Separate CD available

In All Kinds of Weather,
Kids Make Music!

Lesson Plan Book

  • 34 easy-to-follow lesson plans for toddlers through primary-age children
  • lots of photographs
  • lots of puppet and felt-board patterns
  • movement activities and instrument playing
  • special instrument-making section

 

Introduction
Index
About the Orff-Schulwerk
About Lynn Kleiner
Sample cutout page

INTRODUCTION

The Early Childhood Music Experience
Making it successful, Making it Joyful, Making it Musical

THE TEACHER:

  • Is animated, energetic, and enthusiastic.
  • Is happy to sit on the floor with the children and participate with them.

THE LESSONS:

  • Contain games and songs for solo singing (pitch matching).
  • Include both structured and unstructured movement activities and playing.
  • Contain active listening lessons, which incorporate movement, instrument playing, props, and other visuals.

THE CLASSROOM:

  • Is a music room, free from toys and other distractions.
  • If not a dedicated music room, has been arranged to provide the most possible space and the fewest distractions, with tables and other furniture moved aside.
  • Has a cabinet where the instruments are contained in baskets on shelves, out of sight until they are needed.
  • Has space for circle games and other movement activities.

THE INSTRUMENTS:

  • Are easy to play but are not toys.
  • Have the best possible tone quality as well as durability.
  • Are kept separate from toys, props, and other non-musical items.
  • Are abundant enough so that children can play the same small instruments at the same time.
  • Are introduced in musical and interesting ways. (See "Five Handsome Sailors" and "The Gingerbread Man" or "Happiness.")

THE PROPS:

  • Are lively and chosen because they teach the musical activity quickly and effectively. (See "The Cuckoo" or "Who's That Hatching?")
  • Are kept in a special bag or box or other container such as a suitcase, a bucket, or a picnic basket.
  • Include attractive, colorful, high-quality books, flannel board items, scarves, and puppets.

THE SONGS:

  • Are short.
  • Have a limited range.
  • Include repetition to aid in-tune singing.
  • Can be sung easily.
  • Will very soon be sung by the children without adult accompaniment.
  • Include solo singing parts and games but have parts for the group, too.
    (See "The Cuckoo", "Cuckoo Clock", "Eensy Weensy Spider", "Five Little Jack-O-Lanterns", "Rainbow 'Round Me" and "Who's That Hatching?")

THE TRANSITIONS:

  • Are musical. (They are songs, too.)
  • Focus on starting the class and keeping it going without lapses of time when children can become distracted or disruptive.
  • Help the teacher collect the instruments or props quickly and efficiently, with everyone helping.
  • Give directions that the children will learn to sing as they make a circle, sit down, and so on.

THE MUSIC MANNERS:

  • Teach respect for the music and the instruments.
  • Teach respect for the children who may be singing alone or playing a special instrumental part.
  • Enable the teacher to incorporate a very active approach so that even listening to a recording can be accomplished with movement, props, or small instrumental accompaniments.

CONTENTS

4

Introduction

8

About The Orff-Schulwerk

Lessons:

10

Whether The Weather

Sunny And Warm

11

Hawaiian Rainbows

12

Mary Ann

13

Mister Sun

14

One In A Boat

15

Rainbow 'Round Me

16

Sally Go 'Round The Sun

Cool Autumn

17

Five Little Jack-O-Lanterns

18

Five Little Leaves

Windy Weather

19

Down The River

20

Five Handsome Sailors

21

The Wind Blew East

22

Windy Weather

Fog

23

One Misty: Moisty Morning

Wet And Rainy

24

Eensy Weensy Spider

25

Happiness

26

If All Of The Raindrops

27

It Rained A Mist

28

Ladybugs

29

Off To The River

30

Raindrops

31

Rhymes In The Rain

Stormy

32

The Ship Goes Sailing

Cold And Snowy

33

The Chubby Little Snowman

34

Five Little Jingle Bells

35

Five Little Snowmen

36

The Gingerbread Man

37

The North Wind Doth Blow

38

Snow (Yuki)

40

Warm Wendall

41

White Feathers

Springtime

42

The Cuckoo

43

Cuckoo Clock

44

Who's That Hatching?

45

Puppets And Visuals

59

Instrument-Making Fun

62

Related Products

64

About The Author

ABOUT THE ORFF-SCHULWERK

Carl Orff, German composer and music educator (1895-1982), devised the basic musical texts for the Schulwerk with his associate, Gunild Keetman. These texts are models for teachers worldwide. In the Orff approach, children make music with activities that are natural and enjoyable for them: singing, rhyming, dancing, and playing instruments. The songs in this book have been selected or composed to follow the philosophical and practical aims of the Orff-Schulwerk. They are simple, short songs that relate to a child's world of fantasy and experience. Children can master them without special training. This learning process requires attentive listening, decision-making, concentration, cooperation, sensitivity to rhythm and tone, singing in tune, and playing with others in musical time. Above all, the songs are meant to be enjoyed.

Orff instruments are pitched percussion instruments that were fashioned by Carl Orff from African, Indonesian, and European models. Orff instruments include xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels in a number of voicings. They are bright, magical, and energetic and are perfectly suited to accompany, support, and guide young singers. Above all, they invite participation.

There are two terms related to the Orff instruments that are referred to throughout this book: PENTATONIC and BORDUN. These musical terms are defined as follows:

1. PENTATONIC refers to a five-tone scale, specifically the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th scale tones of the major scale. T o help ensure a child's success, tone bars not belonging to a particular pentatonic scale can be removed, as illustrated below.

2. BORDUN refers to an accompaniment played on the lowest sounding xylophones and metallophones. The bordun consists of the repetition of the 1st and 5th scale tones (also called DO and SO). A bordun is perfect for accompanying a pentatonic melody. The most common bordun is easy enough for a pre-school age child to play:

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS:

Encourage the children to walk around the Orff instruments (not over them); make sure they use two hands to remove the bars. Discuss the best ways to produce beautiful sounds from them with the mallets. Make sure all instruments, large or small, are brought out and put away with great care and respect; the teacher's example will be imitated by the children.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lynn Kleiner began her "active" approach to music education in 1978. In 1983, she founded Music Rhapsody, a music school based in southern California for parents and infants, toddlers, and young children through eighth grade Orff and recorder ensembles. For years, Lynn has been a frequent presenter for international music educators' organizations including MENC, the American Therapy Association, the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA), the Victorian Orff Association (Australia), Music Alberta, Canada; state Orff chapters, school districts, early childhood associations, and parent groups worldwide. Lynn is author of three Warner Bros. Publications books: "Kids Make Music, Babies Make Music Too!", "In All Kinds of Weather Kids Make Music!", and "Kids Can Listen, Kids Can Move!" Lynn also has her own line of percussion instruments through REMO.

Lynn's instrument and video kits have received the prestigious Oppenheim Award, the Dove Award, and the recommendation of the National Parenting Association. Her video, In All Kinds of Weather; Kids Make Music! Was named Parenting magazine's video pick of the month. Lynn holds a bachelor of music degree from Eastern Illinois University and has completed graduate studies at Arizona State University. Her Orff teacher's certificate and Master certification are both from Memphis State University.

Lynn offers a teacher training course each summer in southern California and has had teachers from all over the world come to her "Kids Make Music" seminars. For more information about teacher training, see workshops at musicrhapsody.com.

Lynn Kleiner
lynn@musicrhapsody.com
310-376-8646

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