The "Primary Lesson Plan" is a Kodály-style lesson where 2nd grade students are to determine the solfege syllables for a children's song given the rhythm and several chances to listen to the song, both in whole and in part. The writing of this lesson plan led up to a teaching demonstration where I executed the lesson with my peers standing in as the students.

 

The "Children's Book Outline" is not so much a single lesson plan as it is an outline of several lesson plans that would be executed over the course of several weeks. The lessons all utilize a children's book, in this case, Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug. Children's literature is useful in instructing any subject, not just reading and writing - in this case, the book was creatively analyzed by me and used in such a way where it can teach 2nd grade students the musical concept of dynamic changes. 

 

The "First Day of Chorus" document is a possible procedure for the first day of chorus class at the middle school level. It involves activities that will engage students to get them excited and singing immediately, rather than simply going over administrative matters for the whole period as often happens on the first day of school. 

 

"Vocalise Exercises" includes two warm-up exercises designed by me. One is geared toward a given piece of repertoire (All Things Bright and Beautiful by John Rutter) and the other is more generic. Taking warm-ups from the repertoire is an important skill to have in the interest of comprehensive and cohesive teaching. This led up to a teaching demonstration in front of my peers. 

 

The "Vocal Pyramid Lesson Plan" is a plan to tie technical vocal instruction in with the teaching of a song in a logical sequence. Teaching voice is a logical and sequential process when done concientiously - one should start with posture and breathing to create a foundation, then move to phonation, then on to resonance, then add elements of diction, then top everything off with the addition of expression. This developmental method is the concept of the "Vocal Pyramid," or (in child-friendly terms) "musical BLT," and always informs my vocal music instruction. For further clarification, find the "Vocal Pyramid" document on the "MISCELLANEOUS" subpage. 

 

The "Sing A Joyful Song Lesson Plan" is a lesson plan where I prepared to teach one line of music from a piece of repertoire (Sing A Joyful Song by Sally K. Albrecht) in a comprehensive manner where the line is written on the board and the teacher explores the line of music theoretically with the students. As a class, the group would collaborate to label the rhythms and identify the correct solfège syllables before singing and eventually adding text. In a typical middle school choral classroom with a teacher choosing to utilize this approach, approximately 10-20% or so of repertoire could be taught in this way, where the rest would be taught largely by rote (by ear). This was prepared in anticipation of a teaching demonstration in front of my peers. 

The "Beginning Band Arrangement" is an arrangement of the children's song "Froggie Went A' Courtin'," prepared by me for an elementary school band. The associated lesson plan is written to begin teaching the arrangement - it focuses on the pentatonic scale and elements of program music (music telling a story) upheld by the arrangement. These materials were prepared in anticipation of a teaching demonstration in front of my peers. 

 

The "Canterbury Overture" Lesson Plans are a series of lesson plans that I wrote with a partner where we developed a piece of repertoire (Canterbury Overture by Anne McGinty) over a series of teaching demonstrations with our peers standing in as the band. We alternated as teachers during each demonstration. Writing these, as well as writing the "Children's Book Outline," was helpful in developing long-term planning skills.