Submitted by RaeAnna Goss, Nashville, Tennessee

Idea posted June 17, 2008

I just went to a workshop by Melissa Roth this weekend and got a BUNCH of great new lesson ideas! I wanted to share this one with you that I adapted for my lesson purposes:

Teaching the parts of songs (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, coda)

Using the song "Rockin' Robin" - students will learn about the form of popular songs. I show a PowerPoint first while I play a recording (downloaded from iTunes - the artist is "The Re-Bops") Each slide titles the part of the song (intro, verse, etc.)

After students listen (and sing along if they wish) we learn movements to go with the recording. The intro/coda have a motion, the verses have a motion, the choruses have a motion, and the bridge has a motion:

Formation - Groups of four, facing the center.
Intro/Coda - Put right hand on top of the left hand of the person to your right. Slap hands to the "tweedle, deedle, deet" rhythm.
Verse - Clap hands two times to the person next to you (corner) then switch to the other corner.
Chorus - Decide which group will go up and which group will go down. Clap hands of the person across from you two times (up) and then clap hands of the same person two times (down).
Bridge - Do the hand jive (two times slow, one time fast).

This lesson is only for understanding the form of the song. I'm not asking them to learn and sing the words. After we do this fun movement activity, we learn some new fall MK8 songs and find the verses, choruses, bridge, etc,. "The Apple Song" (from Music K-8, Vol. 14, No. 1) is great to hear how the bridge is different from the other verses!

Melissa presented this as an activity after they learn how to sing the whole song. It's a cappella and the form she presented it in was:

intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, coda. I found the recording off of iTunes and love how the bridge can also be used in the movement to show a different section. Originally I had my class create their own movement for the bridge, but we found that the hand jive was more fun! (With the particular recording it's fun to do the hand jive two times slow and one time fast!)

So, you can save this lesson for the springtime if you do any other bird songs.