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January 2015, Issue 1

From the president – Ashley Allen

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Greetings and warmest welcome from MiKE! My name is Ashley Allen, and I the President of MiKE. I am an Assistant Professor of

Music Education at Central Michigan University, in my second year at CMU. Originally from Oklahoma, I have a BME and MME/Kodály Studies from the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. Before changing career paths slightly to teach at the college level, I taught public school at all levels and types for five years and obtained Kodály certification for levels I, II, and III. In addition to teaching music education courses at CMU, I also serve as program director for our summer

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Kodály certification courses and teach solfege, conducting, and chorus in those courses. It is with the greatest excitement that I share with you all of the things MiKE has done this year. As the chapter formally known as SEMKE, MiKE has reactivated our charter with OAKE, changed the name of the chapter to better reflect our membership, formed new by-laws, created a Facebook page called Michigan Kodaly Educators, elected officers, and held two workshops. We are in the process of creating our official logo (and printing t-shirts, of course), hiring excellent clinicians for next year, and finishing the administrative processes of reactivating with OAKE. In October MiKE held its first workshop that explored conceptual learning in the midst of movement and listening activities. Our second workshop was in December and

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featured Arabic music sequentially organized for immediate use in the classroom. Lorelei Zwiernikowski taught the participants some basic techniques for playing the dumbeck and Arabic music on recorder. (My picture on the left is with an Egyptian dumbeck.) Both workshops were really phenomenal and were so energizing for me personally. I cannot wait to find places to use the information I have learned. It is my hope that our newsletter will give members some insight into events and goings-on in the chapter, as well as to provide a place for all of us to continue to grow our personal skills and expand and share our resources. Again, I welcome you to the MiKE chapter and encourage you to join us when you can. We are a talented and passionate group of educators who love to be together and work together.

-Ashley Allen President, MiKE

Join the Conversation! MiKE is on Facebook. Join us at Michigan Kodaly Educators https://www.facebook.com/groups/1506476846251326/

Ashley Allen, President Katie Hoyt, Secretary/Treasurer Zach Vandergraaff, President-Elect Jayme Williams, Member-At-Large Lorelei Zwiernikowski, Past-President Lauri Bowles-Hogle, Member-At-Large

Michigan kodÁly educators An affiliated chapter of OAKE

“Music is an indispensable part of universal human knowledge. He who lacks it has faulty knowledge. A man without music is incomplete. So it is obvious that music should be a school subject. It is essential” (Kodály, 2002, 15).

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Lorem Ipsum

Preparation Activity: syn-co-pa, 3rd. Grade

1. Teach song using preferred method (i.e. rote song, whole song method, etc). a. Sample: Pat the quarter note beat while I sing the song. Now pat the eighth note (ti). b. Why would they bake a cake for Charlie? c. Echo through the song with me. d. Sing it with me. e. Try it without me.

2. Isolate the syncopated rhythm in measure one and three by having student echo the T. on neutral syllables. a. Sample: Echo clap my patterns. (Do other rhythms in the song and come to syncopa last.) b. Does this one fit into any rhythms we know? c. We’ll discuss this more later, for now let’s show this pattern by doing clap-pat-clap. Let’s try that.

3. Demonstrate the syncopa rhythm with body percussion. 4. Teach the moves to the game according to your preferred method.

a. Sample: Learn A b. Learn B c. Do A and B with one group model. d. Do A and B all together. e. Reflect as a class on what would improve it. f. Play again

Sources: Song from the Holy Names University Folk Song Collection

Activity adapted from Paul Rose, Music Teacher, Mt. Pleasant, MI

From the Classroom of Zach Vandergraaff

Movement Game: 2nd- 3rd Grade In a circle of four students. Decide who is first, second, third, and fourth. (Note: When I do the song, my form is Chorus (A), Verse 1 (B), Verse 2 (B) and then repeat.)

A. Measure 1-2 Clap-Pat-Clap Clap Clap Clap Clap Measure 3-4 Clap-Pat-Clap Clap Clap Measure 5-8 Join hands and circle right

B. Measure 9-16 Every time “Five” is said at the beginning of each two measures a different person puts their right hand in the middle, stacking them on top of each other.

Upcoming Events:

Michigan Music Conference: January 22-24, 2015. Grand Rapids, MI. OAKE National Convention: March 19-22, 2015. Minneapolis, MN. Mark your calendars and represent MiKE in Minnesota this spring! Spring MiKE Workshop: April 18, 2015. Mt. Pleasant on the CMU campus. The topic will be Kodály in the choral setting. We will also have a board meeting to elect officers.

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How do I? Question: How do I start children in the rhythm sequence? Excellent question! The Kodály Approach follows this basic sequence: start with steady beat and then walking/running (or tiptoe) steps. These become quarter/eighth notes. In first grade, present quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests. Then expand to half and whole notes and rests, then either sixteenths or single eighth note, followed by syncopation and dotted rhythms. The exact sequence you choose will depend on the literature choices you make and/or the songs you are already teaching/have already taught the children. So the next step is to purposefully select five or six songs for the concept you choose, and make sure the songs have easily-targetable rhythmic concepts that you can isolate and use for teaching. In terms of actually teaching the concept(s), the important element is to provide students with many “prepare” activities, where you are laying the foundation for the skill. They should be able to sing, move, clap, play, dance, and otherwise experience the skill before they identify, label, speak, compose, etc., with it. Once the skill is adequately “prepared”, then you will “present” the name, syllable, and sound of the concept. Finally, the “practice” phase comes, where students will practice the concept by reading, decoding, playing, improvising, creating/composing, naming, singing, etc., the skill. For more information on the “doing” of the Kodály Method, please consider taking a certification course. CMU will offer levels I and II this summer. Also, please refer to the following resources: Choksy, L. (3rd. ed). (1999). The Kodály Method I. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Eisen, A. & Robertson, L. (2010). An American Methodology. Louisiana: Sneaky Snake.

Congratulations to our Kodály Level One Certification class from summer 2014!

Level One Certification took place from July 14-25, 2014 at Central Michigan University. Dr. Joy Nelson taught the methodology and folk song research portions. Dr. Ashley Allen taught solfege, conducting, and chorus. Eight students earned their certification and proved to be leaders both in the formation and creation of MiKE, as well as exemplary music educators in the state of Michigan.

From the December Workshop: How to Play a Dumbek Presenter: Lorelei Zwiernikowski, lorezski@gmail.com D = Dum (right hand, fingers together, knuckles even over the rim) T = Tek (right hand rim hit, fingers apart, either 3 fingers or ring finger only) K = Ka (left hand rim hit, ring finger) P = Pop S = Slap

Example: (underline = beat line, UC = accented, lc = unaccented, * = rest or embellishment) Baladi or Beledi 1. D D tk T D tk T tk 2. D D D tk D tk T tk Ayyoub or Zaar 1. D *K D T 2. D tK D T

MikE January 2015, Issue 1

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LOREM IPSUM [Street Address] [City], [State][Postal Code]

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July 13 through July 24, 2015 The CMU School of Music is excited to announce our kodály

certification levels for summer, 2014. Levels I and II will be offered for

3 graduate credits or a workshop fee. KodÁly Certification can

count toward a Master’s Degree in Conducting or Music Education if

taken for credit, and can contribute to the 3-summer Master’s

program.

Faculty: Joy Nelson and Ashley Allen For detailed information contact Ashley Allen at allen6a@cmich.edu

To enroll as a new graduate student, apply online at www.grad.cmich.edu. On-campus room and board options are available. Out-of-state tuition waivers are possible.

KodÁly Certification Levels I and II at

Central Michigan University