Planning a Music Activity: Using Books

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Music holds a unique place in our lives as well as in the education of our children. Attend a hockey game, go to the mall, go to a wedding, funeral or baptism, take in a ballet recital or figure skating championship and what do they all have in common? Music is part of all these events.

Students who come to my music room are invited to take part in a musical experience that can become part of their lives and is not restricted to a few musical exercises that have no practical purpose outside the music room. I hope the suggestions in this column give you some ideas for presenting music activities that are creative, that utilize the imagination of your students and allow them to experience joy in creating music with you.

Planning a music activity can be as simple as beginning with a picture book. I enjoy using picture books as a launching pad for music class activities. I will read the book to my students in conjunction with a song, movement activity or dramatization of the story. A specific example is Something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman. It is a picture book version of the song “I Had an Old Coat.” I often begin by telling the children the story of the person who is so proud of his new coat, and then all the things that happen to it, until eventually nothing is left but the song. We sing the song and we read the story.

This activity is not limited to using books based on a song. Another of my favourite stories is the delightful story Swimmy by Leo Lionni. This is the story of one small fish who uses his uniqueness to benefit the whole school of fish and how they are able to survive because of him. After reading this story there is a great opportunity to talk about how everyone is unique and has a special part to play. One can sing songs about fish and the ocean. Students can pretend to be walking underwater and talk about what they might see. They can move like sea weed, they can find buried treasure, they can try to escape a shark, and they can swim. These motions can be done using verbal cues, or listening to improvised music on a piano, or using a recorded piece of music such as Camille Saint-Saens’ “Aquarium” from “Carnival of the Animals.”

Books can be used in the presentation of specific concepts. When I was doing a unit on loud and soft, I chose a book about a child getting ready to go to the seashore for the day. As we read the book, we talked about which things we saw in each picture that were loud and which were soft. There was a cat asleep on the mat. Was it purring? How would that sound? Would it be loud or soft? There was a telephone in the picture. What if the telephone rang? Would it be loud or soft? Would it wake up the cat? What about the door opening and closing? What about the ticking of the grandfather clock? We put the book down and sang “Hickory Dickory Dock.” We sang it loud and then soft. Some students kept a steady “tick tock” motive going while we sang and then we switched parts. We returned to the book.

On the second page, the child was getting into the car. Did it have a horn? Was it loud or soft? What other mode of transportation could be used if he didn’t travel by car? What sounds do we think of when we talk about a train? A boat? A bus? A truck? An airplane? etc. We put the book down and sang a song about a factory that made cars, boats, trucks, etc. (the same tune as “I had a Rooster and the Rooster pleased me”). One could use any vehicular song such as “Bumping Up and Down in my Little Red Wagon,” “The Wheels on the Bus,” or “Engine Engine Number Nine.” One could also listen to “The Little Train of Caipira” by Heitor Lobos. This song is about a train trip and provides the backdrop for imagining what you would see on your train trip. There are many songs about travel and transportation. A wonderful resource is part of the Music & You music series. They provide a Master Song Index for their entire music program K-6. The section on Transportation/Travel gives an extensive list of songs.

As you might have gathered by now, choosing one book and applying this process could result in music activities for several days. Students may be working on a concept (such as loud and soft) but it is within the context of the world at large. The concept is not isolated, but is placed within the scope of life itself. This is a very important part of the music education process. In the real world, music is not an isolated entity and neither does it have to be treated that way in the music room. Students can leave the music room thinking about things they will see during the day that are loud and soft. They can return to the music room and share what they saw, which in turn may take the class in another direction or another song.

In addition to loud and soft, the book about a trip to the seashore enabled us to talk about things we would see at the beach, or underwater, or other places students had gone for vacation, or where they would like to go if they could go anywhere in the world. There are many connections to be made to the lives of the children outside the music room, with their families and in their community.

In my teaching situation, substitute music teachers are often difficult to find. If I am preparing to do a “storybook activity unit” I can leave that book to be read by the substitute in my absence and the students can then do the related music activities with me when I return. When there are recorded songs that are related to the book in some way, they can be left for the non-singing teacher as well, and the students continue to have musical input in their day.

The presentation of music in conjunction with a book can be an imaginative and creative activity. It is a great adventure and well worth taking. I invite you to give it a try and be amazed at the creativity, imagination and thought processes of your students. Happy music making!

Donna Rhodenizer teaches Primary– Grade 5 general classroom music at Kings County Academy in Kentville, Nova Scotia. She has been teaching in the public school system for nineteen years. She is a music educator, composer, professional performer, recording artist and publisher. www.redcastlepublishing.com.

Donna and her partner Andy Duinker have been nominated for Favourite Children’s Artist/Group for the Canadian Independent Music Awards.