Author: moderngeneralmusic

Using Concepts with the Mannequin Challenge

Many students are by now familiar with the “Mannequin Challenge,” a YouTube phenomenon where a group of individuals holds various poses while being filmed, mimicking mannequins.

Recently, I used the Mannequin Challenge to engage students in thinking about concepts that they were studying in their regular classrooms. This was a highly effective activity for students to extend their learning and interact with their peers in a creative way.

For example:

Concept: Cause and Effect

Plan

  1. Have whole class discussion about cause and effect.
  2. Listen to “Suite For Cello No. 1, Mvt. 1” by Johann Sebastian Bach.
  3. Brainstorm words to describe the mood of the piece, write a list on the board for reference. Students will consider these moods when creating their poses.

Create

  1. Students come up with two poses – one cause and one effect. I let them choose to be alone, in pairs, or in groups.
  2. When ready, play the piece of music while students show the first pose (cause). Film students while walking around the room, eventually returning to your starting point.
  3. Students switch to their second pose (effect). Film students again, walking around the room to explore poses from different angles.

Reflect

  1. When finished, have students turn and talk to a neighbor to share how their poses showed cause and effect. After, have willing students share with the whole class.
  2. Watch the video together and discuss. I used an iPad to film, then uploaded the video to Seesaw – a great platform to share multimedia content with students.

 

This activity can be adapted to many concepts, both within the music classroom and the regular classroom. Adaptations might include:

  • Compare and contrast the effects of using different pieces of music with the same concept.
  • Demonstrate musical concepts, such as tempo and dynamics.
  • Model appropriate vs. inappropriate ways to play/care for instruments.
  • Explore theater and acting skills.
  • Can be used as a lead-in to Tableau Vivant.

 

How might you use the Mannequin Challenge in your classroom? Have other movement ideas to share? Please leave a comment below:

 

Here’s an example of the Mannequin Challenge, made by students at St. Michael’s Country Day School:

Mannequin Challenge from SMCDS on Vimeo.

Is it Time to Put Folk Songs to Bed?

girls_playing_london_bridge_1898
Children playing “London Bridge” in 1898

I’ve been struggling with something for a while now. My heart knows what my head doesn’t quite want to admit: folk songs, while an integral and respected part of American history, aren’t relevant and engaging to today’s youth. (It feels like blasphemy just to type these words.)

Everything I was taught as a young music teacher revolved around the singing of songs that were popular in the early 1900’s. Countless hours were spent learning singing games and dances that entertained young and old alike in the time before electronics, television, computers, and mobile devices.

I remember dutifully arranging “Wee Willie Winkie” on barred instruments for my students shortly after I completed my levels of Orff training:

 

“Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town

upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown.

Rapping at the windows, crying through the lock

‘Are the children in their beds, for it’s eight o’clock?'”

 

I worked hard on that arrangement to apply everything I had learned in my classes. My first clue that the material was dated was having to explain to my students that Mr. Winkie was not a rapper and he wasn’t sad.

 

pw_performing_on_stage

 

Much of the professional development in Elementary Music Education centers around the use of popular music that was popular more than 60 years ago. The concepts are timeless, but the source materials are badly in need of an update. Basically, we do what we do because it’s what we have always done and it’s the way we were taught.

 

If we  want to truly engage the kids of today, we need to reach them where they are – with modern popular music from the Rock ‘n Roll era onward.

 

It’s scary and exhilarating at the same time to cast aside a large portion of one’s training and resources yet I know that it’s the right thing for me to do.  It is for this reason that I started this blog.

I greatly respect teachers who routinely and effectively use folk songs and dances in their curriculum. It’s just not for me anymore.

I am on a journey of re-inventing for myself what it means to be a general music teacher at the elementary level in the 21st Century.

Agree? Disagree? Are you on the same journey? Leave a comment and let me know.

Thanks!