BRIDGES TO THE COMMUNITY SERIES: PART 3: AM DANCE Program
Lillie H. Feierabend, FAME Teacher Trainer
Often a single experience will open the young soul to music for a whole lifetime.
This experience cannot be left to chance. It is the duty of the school to provide it.
Zoltan Kodaly, Children’s Choruses, 1929
I take this charge to heart. Teachable moments do not always happen in the music classroom. Regardless of the excellence of our materials, sequencing and passion, we have no guarantee that students will be moved by music in the short amount of time they are with us. But, if we look just beyond the limits of the music classroom, we can create other experiences capable of engaging and influencing, not only our students, but our greater school community, as well, and most significantly, our families.
Over the course of this year, I will share twelve ideas to help build bridges from your music classroom to your students’ homes, from your school to your community, and offer parents the opportunity to musically engage with their children while learning about your curriculum and the powerful role music plays in the growth and development of their children. I have found that the more information parents have, the more likely they are to support our music programs. At the end of this article, you’ll find a link to an article written by John in 1997, outlining each of the Bridges.
In this third article, I would like to share AM DANCE, so titled because we dance, and it takes place in the morning! It takes no money, no additional materials and practically no time, but helps create another environment where all members of the school community can come together and are given the tools to play an important part in a child’s musical development.
Inspiration can come from anywhere. This idea grew out of a desire to find additional common planning time for our classroom teachers. This is also where great colleagues serve as catalysts for bringing out the best in each other. We (the specials) brainstormed and decided that we could each carve out an additional half hour one morning each week while students were being dropped off by parents and busses. My PE colleague had been concerned that older students were not getting enough exercise, so he volunteered to take the third grade one morning each week and walk outside in good weather and in the gym when inclement. The Librarianvolunteered to take the kindergarten on another morning and use the opportunity to read to them and discover additional books. The Art teacher volunteered to take the first grade and supervise them as they read silently in the cafeteria, which she did, as well. I volunteered to take the second grade to dance in the cafeteria. After ten weeks, we rotated grade levels. What started as a desire to help colleagues turned into a school-wide Enrichment Program; each classroom teacher was given an additional half hour one morning each week, the specials gained valuable time with students to work on important skills, and each student received an additional opportunity to deepen and enrich their learning, all because the four of us volunteered for thirty-minutes once each week. Definitely a Win! Win! Win!situation!
Having students arrive at different times, sometimes with coats and scarfs, back packs and at times, boots, may sound chaotic but it doesn’t have to be. We established quick, efficient routines that enabled students to take care of their belonings in an organized fashion. While everyone else went to their classroom, the assigned grade went directly to their AM program, placing all items in a designated area in the hallway outside the PE, Library, Art or Music room.
My challenge was to make this a positive musical experience for 80 – 125 students, who although arriving sporadically needed to immediately engage with music and movement. This was not the time for longways formation, this was not the place for Square Dance, and definitely not the setting for detailed verbal instruction. The structure of a dance would be limiting in this situation; moving in concentric circles, keeping to the square of a square dance, advancing to another partner, casting off, maintaining a longways formation, moving in opposite directions, performing the Grand Right and Left, having a designated partner. However, the locomotor and motor movements would be accessable and still developmentally appropriate. Following Phyllis Weikart’s brilliant advice to Separate, Simplify, and Facilitate, I had always taken a good look at my dances and the individual movement components to see exactly what my students needed to do to have a successful and joyous musical experience. I discovered that these strategies, used to bring dance to my youngest students, served AM DANCE, as well.
For example, Fjaskern (Teaching Movement and Dance, Phyllis Weikart, CD #2) is a fabulous, complicated, challenging (even for adults) dance consisting of six distinct components; double circle of partners moving in opposite directions, finding your partner while traveling then scissor-kick with them, clap while changing places with your partner, walk in opposite directions to return to your partner, but then, walk past your partner to a new partner and begin the dance all over again! Oh, and do all thisAccelerando!No wonder I turned the page when I first came upon this delightful dance. I had been denying my young students the joy of being involved with some of these wonderful dances, not because of their ability to do the motions, but because the structure or formations were too challenging.My young students simply can’t do all that. But, look at the basic motor movements; walk, scissor kick, and clap. My youngest students can do those movements, what they cannot do is do those movements in the required structure. So I ignore the structure…for the moment. The organizational elements are brought back, sometimes months, sometimes years later, when students are at an age when it is developmentally appropriate and therefore easily accessible. So Fjeskern which is on a 5th-6th grade dance list can be thoroughly enjoyed by PreK and K because I remove the structure and allow them to musically interact with the movement components. How wonderful for students to meet this dance again next year when they are able to integrate more of the structure. Each year my students look forward to seeing what more they can do with their favorite dances.
This is exactly the kind of analysis that allows these wonderful dances to be successful in AM DANCE. As they enter, students simply walk all over the room, scissor-kick, clap at the appropriate musical cue, then continue walking. As they enter, students watch others to see what to do or respond as I periodically remind them of the three movement components.
Let’s break down another one; Les Salut(Teaching Movement and Dance, Phyllis Weikart, CD #1, and Listen to the Mockingbird, Amidons). Single circle, no partners. All walk in one direction for 8 beats, turn and walk in the opposite direction for 8 beats, face the center and walk in for 4, out for 4, back in for 4 and bow, with a fermata to signal when to back up, turn and begin all over again. Lots of verbal instruction and counting, but the movement components are simply to walk and then bow. Students don’t need to walk in a confined, circle to enjoy this dance and get the joke. Instead, they walk all around the room and bow at the end of each repetition, excellent for aural acuity, as the fermatas become increasingly longer. This is also a great opportunity to have students work on various locomotor skills……we may walk, tiptoe, march, skip, or even walk backwards, before bowing. They never tire of dancing as they work on these skills, giving them time to refine them and work on muscle memory. Remember, all these locomotor skills are of paramount importance to folk dancing. Once the motions become intuitive and musical, it is simply a matter of putting those movements into the structure, whether in the music classroom or even in AM DANCE, for the older grades.
Another favorite, Ach Ya (Step Lively,Marion Rose, and Dances of the 7 Continents,Vol. 1, Sanna Longden), is a double circle of partners who walk together, bow, skip around each other, then continue walking, ready to begin again. My students can certainly walk, bow and skip, but putting them in a double circle is problematic when they come in intermittently, so they walk singly around the room and perform the motions at the appropriate musical cue. Sometimes they find a partner and walk side by side, adding one more element of the dance. All I have done is taken the structure out of the equation. When we work on this dance later, another month or another year, I put the motions that they are already doing, and doing well, into structural context. My students benefit from being joyously involved with the dance without worrying about the formation and it does not take long for them to learn the structure because the movements are so familiar. As an added benefit, students will begin singing as they become more familiar with the story and the dance.
Some dances, like Sasha (Step Lively,Marion Rose, and Sashay the Donut, Amidons, and Sanna Longden) areSnowballsor Mixersand are perfect for this situation. Students are expected to leave one partner and look for another at the end of each repetition. Rig a Jig Jigand Jump Jim Joeare two more. Entering students are easily integrated because everyone is looking for a new partner. Momentum is not lost as students actively seek a new partner each time.
Don’t forget Clapping Games. They can be done independently (air clap, ghost clap) to reinforce the motor planning, or with a partner. Some days we do it independently and some days we have partners. Miss Mary Mack and Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea come immediately to mind. Students quickly pair up but it is easy to keep an eye open for someone walking in. I clap with a single until another child or adult comes through the door. If you are mixing age groups, this is a great opportunity to have older students be on the lookout and responsible for younger ones.
Line Dances, such as Pata Pata (Sanna Longden) are great for this program. I don’t introduce the arm or hand movements at the beginning. These dances are wonderful for practicing side steps, back and forth, working on a sequence of two steps, or four, or eight (comfort level and ability will be high when you later teach the cast off). After a few meetings, challenge students further by adding a Hand Jive pattern. Their skills and brain power are strengthened each time they are given this opporutnity. Aloha Kakakiaka (Longden), a lovely Hula, will give your students the opportunity to work on their sideways skills and eventually add beautiful arm movements. As an extra benefit to enrich Spatial Intelligence, make sure students dance facing all directions.
There are also a few dances that are meant to be stationary. They provide rhythmic and interesting movements and can be done in a circle. BarnereinlenderandYan Petit(Sanna Longden) are great. Begin with a large circle, and as students enter, they simply find a spot and the circle can easily increase to accommodate any number. Everyone wants to play.
Classic Rock Songs provide another avenue to explore. Rockin’ Robin is a great addition. Because students enter sporadically, repetition is easy. Play Rockin’ Robin and have students walk then twist on the chorus, play it again and change the locomotor skill to tiptoe and twist on the chorus, a third time switch to walk backwards and twist on the chorus. You get the idea. Look for songs like this and create appropriate motions during the chorus/verse. Students will naturally begin to sing after a while. This is wonderful as it engages all systems. It will also bring everyone in the hallway into your dance space!
AM DANCE offers a great opportunity to specifically focus on developing locomotor skills. I love using the Mariposa (Listen to the Mockingbird, Amidons). It is long enough for a good workout and has a clearly defined A/B form. For each A, students are instructed to “walk forward,” or “walk backward,” or “walk sideways.” For each B section, students stop walking and perform a steady beat activity of their own choosing (tap head, tap elbows, jump, bounce, clap, roll eyes). Let creativity and need be your guide. Whatever your students need to work on can easily be incorporated. Skills develop with repeated opportunity over time. Jigs and Reels are great for type this activity, as well. And yes, I teach the Mariposa, in Scilian Circle formation, with the beautiful “butterfly effect,” in second grade.
The Move Its! (Feierabend and Lyman) are a great way to end your time together. Students will then be ready to quietly exit the room, collect their belongings in the hallway and go straight to their classrooms; we consistently accomplish this silently, within two to three minutes, even for 150 students. Try to anticipate every step of the experience then design routines to make their time together as efficient and musical as possible.
You do not have to cover a lot of dances. I took each one and thought about how to best address the needs of the situation, my students and their musical development, and then kept bringing them back, sometimes with a twist. As students became familiar with the dances and variations, they became eager to enter the room, find a friend and begin dancing.
As with all these Bridges, there is no one way to be successful. Take a look at what works best for you, your students and your school. Begin with one grade level (or two). Or just one class. Start with one day, grow to two. Take one group on a Monday and another group on a Tuesday. Perhaps the PM works best for you, or at a recess period. You can be successful with 15 minutes…..or 20. Whatever works for you, your students and your community is perfect! I have done this program in several different formats, all designed for the school and the students that I had. In one school, the PE teachers and I met ALL students in the gym for the 30 minute drop-off period. This was especially heartwarming because it allowed cross-grade sociability and interaction. Older students began to take care of younger ones; they would take them by the hand and lead them in if they were hesitant, they would tie their shoes or be their partner. They would engage them in conversation while we danced, and subsequently in the hallways and the cafeteria. Remember, though, this will not represent your entire student body, not everyone arrives at the same time, some students are there for thirty minutes, and some for only five or ten. Some students take instrument lessons, or have an early choral rehearsal or basketball practice. Some eat breakfast in the cafeteria, some are absent or come late, after the drop-off period. Some students catch up on extra work with their teacher and Student Senate members are always busy with AM duties.
As my PE colleague and I continued to refine and tweak our program, we came up with yet another variation. We divided the student body into three groups for developmental reasons; the K group, the first grade group, and the second grade – fifth grade group. We wanted to take the younger two groups and give them the opportunity to work on more focused developmental skills. My PE colleague met with the K group in her room to exercise while I took the first grade in my room to dance. A third colleague continued supervising the second – fifth grade group in our large space to maintain their walking/exercise program. My PE colleague and I simply switched groups each day so both kindergarten and first grade received a balanced diet of walking, exercise and dance. How did they know where to go? Signs outside our rooms with a large Kor a large 1told students which room to go to each morning. If you do this with your PE teacher, you can create a rotating variety of activities, which can include dancing, exercising, exercising with a video, leading Move Its! and using the Move It! video.
Remember the original motivation? For each classroom teacher to get one, thirty-minute uninterrupted, common planning time. However, as I discovered, the benefit to the music program and my students was priceless.
- Students engaged in additional music making each morning. Big Win!
- Someone always stopped in to join us; parents dropping off children, administrators on their way to meetings, or intentionally coming in to interact with students in a welcoming, happy, inclusive environment. Custodians, teachers, secretaries, cafeteria staff, and curious guests, drawn by the music and the laughter would stop by for a dance move and a laugh. We had parents, administrators, and staff who came on a regular basis and others who would bring visiting friends and family. What a great way to start the day. How wonderful for students to see the adults in their life joyfully and willingly engage with music and each other. Big Win!
- Precious time was saved during music class. Since students already knew and were comfortable with the basic motor movements, I only needed to teach the organizational formations. Big Win!
- Students engaged in vigorous physical activity, stimulating oxygen and blood flow, and strengthening their cardio vascular system, so important for good health and learning. Anecdotally, when we first piloted this program, classroom teachers noticed a huge difference in readiness on the days when students danced. There is a great deal of research on the role of not only exercise, but movement in helping to develop healthy brains and healthy bodies. You are on the front line of this effort. Big Win!
- The opportunity to socialize and interact with peers and adults in an informal setting is of great importance in setting students up for a successful day. Big Win!
- Classroom teachers had an additional student-free half hour (one morning each week at one school, and every morning at another). Big Win!
- Students had extra time to work on their movement and dance skills! Big Win!
- As students became acquainted with the music, they developed an intuition for phrasing, not beat counting, and began to truly engage with the music. Big Win!
- In doing so, students began to take on leadership roles as they no longer needed direction. To help our students develop into independent musicians is our ultimate goal. Big Win!
- And we didn’t have to do Bus Duty! See what I mean about Win!-Win!-Win! My colleagues and I were still involved in a Morning Duty, but we were serving the needs of our students and our school in a more meaningful and profound way.
Resources mentioned:
The Amidons
Chimes of Dunkirk, Jump Jim Joe, Listen to the Mockingbird, Sashay the Donut
Lois Choksy
120 Singing Games and Dances
Feierabend, Hayes
Move It!, Move It! 2
Sanna Longden: Folkstyle Productions
Dances of the 7 Continents, Vol 1.
Many booklets with dance directions, DVDs, and CDs
Marion Rose
Step Lively
Phyllis Weikart
Rhythmically Moving, (1 book, 9 CDs)
Teaching Folk Dance, Successful Steps
Teaching Movement and Dance
By providing an opportunity outside the music classroom we are meeting Kodaly’s challenge. Chances are, laughing and dancing with parents, or the principal, a teacher, an aide, or good friends in an informal setting might just ignite the spark and capture the soul of a young child for a lifetime.
Beyond the Music Class: Expanding the Musical Influence of the Elementary School by John Feierabend