Lesson Plans
Lesson Plan Editorial: Andante from Symphony No. 5
A few weeks ago, we released Joy Yelin’s lesson on subdivision, which uses the Andante from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. It is such a delight to use this familiar theme. With some tweaks here and there, I enjoy playing the marvelous melody, harmony and modulations of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Andante.” The students move with rapt…
Read MoreLesson Plan: Andante from Symphony No. 5
It is such a delight to use this familiar theme. With some tweaks here and there, I enjoy playing the marvelous melody, harmony and modulations of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Andante.” The students move with rapt attention, responding to the subdivisions of the beat which are inherent in the music. Begin with a slow tempo. The…
Read MoreLesson Plan: Living Music: Eurhythmics and Jazz Improvisation
This lesson was first presented at a New England Dalcroze Chapter Workshop, January 27, 2019, and is designed for adults of all levels. In this lesson, students develop some of the basic skills that go into jazz improvisation, working in various musical styles. Through their improvised movements, students experience the relationship between beat and measure…
Read MoreLesson Plan: Old Joe Has Gone Fishing
This lesson was presented at the 2012 DSA National Conference at Seattle Pacific University and teaches 7/4 with Benjamin Britten’s “Old Joe Has Gone Fishing” from his opera Peter Grimes. Benjamin Britten wrote this canon as a sort of faux sea chanty/drinking song. It is charming a capella; when heard in the opera with full…
Read MoreHeart to Heart: Music and Movement for Seniors with Dementia
How curious, poignant, and profound that when all is taken from us: our professions, our routines, our sense of ourselves, perhaps even knowledge of our own names, we still possess our deep capacity to respond to music: melody, rhythm, harmony, song. Why is this? Perhaps it is because our very being is music. Music is…
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