Tree Frog Productionsand Kerri-

Leaps & Rounds	January/February/March 2006

Volume Two, Number One
Theme: Texture (combinations, harmony, accompaniment)
Focus: Body Sides
Special Feature: The Art Of Simplicity

WELCOME ARTISTS AND EDUCATORS!

Dear Friends;

If this is your first time visiting our website, I hope that you will find materials to support your teaching efforts. For returning guests, we apologize that our website has been in “limbo” for the last year and you may not have been able to access updates. Be sure to browse each section thoroughly as there are new products, tips for teachers, links, new summer workshops and charts.

In this issue, we focus on the element of texture: the varying layers of music woven seemlessly together. As we move towards the last months of school, we can reflect on the tapestry we have created with our students this past year - one with strands of song, dance and play as a way to experience the world and express the joys and sorrows of life. This is a great time for commemorating and celebrating the group’s journey. Create a ritual with your students that seals the communal experience and provides closure. Be sure to sow seeds for the fall when you will begin a new journey together.

Until then,

Kerri Lynn Nichols
Artistic Director, Tree Frog Productions
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UPCOMING EVENTS:

January Sign-up forms available for Summer Orff and Institute
workshops with Kerri Lynn Nichols!

Dallas Chapter Chorister’s Guild Conference
“Let The Little Ones Come” - Kerri Lynn Nichols
January 6-7, Dallas, TX

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 16

Evergreen Orff-Schulwerk Chapter Workshop:
Peter and Mary Alice Amidon
January 20-21, Shoreline, WA

February Portland Orff-Schulwerk Chapter Workshop:
Laura Koulish
February 11, 2006, Portland, OR

Kathy Samland Memorial Concert
Kerri Lynn Nichols, Choral Director
February 26, 4pm, Olympia, WA

March Treasure State Orff Chapter Workshop
“Moving The Musical Mind” with Kerri Lynn Nichols
March 11, 2006, Missouula, MT

Portland Orff-Schulwerk Chapter Workshop
Denise Phillips
March 25, Tacoma, WA
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PRODUCTS!

“Let The Little Ones Come: With Voice, Dance & Drum” $30.00

This collection of church music for young children is a choir director’s
dream! With twenty original pieces and arrangements, the various events
of the church year are explored through memorable texts, beautiful
melodies and fun drumming and movement experiences. Includes student
reproducibles in the back of the book. Arrangements include piano
accompaniments and simple Orff orchestrations.

“Nurturing Pathways: Growing The Mind Through Movement” $22.00

This wonderful booklet/CD combination is the vision of Christine Roberts, a student of Anne Green Gilbert and director of Nurturing Pathways (www.nurturingpathways.com). Focusing on children ages 0-3, parents and caregivers are gently guided through the fundamental movement patterns with songs, rhymes and chants. Performed by Kerri Lynn Nichols, this collection contains original tunes and orchestrations for traditional nursery rhymes.

“Rejoice With The Drum & Voice” $ 25.00

This collection of church music ranges from original songs to arrangements of traditional pieces for children’s and youth choirs. Creativity through movement, voice, instruments and literature are included to extend each piece. Many of these pieces can be adapted for secular settings. Arrangements include piano accompaniments and simple Orff orchestrations.
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RESOURCE REVIEW

Rounds Galore! by Sol Weber
Alfred Publishing Company, Van Nuys, CA. 1995.
$ 14.95

This is an awesome collection of hundreds of traditional and original rounds and canons. The repertoire includes pieces that are for beginners as well as ones for more advanced singers. The best part of the book is the resource section, full of tips written by Sol Weber. He shows you how to get a “Rounds Group” going that meets on a regular basis and suggests this as a means to build community. Truly a standard for your music library!

You can order this book at www.johnsmusic.com or at www.westmusic.com
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QUOTE:

Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water-bath is to the body.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Special Feature: “Tis The Gift To Be Simple: The Art Of Simplicity”

Tis the gift to be simple, tis the gift to be free,
Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shant be ashamed,
To turn, turn will be our delight, til by turning, turning we come round right.

Shaker hymn

In a time of complicated schedules, issues and educational protocol, the words to this song help to remind us of what is important in life and in our teaching. Many of us have lost the gift of simplicity amidst testing, standards and administrative details imposed upon each teacher at the close of the day. It is important to remember that we are educating children, and need to keep the wide-eyed but poignantly focused perspective that is their gift to the world. In keeping with this return to the elemental, as we say in Orff-Schulwerk, I would like to discuss the art of simplicity in terms of what I have discovered in my teaching over the years.

The more I do, the less they do.
My beloved professor, Jos Wuytack, always admonished us, saying, “Don’t sing with the children...they will not sing!” The point rings deeply true with a theme I have repeatedly faced: For the children to become more, and to be empowered, the teacher must become less. Brigitte Warner, in her book, Orff-Schulwerk: Applications for the Classroom, summed it up beautifully in stating that it is the ultimate job of the educator to become superfluous. There seems to be a balance, a kind of yin and yang, about teaching and the energy in the classroom. In a great learning environment, this balance ebbs and flows slightly throughout the day, but never in an abrubt or extreme way. Our goal is to allow the children to be “in charge” of their own learning and to build self-esteem through personal connection and ownership of the learning.

Early in my teaching career, I felt I had to “do it all”: every “t” crossed, every “i” dotted, every toe pointed and voice gloriously tuned and lifted to the heavens. I was completely exhausted, multi-tasking every detail because I was convinced that if I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t be right. How sorely I robbed the children in those years of the opportunities for discovery, exploration and the satisfaction of accomplishment! By relinquishing “control”, I am acknowledging that my purpose is to inspire, support and watch over my students; to hold up a mirror to them so they can see the beauty, wonder and intelligence within themselves that is already there. Some of you may be saying, “Well, that is all well and good in theory, but how does one create that in today’s classroom?”

Use a conceptual approach in your teaching.
Many times in this newsletter as well as my publications, we have discussed the idea of teaching conceptual. In a nutshell, that means that there is one, specific concept that we allow the students to focus on in a given lesson. In it’s purest format, we allow our students to interact with that concept through imiation, exploration, developing skills and finally creating, where they use the concept in a new way. Ample reflection time for self-assessment, affirmations and extensions provides much needed closure to the lesson. This conceptual approach empowers the students because they are able to leave the lesson with a concept they can apply to other areas of life and learning. By layering the learning, we are consistently encouraging our students to use the higher level of thinking skills and can create an inclusive environment where a variety of abilities can be nurtured and at the same time challenged.

The perfect metaphor for this process is that of the seed blossoming into a flower. Beginning with the seed idea (concept) at it’s most pure and specific form, we then expose it to water and sunlight and mark with celebration each stage of it’s growth. So it is with learning. Our classrooms need to return to the simple focus of the circle of life and learning: once the flower blossoms, it then sheds new seeds which can take root and flourish.

Integrate the fundamental movement patterns into your teaching. The brain needs the opportunity to "re-boot" every 10 minutes and the fundamental movement patterns can provide a great opportunity to wake up in the classroom. "Prime the brain for learning" by doing the BrainDance® (A. Gilbert) daily and finding other points in the day to revisit these patterns and provide brain recuperation. Children cannot function at their optimum when they are chained to a desk for hours on end.

Return to the elemental.
Elemental refers to the simple, basic building blocks of life learning. It is what is closest to the earth, natural and clear. Children hear, see, say and do in an elemental fashion: it is their nature. Why not use this natural propensity in our work in the classroom? When I am writing an orchestration for children, it is my goal to use the fewest possible notes and instruments to effectively communicate, leaving spaces that allow one to “hear through” the music. This is what creates an interaction between the music and the individual. The same principle applies to education in that there needs to be space left open in our lessons to allow the children to explore, predict, interact and revise, making a deep connection by using critical thinking. The elemental can also be used in designing classroom or school rules, procedures and developing the school community. It is difficult to, as the song says, “turn, turn, ‘til we come out right”, when there is no space or freedom for individuality and diversity. We must not let “the standards” crowd out common sense, compassion and creativity.

As we return to simplicity, and as our knowledge, skills and souls begin to soar, we are humbled to learn how much we do not know and how much more there is “out there” beyond the scope of our own lives. Then, and only then, can we truly walk in the valley of love and delight claim the gift to be free.
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TEACHER TIPS

Use music and movement for transitions in your classroom. This helps the children focus on the task at hand and makes the day run more smoothly. Some examples would be lining up, going to another space, changing subjects or activities or cleaning up. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Make up a “Clean Up” song, using a familiar tune or so-mi melody.

2. Play gentle music to create a relaxed mental state; play upbeat music to create an energized mental state.

3. Have the students keep a pulse or body percussion pattern going as they line up for recess or to move to another space.

4. Between subjects, have each student stand next to their desk and melt slowly from the top of the head down, gently reaching for the toes. “Hang out” in that position for a few seconds, then slowly roll up, bottom to top of the head.

5. Sing a welcome song to charge the brain in the morning; sing a farewell song to create a calm mood at the closing of the day.

6. Use a specific instrument sound (i.e. triangle) to signal changes or certain activities.

7. Try to indicate transitions with only movement and no voice (the children will really be watching you!).

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LESSON PLAN

Element: Texture Concepts: combinations, harmony, accompaniment

Warm-Up: BrainDance: Music For Dancers #21, “Joyful Noyz”
Name Game: Sing your name using notes from the pentatonic. Keep
singing your name as each person layers their name in to create a simple harmony.

Exploration: Music For Dancers #20, “Paraphony & Polyphony”
The music is in A/B repeated form, alternating between parallel harmony and polyphonic (woven) harmony. With a partner, move around the space with parallel motion using either shadowing or blind mirroring, when the music is parallel. When the music is polyphonic, join hands with your partner and weave under and over other couples in the space.

Developing Skills: “In Each Heart”, from Rejoice With The Drum & Voice
Teach the piece to your students one part at a time. For schools, use the first two verses. Start simply, focusing on the
different combinations of voices and instruments. The two
vocal parts can be sung together to create harmony. The
accompaniment parts are repeated patterns.

Creating: Create an improvisation section for the end of “In Each Heart”. Keep the repeated chord/harmonic structure going with guitar, piano and low barred percussion, while the other students improvise in C pentatonic or with rhythm instruments.

Reflection: Sit in a circle and review the concepts with the students.
Let students voice their favorite part of the lesson.
Ask the students what part they might have in creating world peace.

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BUILD YOUR BRAIN!

Body Sides

Here is a game I like to play with the students to work on the body sides connection:

Sit on the floor with legs stretched out in a wide V shape. Chant the following poem, while touching the corresponding parts on one side. Repeat the rhyme for the other side. On “great big slip”, your hand slides down the leg from hip to ankle. Between switching sides, the students can “open the book” (arms and legs apart) and “close the book” (arms and legs brought together) four times.

Chant: “Ankle, knee, hip. Ankle, knee, hip. Great Big Slip! Ankle, knee, hip.”

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ONCE A ROUND: “Hineh Ma Tov” Traditional Hebrew