Y1. Lesson 6. Loud & soft II
Prior learning: Loud & soft
Duration: 30 minutes
Materials:
Keywords: Beat, rhythm, singing, chanting, partners, rhymes, circle games.
Difficulty: 
Prepare
ta & ti-ti
Present
Practise
Beat, loud & soft
Melodic development
Students sing a song to the beat, and vary the dynamics each time.
- Students are seated and attentive.
- Sing the melody using a neutral syllable and ask the class to repeat after you.
- When secure, teach the lyrics line-by-line in a measured cadence and ask the class to sing after you.
- Ask a volunteer whether the song should be louder or softer, and the class should respond accordingly.
Questions
- Ask how many sounds are in this song [3]
- How could we show how many sounds are in the song? [Use our arms or fingers]
- Did you think the song sounded better when sung loudly or softly?
Rhythmic development
Students use fingerplay to keep the beat and practise fine locomotor movements,
This is the Beehive,
But where are the bees?
Hidden inside,
Where nobody sees.
Soon they come creeping,
Out of the hive,
One, two, three, four, five!
- Speak in a measured cadence to keep the beat. Teach the rhyme to the class, who are seated on the floor. Teach the finger plays as you recite the words. The class may take a few repetitions to absorb this new rhyme.
- The class begins to recite the rhyme with you and perform the actions with their hands. Remember to keep a steady beat with the rhyme.
- Ask students to copy you moving your arm up and down to the sound of the imaginary bees and make buzzing noises at the end as they mimic the bee sound.
- By moving your arms up and down corresponding with pitch, you are teaching students the beginning of melodic contour.
- Select a student to come to the front of the class and show the class. Repeat the process, guiding the student to keep in time.
- Repeat with other students as time permits.
Creative movement
Students take a partner in this creative activity, keeping the beat and singing softly and loudly.
- Students stand in a circle, each facing a partner.
- If students are secure with the song, lead the class in singing the song and demonstrate the appropriate motions.
- The game continues until all students return to their original partners.
- Ask students to sing the song softly and then loudly.
Motions:
- "Bow wow wow" - stomp, stomp, stomp.
- "Who's got a cow?" - wag a finger at partner three times.
- "Little Tommy Tucker’s dog" - holds both hands with partner and makes a half-turn jump.
- "Bow wow wow" - make another half turn and jump to face your partner.
Listening
Students listen to music that is loud and soft. and develop their understanding of the terms.
- Explain to the class that they will hear some sounds. Some sounds will go from softer to louder, and others will go from louder to softer.
- There is one sound that goes from soft to loud and back again to soft!
- Play each track from the audio player below and ask students if the sound is getting louder, softer or something else?
- Tell the class they will listen to a short piece of music composed by Franz Joseph Haydn and that it has a surprise at the end!
- Ask the class if they know what a composer does. Ask for a show of hands.
- Explain that a composer writes music and that Haydn lived a long time ago in a country called Austria.
- Ask students to close their eyes and listen very carefully. Then play the track.
- After the track, note the surprise on students' faces as the tutti [loud] chord ends the music with a bang!
- Ask students what they felt after listening to the music.
- Explain that a family of instruments called the strings played the music.
- Ask if the music was loud or soft? Or did it have loud parts and soft parts? Where was the loud part?
Visual learning
Students discover the symbols for louder and softer.
- Project the graphic to the left and ask students what happens as you sing a neutral syllable from soft to loud.
- Teach that the 'V' shape on its side opening up means the music gets louder.
- Conversely, the 'V' shape on its side closing up means the music gets softer.
- Play a track from the audio player at the top of the page and ask students to draw the correct 'V' shape if a sound gets louder or softer.
- At the end of the track, ask students what shape they should draw on the board.
- Monitor the results and give gentle guidance to any student that is having difficulty.
The graphic demonstrates louder and softer to students and unconsciously introduces the symbols for crescendo and decrescendo.
Crescendo and decrescendo are musical symbols that indicate a gradual increase or decrease in volume, respectively.
The symbol for crescendo is an angled line that starts from the left and gradually rises upwards to the right (>). This symbol indicates that the music should get progressively louder.
The symbol for decrescendo, also known as diminuendo, is the opposite of the crescendo symbol. This symbol indicates that the music should gradually get softer. A similar angled line starts from the left and progressively slopes downward to the right (<).
Instruments
Students keep the beat and (unconsciously) the rhythm of a known song.
- Have claves, woodblocks, tambourines, etc., available and distributed to students.
- Divide the class in two, one half having one instrument and the other half with a different instrument.
- Lead the class in singing the song, and students will join in but not play.
- Ask one-half of the class to sing and keep the beat with their percussion instrument.
- When finished, explain that the other half of the class will play their instruments the way the words go.
- When secure, have both groups play their respective parts simultaneously.
- Monitor the group performances and offer gentle guidance where necessary.
Part work
Students sing and bounce a ball in time with the beat and perform actions.
- Have a large soft beach ball available for you to bounce to students.
- Students form a circle.
- Lead the class in singing the song, keeping a steady beat.
- On the word "stop", the student with the ball must say their name and perform an action, such as clapping, jumping, etc.
- Varying the tempo and singing loudly or softly adds value to this exercise.
- Repeat as time permits.
Assess
Suggested lessons
Y1. Beat II
Y1. Beat III
Y1. Beat IV