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Sample Lesson for Middle School Students National Standards Areas supported: 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. 2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. *Download MIDI file and Notation files for: When the Saints go Marching In from Scott Watson's neat site Home Practice on Line (Go to HPOL/Private Lessons/Best Loved Songs). The instrumental parts are in .pdf format and can be printed out for: Trumpet Trombone, Euphonium (TC) Tuba, Flute, Clarinet, Alto, and Tenor Sax. Song repertoire includes: Yankee Doodle, Aura Lee, Old MacDonald, Ode to Joy, Ten Little Indians, America, Happy Birthday, The Saints Go Marching In, Oh Suzanna, and Go, Fight Win. *Print out the notation files for the instruments that are represented by students in your classes.
*Discuss the origins of this tune and mention its early use at
funerals in New Orleans and the function of this song as an
improvisation standard. Mention Louis Armstrong as he began to perform with pick-up bands in small clubs and play funerals
and parades around town. As he played these funerals and improvised, he
captured the attention and respect of some of the older established
musicians of New Orleans and this began his career and his important
influence towards the development of Jazz in this country and the world.
*Access the Jazz at Lincoln Center exerpt page and have the students listen in class and at home to the Biography of Louis Armstrong. (The National Public Radio's Louis Armstrong's Centennial Radio Project: The Man and His Music Part 1 & 2.) Also on this page is an excellent audio reflection on Armstrong by Wynton Marsalis. There are also tunes on this page that can be accessed and listened to by your students in class and also at home. * In class teach the song with all students singing. Have the students sing the song with the MIDI file background as accompaniment played back by your classroom computer through speakers. * Perform this tune in class again using the MIDI file as a background but including instrumentalists in class playing the melody. Develop various combinations of instrumentalists and singing. *Make available to your students the URL for Scott's page and encourage parents to help access this site for the students. When they go home, have students play and sing along with the MIDI file that is on the page in either real time or after they have downloaded the MIDI file. Lyrics are not available on the page and will have to be furnished by the teacher. Lyrics Oh when the saints, go marching in, (Additional Verses available) Follow-up Activities *Develop a MIDI accompaniment for a song without copyright restrictions that can be taught in class. Teach the song in class and then practice with the MIDI accompaniment. *Place this song on the school server on a music page that you develop. *Have students sing, play and practice this song at home, either downloading the file, or performing in real time from the page. |