Traditional Music of Ireland

Abby Koehler, James Nackley, Brandon Buterbaugh,

Grace Watson-Martin, Shannon Cullipher, Hurlie Yang

April 27, 2016

------

Lesson Plan for “Traditional Music of Ireland”

7th Grade - Park Forest Middle School

  1. Materials
  2. Youtube video and cultural information on powerpoint
  3. Recordings: “Swallowtail Jig” and “Molly Malone”, Listening Worksheet
  4. Lyric sheet of “Molly Malone,” tuned guitar and piano
  5. Recording: “The Girl I Left Behind Me/Rakes of Mallow” (Ceilidh Band)
  6. Objectives
  7. Students will be able to understand and be able to answer questions about Irish culture.
  8. Students will be able to listen, analyze, and answer questions about traditional Irish music including similarities and differences of traditional Irish music between instrumentation, style, and intention..
  9. Students will be able to sing pitches, rhythms, and text accurately
  10. Students will be introduced to a tradition Irish line dance, accompanied by a traditional Irish song.
  11. Assessment
  12. Teacher will informally ask students questions about the cultural materials being taught and observe students’ responses.
  13. Teacher will informally and formally assess watch for students’ reactions and assess through questions about instrumentation, mood, style, and thoughts about the music.
  14. Teacher will assess singing informally by listening for correct pitches, rhythms, and text.
  15. Teacher will informally watch to see if students achieve the correct dancing style and if they are moving to the steady beat of the song.
  16. Procedures
  17. Introduction: Cultural Information (Hurlie)
  18. Teacher will play the Titanic (dance scene) Youtube video (2 mins) while students enter the classroom.
  19. Teacher will introduce the Irish cultural which includes: location, food, instruments and people by using powerpoint.
  20. Teacher will ask questions to class in the end of the introduction.
  21. Attentive Listening (James)
  22. Teacher will explain that we are going to listen to some examples of this type of music.
  23. Teacher asks students to pay attention to how they feel about the music, instruments they hear, or anything else they think of.
  24. Teacher plays approx. 30 seconds of “Swallowtail Jig”
  25. Teacher asks questions to class
  26. Teacher passes out listening worksheets to students and explains to fill out the worksheet while listening to the next selection.
  27. Teacher plays approx. 1 minute of “Molly Malone”
  28. Teacher allows approx. 2 minutes for students to complete worksheet
  29. Teacher collects worksheets
  30. Teacher explains that now, Ms. Cullipher and Ms. Watson-Martin are going to help to teach you part of the song we just listened to!
  31. Engaged Listening: Singing (Shannon and Grace)
  32. Vocal Warm-Up - Shannon

a)Physical - stretching and loosening up

b)Breathing – exhale on consonants

c)Vocalise – descending major triads

d)Vocalise – stepwise ascending (major)

e)Extension - sirens

  1. Teach first verse - Grace

a)Teacher sings two lines of verse (8 macro beats)

b)Students echo

c)Teacher sings remaining two lines of verse

d)Students echo

  1. Teach chorus - Grace

a)Teacher sings first line of chorus (4 macro beats)

b)Students echo

c)Teachers sings final line of chorus

d)Students echo

  1. Teach second verse - Shannon

a)Repeat steps as from #2

  1. Review chorus - Shannon

a)Repeat steps from #3

  1. Sing “whole thing” acapella

a)Students will sing known verses and chorus with teacher

b)Time pending, teacher will sing unknown verses and students will sing chorus with teacher accompanying on guitar

  1. Sing “whole thing” with accompaniment

a)Students will sing known verses and chorus while teacher accompanies on guitar and/or piano

b)Teacher will sing all unknown verses and students will sing the choruses and verses they know

  1. Engaged Listening: Movement (Abby and Brandon)
  2. Intro

a)Teacher instructs students to move chairs to create an open space for dancing.

b)Teacher explains meaning of “The Girl I Left Behind Me”: This song is about a traveling man remembering his home and the beloved girlfriend that he left there. It has been used in many different cultures and settings, but it originated in Dublin, Ireland.

c)Teacher explains Ceilidh bands: Ceilidh ensembles were ensembles that played at social gatherings where people sang and danced. A Ceilidh band is usually made up of instruments like fiddles, flutes, tin whistles, accordions, and dulcimers.

d)Teacher explains Irish dancing: The type of dancing that we are doing is social dancing that would be done at parties. This kind of dancing is not the same as what we see in Riverdance and other similar performances. Social dancing often took place at cross roads where there was a square and plenty of room for everyone to dance.

  1. T: demonstrate all 16 counts of the dance (no music)
  2. T: demonstrate short phrase 1 (4 counts)
  3. S: echo
  4. T: demonstrate short phrase 2 (4 counts)
  5. S: echo
  6. T: demonstrate short phrases 1 & 2 (8 counts)
  7. S: echo
  8. T: demonstrate short phrase 3 (4 counts)
  9. S: echo
  10. T: demonstrate short phrases 1, 2, 3 (12 counts)
  11. S: echo
  12. T: demonstrate short phrase 4 (4 counts)
  13. S: echo
  14. T: demonstrate all 16 counts
  15. S: echo (repeat steps 15 and 16 as needed)
  16. T: demonstrate all 16 counts of the dance (with music)
  17. T & S: dance full dance together (repeat the 16 count dance over and over throughout the entire song).
  1. Conclusion
  2. Teacher asks students to return to their seats.
  1. Contingency Plans
  2. Sing Molly Malone
  3. Pass it back to the classroom teacher

Dance Steps

Video with the Irish Stew Dance that we learned. We will be doing the first 16 counts of the dance on repeat:

Short phrase 1: (weight goes on the foot indicated, the opposite leg is out to the side with toes pointed)

Beat:1. L

2. R

3. L

4. Clap (Right leg remains out to the side with toe pointed)

&. Clap

Short phrase 2: (weight goes on the leg given, the opposite leg is forward with heel on ground and toes pointed up)

5.. L

6. R

7. L

8. Clap (Right leg remains forward with heel on ground and toes pointed up)

&. Clap

Short phrase 3:

9. R step forward

&. L step (behind R)

10. R step forward

11. L step forward

12. R step backward

Short phrase 4:

13. L step backward

&. R step backward

14. L step forward

15. R step forward

16. Turn on balls of feet 90 degrees to the left (Left ear goes backward)

Repeat all 16 counts until end of song