Teaching East Asian Music in the Elementary Classroom

Lesson Plans from 2005 Workshop

Soran Bushi
(First and Second Grade, covers one 45-minute class period.)

Teacher: Virginia (Ginny) Green

Goals:

Sing and identify characteristics of the pentatonic scale, increase awareness of Japan as an island country, introduce the Japanese O-Bon festival, and learn a Japanese fisherman's dance commonly performed at that festival.

Objectives:

1. When provided a starting pitch, students will accurately describe and sing a typical Japanese pentatonic scale.

2. Presented with a world globe, students will accurately locate Japan on the globe.

3. When asked by the instructor, students will describe the purpose of the O-Bon festival, and name one dance commonly performed at the festival.

4. When cued by the audio performance, students will perform the Tanko Bushi dance with appropriate style.

National Standards met:

#2. Students will sing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

#6. Students will listen to, analyze, and describe music.

#7. Students will evaluate music and music performances.

#8. Students will understand relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.

#9. Students will understand music in relation to history and culture.

Previous knowledge/assumptions:

Students have performed simple solfege patterns and melodies without notation during warm-ups.
Students have performed simple circle dances from other countries.

Materials:

Globe
Overhead of Bon Odori festival
CD of Tanko Bushi music (EASC packet)

Procedure:

PHYSICAL/VOCAL WARMUPS

1. Follow usual class physical and vocal warmup routine.

PENTATONIC VOCALIZATION

2. At the end of the warm-up, teacher sings ascending and descending pentatonic scale on “ah” (intentional western open vowel sound). Students imitate. Repeat numerous times, using different mouth shapes to produce different vocal qualities.

3. Discussion of what seems different about this scale compared to the usual (solfege) scale (number of tones, vocal quality, intervals).

4. Introduce the term “pentatonic.” Discuss where in the world people might use this sound in their music.

GEOGRAPHY OF JAPAN

5. Using the world globe, ask students if they can locate Japan .

6. Using the globe, ask students to predict what the country/region might be like (e.g. water, mountains, climate).

7. Ask students to predict some typical occupations of the Japanese people (lead to fishermen). Tell students that we will learn a dance about these fishermen.

O-BON

8. Provide cultural context for the dance as part of the O-Bon festival, as per resources provided in EASC manual. Show overhead of the Bon Odori, as per class packet. Discuss what kinds of festivals we celebrate in our country.

LISTENING: Tanko Bushi

9. Review the Listening Laws (body quiet, mouth closed, ears open, mind open). Listen to Tanko Bushi, asking students to listen for those things about the music that might make it good for a festival.

10. Discuss impressions of the music. Tie to vocal quality experimentation from warm-ups. Provide meaning of the text to students.

DANCE: Tanko Bushi

11. Students in circle formation.

11. Learn motions of the dance, one verse at a time.

12. Chain together each verse, until the entire dance has been practiced at a slow tempo.

13. Repeat the dance several times, increasing the tempo gradually.

14. Perform the dance along with the music. Repeat as often as time allows.

REVIEW / ASSESSMENT

15. Ask students why we are learning this dance, where it originated, when it is commonly performed, and what the O-Bon festival celebrates. Sing a pentatonic scale in the pitch of the Tanko Bushi recording. Ask students to point to Japan on the globe as they exit the room.

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