Something Old, Something New, Something Funky, Something Blue
Clinician: Artie Almeida, FMEA 2015
1. I Like to Play the Drum (source unknown)
(Download PPT from www.artiealmeida.com) (Slide #1) Demo speech piece for children. Then ask them to join you in speaking
piece. (#2) Demo with snaps on rests. Students perform. (#3) Demo, while clapping on underlined words. Students perform.
(#4) Claps and snaps. (#5) Pat on red words. (#6) All three timbres. Use a slow tempo for success. (#7) Divide students into
three groups: Triangles, Drums, Sticks. All speak piece, while triangles play their part (tambourine pic). (#8) All speak piece
while drums & triangles play their parts. (#9) All speak and play parts. FINAL PERFORMANCE: Perform the piece with
instruments only, audiating the words.
2. Can Can from Gaite Parisienne (Parachute routine) (Form: Intro/ABCCA/Coda)
Introduction: (Choice 1 Sneaky Feet: tiptoe (hunched over) to right around circle)
(Choice 2 Bounce to beat in place)
A Section: Pony Trots. To right, turn halfway through section and trot to left.
B Section: Hi/Lows, then Little Shakes
First C Section: Shake
Second C Section: Washing Machine
Coda: Shake on accented notes. Bend over, holding parachute low, then toss into air.
3. Poison Rhythm
Pick a rhythm to be the poison rhythm and display briefly. Begin clapping patterns for students to echo. If you clap the poison
rhythm and anyone claps it back to you (even just the first note!) they are poisoned. They scream, fall back on the floor and
wait for the paramedics to arrive. Move quickly through a lot of patterns, and if you do three turns in a row with no one being
poisoned the students win! J
4. Pipe Cleaner Note Galleries
Start a piece of background music and ham it up as the note artist. My music for today was Anywhere Is by Enya. Using
large pipe cleaners, start with a whole note, then half, quarter, beamed eighths, single eighth (if desired), quarter rest. Then
pass out small pipe cleaners to children and create the notes one at a time. Children should lay them out in order (largest to
smallest value) in front of them in a row. Start a new piece of music (or repeat the first) and have the students walk through
the Note Gallery, enjoying all the great efforts of their classmates and giving shout-outs when they see good work. I got my
huge pipe cleaners at Lakeshore Learning. I got the small pipe cleaners which are called Chenille Stems through our county
supply warehouse. They were very inexpensive!
5. Give Yourself a Hand!
(Download Name-that-Note PPT from www.artiealmeida.com)
Our administration is focusing on Individual Student Accountability & Tracking this year, so I have been looking for
opportunities to monitor all students efforts and skills in easy ways due to the short class times. I bought the hand responder
boards at U.S. Toy. I use them for the following skill reviews: (1) Staff Notation (I display notes on staff, they write L/S, #,
name of note. (2) Music Symbols (I say name of symbol, they draw it) (3) Using sets of hands I do scrambled music terms,
instrument names, etc. I give the set of hands to that number of students and they have to decode the word and line up in the
correct order to show the class. (4) Show pic of instrument: Students write name on one side, family on other.
6. Feeling Blue? Celebrate great teachers by reading this Washington Post article!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/01/01/the-biggest-public-education-win-of-2014/
7. Extreme Beethoven
I used this as an Informance Piece many years ago for the parents attending a Bear Lake Sound concert. My friend Stephen Nelson created
the accompaniment for the final two variations. You can contact Stephen about this accompaniment track at nelsonmusic@cfl.rr.com.
(1) Theme played on Palm Pipes. Small PVC pipes pitched C-G. (2) Theme played on Boomwhackers. (3) Theme played on Boom Pipes. (4)
Start accompaniment track and students play melody on soprano recorders. Very challenging in the key of C! (5) J-Pipes bring it home with a
big, grand entrance. All join them on the last phrase of the song. Here is a boom pipe recipe. For the J-Pipes, buy the agricultural pipe (aggie
pipe) and bend the U into it first. Then begin cutting off rings from the top until you have the desired pitch.
http://mymusicalmagic.blogspot.com/2013/04/boom-pipes-instructions-for-b-o-o-m-p-i.html
Excerpts from KidStix (by Almeida, publ. Heritage Music Press)
8. Can Can from Gaite Parisienne (StickWorks Routine from KidStix, by Almeida)
(Score at back of this handout) Prep each section ahead of time, demonstrating for the children then having them practice the section. The
tempo is fast, so it may take multiple lessons to feel comfortable. I lead this one from a StickStation set up in the front of the room, on top of
a student desk.
9. Folk Song Play-along: Home on the Range (Warm-up from KidStix, by Almeida)
(Download notation from www.artiealmeida.com) For my Folksong & Patriotic Play-alongs I use songs the children know. Choose any songs
you wish and prepare a visual with stick notation and the lyrics added.
10. Rhythm Readiness Echoes #1 (Warm-up from KidStix, by Almeida)
Black notes are demoed on CD, blue notes are student echoes.
11. Who Let the Dogs Out (Stickworks Routine from KidStix, by Almeida)
(Download score from www.artiealmeida.com) Be sure students sit close enough together to reach the Crash Cans to their left and right. Prep
each section ahead of time, demonstrating for the children then having them practice the section. I lead this one from a StickStation up front,
set up on a student desk.
12. Happy (Pharrell Williams) (Stickworks Routine from KidStix, by Almeida)
(Score at back of this handout) I lead this with the score displayed and a laser pointer for guidance. I stop each pattern slightly early, and
speak the next pattern for the children the first two times it is played. This helps with the syncopated patterns and the single eighth notes,
which are unfamiliar to many of my students.
About
the
Clinician
th
Dr.
Artie
Almeida
is
enjoying
her
36
year
of
teaching
and
is
the
music
specialist
at
Bear
Lake
Elementary
school
in
the
Orlando
FL
area,
where
she
teaches
1100
K-5
students.
Her
dynamic
performing
groups
have
performed
for
NAfME,
AOSA,
and
on
the
NBC
Today
Show.
Look
for
The
Bear
Lake
Sound
in
the
upcoming
music
education
advocacy
documentary
Marching
Beyond
Halftime.
Artie
was
chosen
as
Florida
Music
Educator
of
the
Year,
and
was
also
selected
as
an
International
Educator
2006
by
the
Cambridge
England
Biographical
Society.
She
was
a
Teacher
of
the
Year
at
the
school
level
6
times
and
was
recently
chosen
as
a
University
of
Central
Florida
Alumni
of
the
Decade.
She
has
presented
music
education
clinics
in
42
states,
four
countries,
and
was
recently
the
guest
instructor
at
The
American
School
in
Singapore.
In
addition
to
her
public
school
teaching
duties,
Artie
is
an
adjunct
professor
at
the
University
of
Central
Florida,
teaches
applied
saxophone
lessons
and
performs
on
historical
winds
with
the
early
music
ensemble
Ars
Antiqua.
