a. Generally the "heart beat" in music is called the quarter beat or "quarter note"
..........b. An easy way to produce it is by the tap of a foot, a patsch on the leg, a clap of a hand, or a snap of a finger
..........c. Verbally, there are many ways to produce it; an easy way is by saying (or thinking) the sound of "TAH"
.....2. Is all sound music?
.....3. What is silence? What is one of its function in music?
..........a. Silence organizes sound into patterns; without silence the sound continues on without stopping like a drone.
..........b. Silence in music is called a REST
..........c. There is a relative REST for every type of played rhythmic note in music
.....4. The length of sounds and silences can be musically notated using specific musical symbols based on fractions
.....5. Eighth notes
..........a. Splitting quarter notes in half produces a sound that is twice as fast
..........b. Two eighth notes equal one quarter beat
PERFORMANCE #3
What is the difference between watching and focusing?
(Review sitting still and having the eyes in focus BEFORE the music starts with "a moment of SILENCE")
.....1. Review note values and rhythm reading; how to perform a rest (which should be felt but not heard)
.....2. Perform using body percussion (any hand) while counting out loud in order to prevent "daydreaming" (losing focus)
.....3. Teacher will first point to help students track then have students focus without the help.
LEFT VS RIGHT
PERFORMANCE #4
Brain: Left Side/ Right Side and What It Has to Do With Music
.....1. Explained that are bodies are "cross-circuited"
..........a. Right side of the brain controls the left side and vice-versa
.....2. Most everyone favors one side of the brain over the other that is why some people write with their right hand and some
with their left
..........a. Few people can write equally well using right and left hands
..........b. Equal use of both hands is called being "ambidextrous"
..........c. In terms of certain skills controlled by one side of the brain, the other side is under developed
...............1) To illustrate this point: print and write in cursive your name with the normal hand and then try the other
.....3. What makes music unique compared to some other art forms is that most musicians need equal use of both hands in
order to create their art.
..........a. An art teacher would probably not ask the student to draw using the weak hand, either would the English teacher
ask the student to hand write an essay using the weak hand; but in music the playing of most instruments requires
it.
.....4. As the exercise in writing your name with the weak hand illustrates, the brain is trying extremely hard to send the
message to move the fingers, but the fingers cannot respond quickly (like the fingers on the strong hand does)
..........a. Frustration results when the brain knows how to do something but the muscles cannot respond at the same rate of
speed; this is the experience all musicians go through during music training (especially beginners).
..........b. Actually this "frustration" is the brain expanding its capabilities (sort-of like the muscles aching when exercising
them; trying to build them up).
..........c. Frustration thus is a good thing and all muscians experience this when learning something new.
.....5. Playing music, learning to use both hands equally, forces the under-developed side of the brain to be used and thus
people who do this utilize more of their brain capacity
..........a. I like to say, "Playing music makes a person smarter; the more of the brain you use the smarter you become."
.....6. Go over directions: why certain notes are colored red and some colored black (red notes and black notes have stems in
different directions as well)
Review
.....1. The different colors indicated the use of right and left hands used to perform the rhythms in this body percussion
exercise.
.....2. Using the left and right hands (not always in patterns) demonstrates the use of the right and left brain activity as
discussed earlier.
..........a. Students will feel frustration or their brains' expanding as they perform this piece; especially when left-right
patterns are deliberately changed often near the end.
..........b. As the brain functions by patterns, it rebels when new patterns are suddenly introduced to it.
..........c. Forcing the brain to learn new patterns also expands the abilities of the brain's function.
.....3. This exercise demonstrates the technique that a drummer (snare drummer) must go through when playing.
..........a. Profession drummers plan their "sticking" (which hand plays which note at any given time) before practicing any
given piece. (Sticking is not random.)
.....4. Since the performance of this is only rhythmic (no melody playing by the performer) in the beginning of the learning
process the ear cannot easily help out the eyes should the eyes get lost; so focus and concentration is more difficult in
drumming then on a melody instrument
.....5. Perform with body percussion (BP) using a different color for each hand while counting out loud (best to say either
"left" or "right" in order to prevent getting the hands confused) for good focus.
..........a. Can perform this piece using percussion instruments instead of body percussion (BP).
ORCHESTRATION/PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS
PERFORMANCE #5
Using the colored note chart: ALLEY CAT RHYTHMIC CHART (not the graphing chart)
.....1. Pass out various percussion instruments (selection can vary/review each instrument briefly) :
..........a. slapstick
..........b. tambourine
..........c. cabasa
..........d. guiro
..........e. spoons
..........f. claves
..........g. woodblock
..........h. ratchet
..........i. maracas
..........j. triangles
.....2. Class discusses which instruments to use on specific notes and why (TERM: ORCHESTRATION)
..........a. Discussion of contrast between different sound colors or TIMBRES (like visual colors in art)
...............1) Which instruments "shake" or "scrape"
...............2) Which instruments have metal sound qualities, wood sounds, etc.
..........b. Discussion on how long each instrument can vibrate and how that determines the placement of the sound.
.....3. Class/teacher determines which instruments to place on each color and/or symbol.
.....4. Assign different instruments for red and black notes.
..........a. Colored "X" symbols are also added for use of the triangles.
.....5. Review how to follow a conductor's silent cues (signals) and how to start and end together.
FOCUS
PERFORMANCE #6
Review PERFORMANCE #2 using "Uncolored" notes.
.....1. Stems on the notes will either be "up" to the right indicating the use of the "right" hand or stems "down" to the left
indicating the use of the "left" hand.
..........a. Please note the difficulty the eyes have staying focused. Even though the concept of note reading may seem very
understandable the actual visual (physical) part can often be exhausting.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/al6123zglokalud/Alley+Cat+and+Chicken+Fat+v1.mp3
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
