 | Tony Bennett VH1 Storytellers for VH1 Save the Music
Lessons for Elementary School Music Classes With Special Guests
The Backstreet Boys
Lesson 4 of 4 |
Objectives Students will demonstrate appropriate singing skills while performing a familiar song as a class and with a small group of four or five peers
National Standards: Content Standard 1 - Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music: Students sing independently, on pitch and in rhythm, with appropriate timbre, diction, and posture, and maintain a steady tempo.
Materials
- Videotape of Storytellers for Kids starring Tony Bennett, featuring The Backstreet Boys.
- Television and VCR
- Class list of familiar songs
- Chalkboard or overhead projector and blank transparency
Prior Knowledge and Experience
Students have listed songs they can sing as a class in their music journals or on a chart. Students have worked on developing specific singing skills (such as diction and posture) in previous lessons.
Procedures
- Have students view the fourth segment of the videotape Storytellers for Kids starring Tony Bennett, featuring The Backstreet Boys. Point out to students that the group sings two songs from its recorded repertoire and tells the audience that they may not recognize the second song at first because of its arrangement.
- Discuss with students why performance groups need to know several songs to be able to choose from for a specific audience.
- Invite students to choose a familiar song from the class list posted in the room or written in their journals. Ask students to list hints and reminders for using good singing posture. List their suggestions on a transparency or the chalkboard. As the class sings the song, have students check their own posture and then the posture of a partner.
- Ask students to suggest ways in which they might improve the class performance of the song. Record student suggestions and check for understanding among class members. Choose two of the students' suggestions (for example, "We were singing too fast" or "We need to pronounce all the words clearly") as the focus points for the next step.
- Before the class sings the song again, appoint two or more students as "Checkers," who listen as the class sings the song again. Have the students perform the song a second time, paying attention to the two suggestions for improvement chosen previously. Invite the "Checkers" to report their observations after the class performance.
- Select another song from the class list. Divide the class into cooperative groups of four or five. Ask each group to practice the song together and to coach each other on appropriate singing skills. These directions may be posted or shown on an overhead transparency for quick reference. You may also wish to give each group a resonator bell or some other instrument with which to give themselves a starting pitch.
- After a specified practice time, invite small groups to perform for each other or for the class. After all groups have sung, allow each group to assess its own performance. If students are keeping journals, encourage them to write an assessment of their own and the group's singing ability. (Note: Having students perform in small groups also allows the teacher greater opportunity to assess each individual's singing ability.)
Indicators of Success Both the class and small groups of students perform their songs with appropriate singing skills. Student verbal and/or written self-assessments of their singing ability reflect knowledge of singing skills, such as pitch, rhythm, posture, timbre, diction, and tempo.
This lesson is derived from Strategies for Teaching: K-4 General Music (MENC, 1996)
VH1, in partnership with Cable in the Classroom, collaborated with
MENC: The National Association for Music Education to develop this series of lessons.
National Standards for Music Education
- Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
- Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
- Reading and notating music.
- Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
- Evaluating music and music performances.
- Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
- Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
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