I am slowly getting to know my fifth grade classes. They are an energetic bunch! They are a creative group! They challenge me every day. One student was gone yesterday and arrived late this morning. He had spent the night outside in the woods in a special snow cave that he and his friends at White Pines had built. (A Qynzy?) Two degrees last night, and he didn't look too much the worse for wear. He was able to notice that "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child" was in minor key, and that is why it sounds so sad. Very impressive. Some years I spend many class periods trying to explain the feeling, the sound, the reasons we compose in minor keys. These students seem to understand use of the minor key already. They also know why this song is so incredibly sad. They always notice how Mahalia Jackson hums a lot and doesn't actually say a lot of words, but there is so much communicated through her voice even with just humming. They notice how much power her voice has, and they realize how low she can sing, which is rare. I find it amazing what ten and eleven year olds notice when hearing her powerful voice for the first time. I love to watch their faces, and I love to hear their reactions to the music. All you have to say to them is "She sang for Martin Luther King, Jr. when he gave his "I have a Dream" speech" and they are riveted. History through music is a great form of communication and learning. Mahalia Jackson Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
But I never allow them to leave the room with this heart-wrenching spiritual as the last tune they hear. I end this session with Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington singing "Don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" We read about Duke Ellington and his band that played at the Cotton Club in Harlem, and we listen to this song, and talk about scat singing. Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington It was invented by Duke Ellington, they say, when he dropped his music and forgot the words so he just kept singing nonsense syllables..but it really makes the singer sound like one of the jazz instruments, less like a voice. It is amazing how much emotion can be shared without words, how much can be communicated with humming, and just making up sounds as you sing the notes. No one did that better than Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.
Are there other ways I have been teaching my students this week to communicate without words? Why, as it turns out, YES! In my creative drama class I began a process called Draw How to Make Toast. Students must draw pictures of how you make toast. No one can talk, and they have to communicate just through their pictures. They learn about how different people see a new task, and they learn a great deal about their own personalities and how they differ from other people's personalities. They learn how to communicate through pictures and links and nodes. http://www.drawtoast.com/
I hope you all have a great February vacation! I am going to visit my family, and I will be communicating in many ways with them, through singing, talking, gesturing, drawing pictures, reading stories, and laughing and laughing!! See you all upon my return!
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