Awesome Ostinato!

Repetition is the best way to practice

Getting your students to read melodically Junior/Intermediate

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Box 25109 Deer Park PO, Red Deer, Alberta T4R 2M2 Email: tvinfo@telus.net Toll Free Phone or Fax: 1-888-K6 Choir (1-888-562-4647) Web Site: www.musicplay.ca Printed in Canada 2011 by Themes & Variations ISBN: 978-1-927062-10-4
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Themes & Variations

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By Heather Morris

Songs Included in this Collection

Song Title 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Chairs to Mend Ickle Ockle Scotlands Burning Liza Jane Page 4 6 8 9 10 12 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22 24 26 28 CD# 4 1-2-3 5-6-7 8-9 10-11

Rain Come Wet Me Now Well Make the Rafters Ring Ifcas Castle Go to Sleep

12-13-14 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-22 26-27 28-29 30-31 32-33 37-38 39-40 34-35-36 23-24-25

10. Shake Them Simmons Down 11. Lets Catch the Rooster 12. Closet Key 13. Alouette

14. Chatter With the Angels

Why is the ostinato such a useful teaching tool?

Repetition is the best way to practice music reading skills Short motifs are provided for reading rather than whole songs (which can be daunting for beginners) Singing in harmony can be achieved with minimum effort Instant success is very motivating for reluctant music readers Music class time, which is at a premium, is managed more efciently
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16. Canoe Song 17. This Old Hammer

15. Rocky Mountain

18. Goodbye Old Paint

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E
17

Alabama Gal

Treble Clef

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r m f s l t d'

&
d

C Major

M
l t d' s l t d'

&b
d r m f

F Major

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s r m f s l t d'

&

G Major

#
d

E
f

&

D Major

##
d

# #
r m

Mend 1. Chairs Chairsto to Mend

PREPARE:

CD: 1-2-3

4 & b 4 .
1.

Chairs

& b .
2.

Mack

er

to

mend

old

chairs

el

fresh

mack

er

to

mend,

Traditional

el,

An

&b
3.

old

rags,

an

old

rags.

..

&b 4 4

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PRESENT and PRACTICE:

USING THE OSTINATO A musical motif that repeats over and over

ENJOY THE SONG FIRST: 1. Learn the melody by listening to the song several times. (When everyone sings the same melody it is called singing in unison). 2. Patsch the beat (the steady underlying pulse) while singing. 3. Group the beats (meter) in fours while singing (knees, shoulder, shoulder, shoulder). Locate the time signature in the music. 4. Clap the rhythm (the way the words go/ the long and short sounds over the beats) while singing. 5. Draw an arch while singing each phrase (the musical idea typically sung in one breath). 6. Count the measures (the spaces between bar lines) that are in the song. Sing measure two only. 7. Sing the song while the teacher sings in canon (same melody enters at a different time).

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m A

Chairs to Mend .. ..
___

s C

s C

m A

___

.. ..

Ostinato One

__

__

__

..

__

Measure 2 has tied notes. Measure 3 shows the same rhythm written a different way. Which sound is higher? ____ lower? _____ If so lives on a space you know....mi lives on the space_______. Sing Ostinato One while singing Chairs to Mend. Sing Chairs to Mend in a canon while singing the ostinato. WELL DONE! 4

More Ostinati for Chairs to Mend:

&b 4 4

Ostinato Two

s C

m A

__ __

..

Ostinato Three

s C

s C

__ __

(rest)

..
Ostinato Four

(rest)

..

If so and mi live on spaces then so does the note ___. What note is higher than so?____ What is the difference between ostinato three and four? When do is F, the music is said to be written in the key of ___ Perform a rhythmic ostinato while singing the song. For example clap the rhythm: q e e q (ta ti - ti ta

* A rest means there is no sound on the beat.

q (6xs) ta )

ASSESS: In small groups of three or four, choose one of the above ostinato patterns: 1. Sing it to solfa. 2. Sing it to rhythm syllables. 3. Sing it to absolutes or letter names. 4. Notate it on your own staff line. 5. Sing the song with the ostinato. 6. Perform it on an instrument. 7. Compose a rhythm variation for it. 8. Transpose it to the key of G or C (see pg. 2 for help). 9. Sing the new ostinato to absolutes or letter names.

Can you nd the denitions for these musical terms? Beat: ___________________________________________ Meter: __________________________________________ Rhythm: ________________________________________ Phrase: _________________________________________ Measure: ________________________________________ Unison: _________________________________________ Canon: __________________________________________ Ostinato: ________________________________________ 5

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2. Ickle Ockle
PREPARE:
1. 4 &4

Ickle Ockle

CD: 4

&

Ick - le s s

__

If

you
__

want
__

ock - le l l

2.

blue s

__

hand - some
__ __

bot - tle, m m

__

fish - es
__

__

in

fish,
__

just
__

choose
__

__

the

sea.
__

Traditional

me!
__

Game Directions: Children form a circle with hands joined and raised - they are the net. Choose one child to be the sherman and one child to be the sh. The sherman goes into the middle of the circle and the sh goes outside of the circle. To make this game work, I choose the child to my immediate right to be the sherman, and the child to the right of him to be the sh. After they have had their turns, they rejoin the circle on my left side. Sing the song. At the end of the song, the children lower their hands. The sherman leaves the net (the circle) and tries to tag the sh before the sh can get into the net (the circle). ENJOY THE SONG FIRST: 1. Learn the melody by listening to the song several times. 2. Play the game. See MusicPlay 5. 3. Show the meter or groups of beats while singing. 4. Sing to rhythm syllables. 5. Sing phrase one and clap the rhythm for phrase two. 6. Sing the song while the teacher sings in canon. 7. Divide into two groups and sing the song in canon. PRESENT and PRACTICE:

4 &4

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M
__ __

Ickle Ockle

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Ostinato Two __ __

Ostinato One

s G

m E

.. ..
s G s G
__ __ __ __

E
__ __

..

C is do which means the song is in the key of ____. Sing the ostinato with Ickle Ockle. Sing the song in a canon with an ostinato. WOW! YOU ARE SINGING IN THREE PARTS! Play the ostinato on an instrument such as a metallaphone. Extension Activity: Compose a new ostinato using any of the notes you have just learned to read. Notate your new ostinato on a staff line. 6

ASSESS: Sing all three measures. Circle the measure that you hear being performed. 1.

# 4 a & 4 & # a
s D

s D

2.

l E l E s D

s D

s D

m B

3.

# a &
s D s D

4.

When G is do, the song is written in the key of ____.

Name That Tune: Find the measures in the song below that match 2 b and c from the above puzzles. Do you remember how to sing them? Can you gure out how to read this melody by singing the notes to solfa syllables?

# 4 & 4 # &

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The name of the song is _______________________________.

# a &
s D s D m B l E

m B

d G

s D

3. Scotlands Burning Scotland's Burning

PREPARE:

CD: 5-6-7

# 2 1. & 4 & # 3.

Scot - land's

burn - ing,

Scot - land's

burn - ing,

2.

Look

out!

look

Traditional

out!

Fire!

Fire!

Fire!

Fire!

Pour

4.

on

wat - er,

Pour

on

wat - er.

PRESENT AND PRACTICE:

One # Ostinato 2 & 4 ..

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M
s D m B
__

PL
r
__

ENJOY THE SONG FIRST: 1. Learn the melody by listening to the song several times. 2. Sing it to rhythm syllables while clapping the rhythm. 3. Show groups of beats in twos while singing (e.g. knees, shoulders, knees shoulders). 4. Conduct the song while singing. 5. Sing the song while the teacher sings in canon. 6. Split into groups and sing the song in canon. 7. Sing song with an ostinato accompaniment. See below for an example.

Scotland's Burning .. ..
Ostinato Two

E
__

Conducting pattern for two beats in a measure

__

__

..

__

When do is G, it means that the song is in the key of ____. Can you sing and play this ostinato on an instrument?

ASSESS:

Can you read this song singing solfa names? (See ostinato for Scotlands Burning)

Scotland's Burning

# c & # & # &

?

4. Rain Come Wet Me

come wet me,

CD: 8-9

Rain

Sun

come

dry

me,

Don't

come

Form small groups and make up lyrics for phrase 3. Create actions for each phrase and perform for the class.

Sing the song to absolutes or letter names. Perform on a keyboard, metallaphone or recorder. Perform for a friend or your teacher. WELL DONE! 9

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Compare the phrases. Which are the same (call this phrase a)? different? (call this phrase b) What is the pattern used? _________ This is called the form of the song.

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nigh

&

E
me.

Liza Jane 5. Liza Jane

PREPARE:

CD: 10-11

2 &4 &

Verse:

There's If

a you

gal come

in and

Bal - ti - more, be my own,

L'il

Li

za

Traditional

Jane.

& .
Oh

She's We'll

Chorus:

the eat

one ham

Oh

li

E
za, L'il Li

& .

that and

li

I sweet

a - dore, pone, corn

za,

L'il

L'il

Li

za

Jane.

Li

za

Jane.

za

Jane.

PRESENT and PRACTICE:

2 &4

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ENJOY THE SONG FIRST: 1. Learn the melody by listening to the song several times. 2. Clap the rhythm for the verse and sing the chorus. What is the difference between a verse and a chorus? 3. Compare phrase one and two. Are they the same? similar? or different? What about the last two phrases? Circle the correct form for this song: a a b b a av b bv abab 4. Change the the name of the city in verse one to a different name and create a new verse. Share with the class.

Sing the song with one of the following ostinato accompaniments:

M
r D

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Liza Jane

m E

d C

..

__ __

__ __ __ __

__ __

__ __

..

When C is do the song is being sung in the key of ____. 10

ASSESS:

Create a hand clapping pattern that is eight beats long (the length of each phrase). Perform it while singing Liza Jane. How many times will you need to repeat the pattern?__ Read the song below while singing to solfa syllables.

Liza Jane Liza Jane

Fine 2 .. &4 Fine 2 . . &4 The name of the song is ____________________.

__
__

__
__

__
__

D.C. al Fine D.C. al Fine

__ __

E
__ __ __ __ __ __

# & # & m __
__

__
__

__ __
__ __

.. Fine .. __ __
Fine

__ __

__ __ __ __
__ __

D.C. al Fine D.C. al Fine __ __

__ __

__ __

__ __

__
__

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Perform this piece on your recorder.

What is the difference between this line of music and the above? ______________________________.

Change the rhythm on beat two to two sounds on a beat instead of one sound. Perform the song with the suggested rhythm variation. Can you compose a different rhythm variation?

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