Sunday, April 28, 2013

About Me

Welcome to my portfolio! My name is Catherine Carter, and I am a recent graduate of the University of New Hampshire having just earned my Bachelor's of Music in Music Education. My student teaching internship was spent between Barrington Elementary School in Barrington, New Hampshire and White Mountains Regional High School in Whitefield, New Hampshire. I currently reside in Lancaster, New Hampshire, where I am an active participant in many music and theatre groups, both community and professional. I am a member of the National Association of Music Educators via the UNH chapter, and I am an adjudicator for the New Hampshire Theatre Awards. In my portfolio you will find my resume, examples of lesson plans that I used throughout my internship experience, as well as recordings from both my senior recital and performances from throughout my college career. Please do not hesitate to contact me either by email (cmw84@wildcats.unh.edu) or phone (603-581-9123). I look forward to meeting you!

Second Grade Lesson Plan



Overview
Little Bunny Foo Foo Second Grade: This is a lesson plan that combines the classic children's story Little Bunny Foo Foo with an instrumental accompaniment. Students will sing the refrain of the story, and express the musical directions that they hear in the story (up and down) on their instruments.

Standards addressed

I Can
Keep a steady beat
Show which way the music is moving
Play Sol La Ti Do
Procedure
Warm Up: Little Bunny Little Bunny you're a goon! Shh!
Which words sound like tee tees? Which ones sound like tahs?

Procedure
1. Sing through Rhyme Story doing the hand motions
a. Bunny hopping for Foo Foo and Finger shaking for Fairy
b. Sweep with left hand for scooping
c. 3 claps for bopping
d. patting quickly on laps while I say the other parts of the story

2. Move to mallet instruments in two groups to learn coda  

3. Story with Instruments
a. Woods and metals tap F and C on first part (Foo Foo Forest)
b. Glocks scoop up w/gliss
c. Woodblocks tap for bopping
d. mallet instruments roll quietly while I say the other parts of the story and strike C on the word "Goon!"

e. Last part "Bun-ny Foo Foo You're a Goon!"

Assessment
Students should be able to:

a. Keep a steady beat both on their laps and on the instruments
b. Illustrate melodic direction with body movement and on instruments
c. Play a rhythm other than the steady beat. 
d. play a roll on a mallet instrument
e. Identify a Coda (tagline) at the end of a piece and play Sol La Ti Do

Materials
Chart

2 Soprano Xylophones
2 Alto Xylophones
1 Bass Xylophone

1 Soprano Metallophone
3 Alto Metallophones
1 Bass Metallophone

2 Glockenspiels
5 Woodblocks 

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Fourth Grade Saxophone and Percussion Lesson


Lesson plan for Saxophone and Percussion 2/22

Saxophones: This week we need to focus on intonation and pitch

Warm up with the Bb Major scale (G for saxes)

Procession:
1. Review m5-13 that they had for homework, particularly m10
a. m10 has the skip at the end of the measure. This skip occurs through out the piece, particularly in the next 10 measures

2. Rehearse the next 10 measures while conducting and addressing issues as they arise, paying particular attention to the descending 8th note patterns

3. General things to watch for are 
a. F#'s being flat (drop your jaw to fix)
b. tonguing when necessary
c. not rushing 8th notes
Percussion: 

1. Take out Power Rock
2. pachem this beat on legs (1- 2 - 3+4+) (pie - pie - pizza-pizza) if #'s fail
3. Circle where you see this pattern in your music! (m10-13, m40, m44)
4. Pay attention to dynamics for snares, Bass the same straight through
a. Forte through m13
b. Mezzo forte 13-21
c. Forte till 45 where snares drop to piano  

Power Rock:
1. Run with conducting bass drum and calling out Pies and Pizzas for snares

2. If they miss the transition into ABTD from 28-29
a. Have them set the sticks down and pachem on legs (1+2+3 4+1) 3 times

3. Focus on m50-54 at the end, focusing first on 53-54, then adding from 50 to the end (54) 

Conquest:
1. Remind them of Wednesday's band assignment, to work through m23-27, and review, especially m25

2. Clap measures 1-4, snares on part, bass on part

3. Conduct Bass drum while saying snares

Star Wars Lesson Plan Fourth Grade



Overview
This lesson focuses on soundtrack music, particularly the music of John Williams. Students will learn about how a soundtrack is a musical story, and how it influences the movie itself. They will identify the different elements that go into the music of the soundtrack, like instrument choice, dynamics, tempo, etc. Students will then listen to the Main Title from Star Wars, focusing on the form of the Main Theme (ABA) Students will be given a listening map to help them follow along with the piece, and will recognize the musical and visual cues from the lesson. A fill in the blank worksheet will be given at the end of the lesson as an assessment of how well the students were able to interpret the information

Standards addressed
6. Listening to, analyzing and describing music
8. Understand the relationship between music and other art forms
9. Understanding music in relation to culture.
I Can
* Follow a Listening Map
* Identify A--B--A Form
* Define a soundtrack 

Procedure

1. Play Star Wars while they walk in. 

2. When the piece ends, remind them about our composer of the month, and ask what a soundtrack is (a musical story that goes along with a movie) What are some musical ingredients that go into a soundtrack? what kind of music helps to tell the story?

3. What is Star Wars about?
What are some ways the music helps to tell the story of Star Wars? 

4. Please take a blue paper and a colored pencil form the center of the table. This is a listening map, which works like a roadmap for this piece. I'm going to play though the piece, and I would like you to follow along on your map using a pencil, or you can follow my mouse across the overhead 

5. Theme: John Williams uses a specific theme that is recognizable to most listeners as the main theme to the movie. How many times do you see the main theme on your map? The main theme is in A-B-A form. Its kind of like a sandwich, with the A part being the bread and the B part being the peanut butter
* Table 1, you will be part A. Every time you hear your part, stand up and put your hands in the air. Your part sounds like this (play) You are the bread. Everyone else, listen for specific instruments that you hear 0:09---0:26

*Table 2, you will be part B. Every time you hear your part, stand up and put your hands up. (play part) You are the peanut butter. Everyone else, listen for instruments that you hear. 0:27---0:45

What's next? (A) Alright table one go for it!  0:50--1:16

Now this is a different part, the mysterious music. Everyone move your hands in a mysterious way. 1:18---1:34

At this part, you've got some scribbles. That means the strings go crazy, so take your mysterious hands and shake them. 1:35-----1:43

*Now we have some new music! This is the fight music. Table 3, put your arms out like this ________, like planes in a fighter scene, and have a seat when your part stops. 1:45---2:13

Has anyone noticed that there are certain symbols for each part? Part A, what is your symbol, or shape? Part B? Fight music?

Look at your maps, there's a new symbol. Every time you hear the music that goes with this symbol, lets smile because it hopeful. Its quick though, here comes the main theme, go table 1!
2:25---3:10

What part is this? look at the map, other than listening, how else do you know its the mysterious music (dotted line) 3:12---3:20

*Now Table 4 you've been so patient, you will have Luke and Leia's theme. We already know that Luke and Leia are characters from the movie, can you show us some slow dancing in your spot that reflects the music? 3:21---4:00



Who can tell me what the word finale means? The finale has the word final in it, and is the very last part of the whole piece. What parts show up in the finale? (Part A, Part B, Fight) And then we have this big section at the end with three things to listen for. Table 4, when you hear the strings after the fight ends, I'd like you to stand up. Table 1&2, stand when you hear the drumroll, and Table 3, stand when you hear the cymbal crash. 4:01-end

6. Listen all the way through with all parts.

7. Now that we have an idea of the way the song moves through the map, I'm going to pass out a worksheet. It looks just like your map, except there are spots left blank. There is a word bank in  middle, but you will use each word only once. There are also empty boxes where the Main Theme appears for the first time. Those 3 boxes are for you to fill in with instruments you hear during the each part of the theme. Follow along with the music as you fill out your map.  


Assessment
Students will be able to:

Describe a soundtrack and how it contributes to the plot of a movie 

Recognize and Identify ABA Form

Identify different parts of the Main Title aurally and visually

Recognize transitions between sections

Define and identify the finale

Complete a worksheet that is an exact copy of the Listening Map Handout and overhead projection, only the words have been eliminated. Every word they will need is located in the word bank, with no doubles. Students will have ten minutes at the end of class to complete the worksheet, and will correct it the next time we meet. 

Materials
Listening Map Worksheet (blue) with words

Blank Listening Map with Word Bank

Colored Pencils

Tables and Chairs

Adobe Star Wars Overhead Map

Main Title Theme from Star Wars by John Williams (Spotify or Itunes)

Saturday, March 9, 2013

First Grade Lesson Plan


Sing a Song of Friendship!
First Grade

Overview : This lesson ties into Peace and Kindness week, using
a classic fable with a song to address the value of friendship

Standards Addressed:
. 1b. sing alone and with others expressively, with appropriate
phrasing, and interpretation.
. 1c. sing from memory a varied repertoire of songs representing
genres and styles.
. 6 a. identify simple music forms when presented aurally.
. 9 a. Understanding the relationship between music and literature

I Can:
. Make connections between music and the message of a fable
(kindness)
. Sing with feeling and expression.
. Perform simple hand motions along with music

Procedure:
. Read Aesop’s fable about the Lion and the Mouse with the picture
book
. Sing through verse 1 of Sing a Song of Friendship with hand motion
. Teach the song to students in 2 measure, than 4 measure phrases,
doing the hand motions in front
. Count students off by 1 and 2, ones form a line and twos pick a
partner
. Sing in two lines with hand motions including handshake with CD
. Demonstrate all of verse two with Mrs. Drysdale, then review in 2 or
4 measure phrases
. Sing through whole song with CD

Assessment
. Does each student sing with
expression?
. Questioning: What role does
music play in the Civil Rights
movement?

Materials/Resources
. Accompaniment CD
. Lyric chart
. Picture book of the fable

Notes: Depending on how quickly
the lesson moves, you can split
this into a two week session