Class Description

This class is offered for Free during Home School Appreciation Week.

Music Makers of the World takes students through a variety of activities (dancing, clapping, coloring, etc.) focusing on a different country each week. We learn about the country's music, population, sports, food, dance, and instruments indicative to their culture. We also learn about rhythms indicative to their culture and learn to clap a new rhythm each week. There will be a time during each class for the child to play percussion instruments as well. There is no homework for this class as everything is done within the 55 minutes allotted for the activities.

The class session's structure is based on the activity we are doing at the moment. Some involve dancing. Others involve listening. The class is structured so there is something for everyone, whether they like to color, dance or play drums.

Sample Class Session:

1) The class starts with a welcome song where the students get to introduce themselves.

2) Then we hop on the Rhythm Train to our destination. Here students learn about the duration of notes to make the train go faster and slower.

3) Next we look at our interactive world map to see where our destination lies in the world. 

4) Now I share an instrument associated with that county and play it for them. 

5) Next we are introduced to a folk song from that culture, and learn how to sing it together.

6) Culture time! We learn about the population of the country, the games they like to play and the food they like to eat.

7) We learn about a unique fact about the country. Sometimes it is a building or a national park or an interesting fact about the people who live there.

8) Coloring Time! We then get a coloring page based on what we just learned about and the students fill the page with color. 

9) We then learn a dance step from that country and try it out.

10) We learn how to clap a rhythm from our country of the week using a variety of different note values.

11) We review the folk song we learned earlier.

12) Then everyone grabs something to bang on for our weekly drum circle. It can be a drum, a shaker or a kitchen pot!

13) Time to say goodbye to our country. We take the Rhythm Train back to our homes.

14) Each child shares something they liked about the country and then we sing a goodbye song and dismiss for the day.

        - Learning goals:

Students learn about the basics of music rhythm and how music differs and is similar across the globe. They also learn about the globe and the rainbow of people that inhabit it.

        - Homework / practice time:

There is no homework for this class.

        - Assessment:

I give verbal assessments during the class for each student highlighting where they are excelling and where the challenges lie in their behavior and interaction in the class. Parents can request a written assessment via any messaging format.

        - Distribution of Class Materials:

During these online classes, the worksheets will be emailed in a PDF format to all the students / parents before the class starts.

        - Teaching style:

Dave is very patient, energetic and compassionate to the challenges of learning music. He stresses the importance of balancing discipline with fun and tackling a number of small tasks instead of one large task in order to learn music swiftly and with much less stress.

        - Teaching experience:

I have been teaching private music lessons from my own studio for 24 years, with additional teaching experience in public schools and employee training while working as a music librarian for Disney Studios. I teach group lessons in piano, ukulele, guitar, song writing and music geography. I have worked with children ages 4-18 throughout my teaching career. While at Disney I also helped prepare the scores for numerous films such as Frozen, Big Hero 6 and many other family classics. This experience allows me to prepare custom pieces for my students based on their interests and favorite songs because of the skills acquired while working in the film industry.

I have been playing piano for over 40 years, and guitar and ukulele for over 10 years. I have created my own curriculum for these instruments, emphasizing taking complex ideas and simplifying them for any age group so students can play music AND understand how music works. I have been writing songs for 37 years and focus on my students releasing their creativity while learning how to give and receive constructive feedback to their peers. I have studied world music and culture for over 31 years, which greatly informs my understanding of Music Geography. 

        - Next steps:

After students are introduced to music they can take one of my intro to instrument classes

Additional Information

Class size: 2-15 students

Supplies:

I supply the materials each week. Online students will need crayons and a percussion instrument for the drum circle. 

Prerequisites

This is an "introduction to music course", so no prior music education is needed.

Class tags:
General Instruments Music Appreciation Music Theory