Grade 3 Lesson 33
Teaching Procedures
Review the dance “Los Machetes”
Play Poison Rhythm with 16th notes
Teach “Someone’s Tapping”
“Someone’s Tapping” is a guessing game. Depending on the reading abilities of your students, teach the song by rote or have the students read the solfa and the rhythms.
Ask the students to tell you how they can guess who is singing. They can tell who is singing because every person’s voice has a different “timbre.” Tell them that adult and children’s voices have different timbres.
Have the students show the phrases with arm motions. Each phrase is one measure. Ask the students which phrases are the same and which are different. Label the phrase form with shapes or with letters: a b a' c.
Learn the game for “Someone’s Tapping”
This is a guessing game with two guessers. Guessers sit with backs to the class. The teacher must select two soloists to sing the solos. Each guesser gets one guess. The students who sing the solos become the new guessers. Sometimes the guessers get confused and listen to the wrong solo. To avoid confusion have them face the blackboard and in front of them print:
Solo 1: Who could it be?
Solo 2: Just try stopping me.
Play the game and sing “Someone’s Tapping”
Create a New Eight Beat Rhythm Pattern
Create a new eight beat rhythm pattern using the rhythms that work in the song "Someone’s Tapping."
Choose body percussion or Choose homemade instruments to play your rhythm pattern!
A print version of this activity is given in supporting resources.
Option 2: Teach the Orff arrangement for “Someone’s Tapping”
Playing and Creating: Have the students create a new melody for the song in F pentatonic.
Play along with “Calata”
If you have a hand drum, play along with a drum.
If you are home, find something to use for an instrument, or play along with body percussion (clap, pat, stamp, snap).
Listen and respond to “Calata”
Listen to "Calata."
Can you answer some of the questions in the listening log?
In this piece you hear a Recorder, a Tambourine, and a Viol da Gamba which looks like a Cello.
Listen to “Just Friends”
Introduce this song by having a class discussion about the qualities that students look for in a friend. Have the class brainstorm and make a list on the board of the qualities that make someone a good friend. Some ideas might include: kind to others; loyal; trustworthy; honest; fun to be with. Ask the students to listen to the song and list the qualities of friendship that are given in the song.
Teach the song by rote. This song is included to provide an opportunity to discuss friendship as a part of social-emotional learning. (SEL)
Discuss the form of the song.
- Introduction: ask the students to tell you what instrument plays the intro (piano)
- Interlude: there is an instrumental interlude in this song. Which instrument plays the melody? (sax)
- Chorus: the chorus uses a call (Just friends) sung by the choir, then a response by the adult male singer.
A ballad is a song that tells a story, and it can be dramatic, funny, or romantic. This is a slow ballad about friendship. The word ballad comes from medieval French balade, a dancing song. Ask the students to tell you what the song makes them think of, or how it makes them feel.