TUNE: Miss McLeod's Reel
WARMUP/PERCUSSIVE DANCE SKILLS:
Dancing to the beat
This marks the beginning of our class each week! We listen to the music, and find the beat in the following ways:
- Marching to the beat
- Making a choice with how to march to the beat (R, L , R, R, R... for example)
- Using different parts of your feet to march to the beat
This month we added dancing as a soloist, where each child takes a turn dancing to the beat by themselves with the other children using "Hup!" or "Whoo!' to show that they like what the dancer is doing. This is how it is when you dance sean-nos in Ireland!
Dee Dum Patterns
As a set-up for our timing step, we learn to speak a lilting language for our feet. Shannon refers to this as "DEE DUM". The two building blocks are DUM (step on the beat, where the foot gets weight) or DEE (striking the heel and picking it up again, almost as if you are kicking leaves)
Each week, we work with Dee Dum, trying to build facility and ease in the timing step. Here are some of the ways we played with this:
“Just dance the tune!” -a dancer at the Willy Clancy Festival, circa 2006, when I asked him to show me his steps I like to use rhythmic phrases to coordinate our lilting (singing the tune) with our foot movements and rhythms to accomplish this. Much like the onomatopoeia of tap, except rather than describe the movement itself I use musical vocabulary to describe what the feet are doing. Students learn to sing the tune w their feet. Using a basic call & response game, we learn that our feet “speak”. I am helping the children learn to control the use of different parts of their feet and am trying to help them understand that the heel and step have different sounds and purpose. I am watching carefully to make sure children are copying me, in both voice and movement. I adjust my rhythms to keep the group challenged and successful. #percussivedance
“Can you and a partner make a pattern that uses our “dee” (heel) and “dum” (step/flatfoot)? We use dee and dum to help us understand the parts of “an timeál” (the timing). Working one-on-one develops in-class/Dance friendships. Success in performing for each other builds confidence. Feeling the support of the audience builds self esteem! #earlychildhoodeducation #percussivedance #hundredlanguagesofchildren
TRADITIONAL SONGS and DANCES:
This month, we continued working with our songs and dances! These build understanding of the music and develops the children's ear for the music!
Our dance/song list: (You can find the links for songs/dances in the September blog post)
- Rattlin Bog/ Heel Toe Polka
- The Hair Fell of of My Coconut/Peeler and the Goat
- Put Your Little Foot/Shoe the Donkey
- Johnny Will You Marry Me
We added the song, The Little Pack of Tailors, and will learn that dance next! We've been singing right now with the Dublin/Liffey verse, but this is a great song for talking about the cities in Ireland!
PERSONAL STYLE/IPMROV/AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
We added a few improv games as well!
Love these dry erase dice! Kids observe Lucy (our apprentice) dancing, and have to name things she is doing. Then we all dance to the tune of the month, and one child gets to roll the dice to decide which move we all use in our own way. Because the dice erase, the children have started to notice/remember what is being written on the dice each week. #sallygardens #hundredlanguagesofchildren #seannósdance #choice #makingconnections
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