{"id":529,"date":"2017-05-29T15:51:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T19:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/?p=529"},"modified":"2026-03-31T15:07:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T19:07:39","slug":"7-9-year-old-dalcroze-april","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-april\/","title":{"rendered":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze: April"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Life caught up with me in April, so this is the first update for class activities in over a month. Here is a brief list\u00a0of some of the things we have explored and games we have played over the past several weeks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Toss the bean bag on the high note.\n<ul>\n<li>Kids hear melodic patterns in 4\/4 time. Each pattern consists of quarter notes with a high note falling on beat 1, 2, 3 or 4. They walk and toss on the high note. Challenging for most. We spent some time in the beginning exploring things to do with a bean bag that can match specific tempo and dynamics requirements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Lead your partner\u00a0through touch.\n<ul>\n<li>Partners work to develop a set of signals to guide their partner around the room. Signals can include direction, starting\/stopping, tempo, etc. I encouraged them to talk as little as possible. Pairs demonstrated for the group. The group attempted to discern and describe the signals they saw.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Movement Concertos\n<ul>\n<li>The student with a bean bag moves as she likes, the piano follows her with a single voice. When the piano plays with many voices, the entire class joins in the same movement. The children are encouraged to use a wide variety of tempo and dynamics as I attempt to mimic concerto form and style in my improvisation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Improvisation with rhythm cards.\n<ul>\n<li>Partners sit across from each other. A holds up rhythm card, B plays rhythm following whenever A changes. All partners perform simultaneously.\n<ul>\n<li>variation: One student conducts for dynamics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Metrical scarf toss\n<ul>\n<li>Quick reaction: step the beat and toss the scarf on the 2nd beat of a 4\/4 measure if I call &#8220;2&#8221;, etc. (Students are hearing dotted quarters on their toss as I play.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Dotted Quarter Quick reaction\n<ul>\n<li>Walk with a partner linking arms. When you hear a dotted quarter + eighth, change directions with your partner.<\/li>\n<li>Walk alone. At &#8220;hop&#8221;, take one step backwards. (&#8220;hop&#8221; coincides with a dotted quarter + eighth.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Pattern + soloist, improvisation\n<ul>\n<li>Group plays a pattern, one soloist is free to play as she likes. (All have percussion instruments.) We experimented with the form of this one, and really practiced listening for dynamics and responsiveness to the soloist.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those are a few of our greatest hits.\u00a0I&#8217;ll give you one more update at the end of the year, which is coming up fast. Happy Memorial Day! Always interested in your thoughts and comments.<\/p>\n<p>Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life caught up with me in April, so this is the first update for class activities in over a month. Here is a brief list\u00a0of some of the things we have explored and games we have played over the past several weeks: Toss the bean bag on the high note. Kids hear melodic patterns in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[128],"tags":[93,113,120],"class_list":["post-529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dalcroze-reference","tag-1st-2nd-grade","tag-children","tag-single-class-documentation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ohMj-8x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":474,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-dalcroze-11017\/","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":0},"title":"7-9 Dalcroze: 1\/10\/17","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"January 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is our first class of the New Year: If I move, students are still. When I stop, students move freely. Simple instructions (affectionately known as \u2018opposite day\u2019), but devilishly hard to execute for this age. The urge to mirror is very strong in us. I made my phrases in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":466,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-111516\/","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":1},"title":"7-9 Year-Old Dalcroze, 11\/15\/16","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"November 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This weeks activities: Move to the music. At signal, stop and clap 4 times. At next signal, stop and pat knees 4 times. Continue to alternate at each signal. This is a continuation of the same game we played last week, with an added challenge: keeping track of a past\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1094,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/changing-beat\/","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":2},"title":"Changing Beat","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"October 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Here we play with beats of 2, 3 and 4 divisions. I start with 3, which I am playing with a swing feel on the recording. At \u201chip\u201d I take a way a division (e.g. 3 divisions becomes 2), at \u201chop\u201d I add one (e.g. 3 divisions becomes 4). I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":468,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-112216\/","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":3},"title":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze: 11\/22\/16","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"December 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze; 11\/22\/16 Make a shape with curves. Make a shape with straight lines. This seemingly simple direction was first intended to be a physical warm-up. As I watched their choices, I began to play accompanying chords: towards dissonance for the curvy, and towards consonant for the straight-line shapes.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":452,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/a-class-for-5-6-year-olds\/","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":4},"title":"A Class for 5-6 Year-olds","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"January 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So many things can happen over the course of a Dalcroze semester that you can often get a better\u00a0idea of what a class has been doing by simply describing a single class in detail. Here\u2019s a description of a recent class of exceptional 5-6 year-old girls that I am fortunate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1044,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/expanding-and-contracting-beats-in-duple-meter\/","url_meta":{"origin":529,"position":5},"title":"Expanding and Contracting Beats in Duple Meter","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"October 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In a measure of two beats, the length of beat can change from as low as two divisions (e.g. two eighths with a quarter note beat) to 6 divisions (e.g. 6 eighths with a dotted half note beat). I call the number of divisions right before each change. You could:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Dalcroze Reference&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":530,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}