Submitted by Kristin Lukow, Nebraska

Idea posted March 25, 2002

My 6th graders learn about Aaron Copland each year. I choose Copland because he is an American composer who chose to incorporate folk music into his compositions... and folk music is the basis for my teaching.

All of my students have seen the beef commercial which has run periodically on TV for several years now. As they enter the first class of this unit, they all take a scrap of paper and a pencil and I play "Hoedown" from "Rodeo." When the familiar music is heard, they all know just when to add, "Beef! It's what's for dinner!" This has them hooked.

Then, I read them Copland's bio from MK8 1/4. I tell them that their job is to write down one fact on their scrap of paper that they think no one else will write down. If they do this... they get a treat - in my room it is a jelly bean. So, they listen really carefully and try to fake each other out by pretending to write. (I'm amazed at what they will do for one jelly bean!)

When I'm done reading, we give each person a chance to read their fact. I'm amazed at how little overlap there is! They have fun listening attentively and learn so much more about the composer than if they just sat there and listened!

After this, we watch the "Hoedown" excerpt from my all-time favorite video from Reader's Digest... I've talked it up before on the list... America The Beautiful - A Musical Portrait Of America. They just sit mesmerized as the cowboys ride the broncs, rope the calves, get thrown from the bulls, etc. The music portraits the flavor of a rodeo so perfectly.

We end the class by discussing just that! How did he do it? How did he make this music sound like a rodeo? We discuss the violin being played like a fiddle and the woodblocks or claves that sound like horses hoofs and the xylophone we think we hear in the background... but we're not sure. They are very into it by this point!

The coolest thing this year... I have an aide come to every 6th grade class to help an autistic girl, and she is a dancer that has danced this ballet! Wow! She said it was just so awesome to perform!

We will do similar things with Copland's composition, "Appalachian Spring," which is also included on the video. We will sing "Simple Gifts," learn about the Shakers, and watch an excerpt of "The Lord Of The Dance - Riverdance," which is also based on this tune. When we are done, they really know this composer and love his music. That's the best part!