Teaching East Asian Music in the Elementary Classroom

Lesson Plans from 2005 Workshop

“East Asian Music in the Elementary School”

Teacher: Rebecca Stone

Korea

Objective: To introduce Korean folk/ Samulnori/ Pungmul music and percussion instruments

National Standards: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts; understanding music in relation to history and culture; listening to, analyzing, and describing music

Materials used:

“Four Thousand Years of Korean Folk Music”
“National P'ungmul Association handout and “music examples from Korea and Japan” cd– Dr. Hilary Finchum-Sung
textbook examples of American folk music

Strategies:

Play recording “Samulnori”
Discuss instrumentation – show and name Korean equivalent [gong – soe / jing, drum – janggu, puk]
Discuss uses of folk music in US communities, compare to Korea [work, energizing, celebration/festivals, entertainment, regional differentiation]
Discuss value of hard work and importance of study – share and discuss description of a musician's work found on a panel in the Traditional Music Center in Seoul:
Many years ago, a musician named Cheong Yak-tae wanted to become a master of the Taegum flute. So for 10 years, without skipping one day, he went up a nearby mountain to practice. When he had finished one exercise of about 8 minutes in length, he placed a grain of sand in his wooden shoe. He continued to practice the exercise each day until his entire shoe was filled with sand.
Discuss “arirang” and American folk songs – aural tradition, learning by rote
Play “Younpyoun Arirang” – discuss mood, uses

Resources:

“Traditional music from Korea” cd
“Korea through storytelling” – Cathy Spagnoli
“Faces-Korea” – Volume 13 * Number 8 * April 1997
“Four Thousand Years of Korean Folk Music”
“National P'ungmul Association handout – Dr. Hilary Finchum-Sung
“music examples from Korea and Japan” cd– Dr. Hilary Finchum-Sung

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