MLT & Constructivsm Becky Cole Selby Area Pk-12 Vocal Music

MLT  All learning begins with the ear  Vast listening library  Skip extra listening experience  YouTube listening experience  Asking the students questions

MLT Skill Learning Sequences Aura/Oral Tonal Sequences with lower elementary  Diatonic scale  Do & so, then fa in 2 and 3 note patterns  Neutral syllable: bum  Sing ex. Do so,  Pause to avoid imitation

MLT Skill Learning Sequences Aura/Oral - Rhythm Lower elementary  Ta ti ti to bah  Imitate chants  Imitate songs  Different tonalities and meters  Diversified listening experience

Jump Right In Recorder Book 1  Northern MLT conference  Tonal & Rhythm Reading patterns  Flash cards for each grade level  2 piles/names on the back of students

Miscellaneous information regarding teaching patterns  Teach rhythm and tonal patterns separately  Students are not visually reading notes  Rhythm patterns – sung on same pitch  Tonal patterns – sung on same duration  No need for pause – rhythm patterns if performing the macrobeats/microbeats

Steps to follow for a Tonal sequence 1. Establish tonality on piano 2. Use a neutral syllable to perform pattern 3. Sing the notes on the same duration 4. Direct students to wait, breathe and perform pattern 5. Repeat the process 6. Solo or ensemble

MLT Verbal Association Stage  Associate pitches in the patterns tonalities, meters, syllables  Ex. “C major” or “Meter in 3”  bum to solfége  bah to du, du de  1 st – 3 rd grade, perform ensemble and solo  syllables help students recall and retain patterns  syllables help students understand where do is and la is  introduce notes on the staff and sing them  introduce terms macrobeat and microbeat

Macrobeat / Microbeat  2/4 and 4/4 – quarter note  3/4 time – dotted half note  3/8 and 6/8 time – dotted quarter note  Cut time – half note  Step with your feet  Microbeat is patted on thighs

Partial Synthesis  Students compare familiar and unfamiliar patterns  Helps students understand logic behind the tonal and rhythm syllables (bum vs du de)  Teachers uses a neutral syllable (audiating the pattern)  Use diverse rhythms, few tonal patterns  Adele – chord structure

Symbolic Association Reading & Writing Familiar Tonal Patterns  Helps them understand what they are audiating  Teacher establishes tonality  Teacher sings 1-2 tonic dominant patterns  Show a staff,clef,sharps,flats, assign do to a line or space  Do not include tonal syllables  Do not include rhythm  Erase pattern and let the students write it  Repeat and write the notes using a different do

Symbolic Association Reading & Writing Familiar Rhythm Patterns  Helps them understand what they are audiating  Teacher establishes the meter (by movement?)  Teacher chants the pattern  Teacher write the pattern with beams and not flags  Write the measure signature (“2/4 indicates usual duple meter”)  Do not include pitches or rhythm syllables  Erase the pattern and ask students to write it

Composite Synthesis  Students read and write a series of patterns with contextual understanding  Audiating the tonality  Aware of the meter  Tonal and rhythm patterns are not used in combination

Constructivism  Explains how we know what we know  Experiences and solving problems  These help us learn to think

Constructivism 5 Processes to Implement 1.Understand Prior Knowledge 2.Create an authentic problem 3.Offer information they don’t know 4.Discuss problems and listen to other points of view 5.Assessment