A Strategy To Teach So Mi

Goals

  • The students will recognise and identify, both aurally and visually, the interval between so and mi and be able to reproduce it using handsigns, stick notation and staff notation. 
  • The students will be able to read, write, perform and create using the notes "so" and "mi".

Prerequisite Skills/ Knowledge

  • Rhythmically the students will know taand ti ti
  • Melodically the students will be able to distinguish between high and low sounds which have been refined from an octave, through a perfect 5th to a minor 3rd.

Repertoire

Bye-lo m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Clap Your Hands m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Cuckoo Where Are You m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Eeny Meeny Miny Mo ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Engine Engine ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Fishy Fishy ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Good Night Sleep Tight m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Hey Hey Look At Me m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Jump High m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
One Two Tie My Shoe m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
One, Two, Three, Four ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Queen Queen Caroline ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
See A Pin And Pick It Up ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
See Saw m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Starlight m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Swinging High m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Two Four Six Eight ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  
Walking Low m finalis s ; ta.png ; ti_ti.png  

Supporting Resources

A strategy for teaching Staff ;  

References

Johnson, J. (2003) "Music in the Classroom" Lectures.

Prepare

As teachers we can prepare our students' understanding of a musical element by teaching a range of appropriate songs containing that element before we teach them the theoretical name of the element.

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Review:  

"Boys and Girls, let's sing our song 'See Saw' as we pretend to be see saws going up and down." 
"Who can tell me if this song begins with a high or a low note?" A high note

Point:  

"Boys and Girls, watch and listen as I sing 'See Saw'. When I sing the high note in our song, I will put my hands on my shoulders, and when I sing the low note I will put my hands on my waist." 
The teacher sings "See Saw" with body signs for high and low. 

Reinforcement:  

"Everyone, please sing the song and show the high and low notes with body signs." 
"Let's just have the people in the front row." 
"Let's have the people sitting in the back row." 
"Let's have everyone try it again." 
"Please sing 'See Saw' with beautiful singing voices as you stand up straight and tall." 

Make Conscious

This is where as teachers we discover and name the musical element we have previously prepared.  It is important to choose carefully the song we discover the new element in to ensure there are not too many unknown elements in the song that will confuse students.

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Review:  

"Please sing our song 'Bye-lo Baby-o' with beautiful singing voices." 
"Does this song have our high and low notes?" Yes
"Show me the handsigns we use for the high and low note." The students demonstrate.
"Please sing 'Bye-lo Baby-o' singing the words 'high' and 'low' and show the handsigns." 

Point:  

"Boys and Girls, musicians have a special name for the high and low notes. The high note and it's handsign are called 'so'; the low note and it's handsign are called 'mi'." 
"Listen while I sing 'Bye-lo Baby-o' in a new way." 
The teacher sings the song in solfa while showing the handsigns.  

Reinforcement:  

"Everyone sing with me in these new melody names and show the handsigns." 
"Everyone on this side of the room sing with "so-mi" and show the handsigns." 
"Everyone on the other side of the room sing with "so-mi" and show the handsigns." 
"Everyone sing the song with the words in beautiful singing voices." 

Teaching Note: All other so-mi songs should be practised with these new melody names (solfa) and handsigns.

Practice

Once an element is named, it is important to practise it in a variety of different songs and contexts to reinforce the new concept.

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  1. The students will learn about the staff position of the notes "so" and "mi".

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will discover the staff position of the notes "so" and "mi" when "so" is on a line, by notating the staff position of "See Saw".

Review:  

"Please sing 'See Saw' as we swing our arms up and down like a see saw." 
"Sing the song again with rhythm names and as you do, I will write the rhythm onto the board." 
"What other part of the music do we know?" The melody names.
"Please sing the song with these names, showing your handsigns and I will write the letters for 'so' and 'mi' under the rhythm." 

Point:  

The teacher draws a staff below the stick notation and places a note on the fourth line.
See Saw so me rhythm

"Who can tell me where 'so' is living today?" On the fourth line.
"What do we know about 'mi'?" It's a skip below 'so'.
"If I want to place 'mi' on the staff I will have to skip over the space below 'so' and put it onto the next line." 
The teacher draws a note onto the 3rd line. 

Reinforcement:  

The teacher calls individual students to the board to place the remainder of the notes. 
"Please sing our song with melody names while I point to the staff." 
A number of students repeat the exercise and then the song is sung with the words. 

Teaching Note: Repeat this lesson using different songs and with "so" on different spaces and lines.

Bookmarks
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Alternatively...

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