Submitted by Jennifer Schroeder, Fall River, Wisconsin
Idea posted January 24, 2003
I think the "It's Raining" song in Recorder Karate is VERY hard for the students, especially third graders. The problem comes in that there is a pick-up note at the beginning (many of them play that first half note like a quarter because the pick-up confuses them) and then the two eighth notes on beat 4 of the measures on the second line. That is a very, very difficult concept to learn and to *feel*. If you've done any sort of Kodály training, you may already know that putting eighth notes on the last beat of a measure is pretty much a no-no until later grades. I have many students turn that into all quarters or who try to put the eighth notes on the third beat instead.
Anyway, let your students know that the green belt is nearly the hardest one. I've had students take 4 months to get the green belt. I'm going to possibly change it next year and either revise it, move it to a later time, or choose a new one with low E. Oh, and the low E isn't the easiest either. They have to suddenly remember to use that other hand!
Here's something I did just the other day. I did just simple echoing/mirroring with them last week. I play, they copy. Using just G and E at first and then adding A and B. Some of the "slowest" kids did so much better after this.
I've had lots of students finish the year without the black belt. Not all of them will be motivated to learn all the songs. Not all of them will be *able* to play all of the songs. You don't want to let squeaks and wrong notes slide, so you'll just have to reassure them that some of the songs are harder, and some of them will need to take longer to learn them.