Note to the Teacher
The BCP/Core lessons for Kindergarten include the words for "Kum
Ba Ya" as part of Music Lesson 9. Since the fourth graders have just studied
about West Africa in History and Art, they will learn the song again, this
time using the music notation. So far this year they have produced harmony
only inadvertently, by singing rounds; in this lesson they will learn to
sing "Kum Ba Ya" in two-part
harmony.
Objectives
Locate Nigeria in West Africa.
Sing a folk song whose melody comes from Nigeria.
Recall the meaning of the musical term harmony.
Sing "Kum Ba Ya" in simple
two-part harmony.
Materials
Classroom-size map of modern Africa or of the world
Music and words to "Kum Ba
Ya" in two parts, for transparency and for each student (attached)
Procedure
Start the class by asking: The name of what country in West Africa,
south of the Sahara Desert, begins with the letter N? (Nigeria) Have someone
point it out on the map. Tell the students the song they will learn today
is African American folk song, and its melody originally came from Nigeria.
Write on the board Come By Here and, next to it, Kum Ba Ya.
Pronounce the two phrases in a way that shows their relationship -- and
that they both mean the same thing. Have the students take turns saying
both phrases slowly, trying deliberately to make the second a variation
of the first. If they have trouble understanding how this happens, demonstrate
for them how people from different parts of the country pronounce things
differently. (For example, show them how a person whose family had lived
in Boston for many generations would pronounce words differently from someone
who had always lived in North Carolina; remind them of the way many Baltimoreans
pronounce the word Baltimore. Tell them that the phrase Kum Ba Ya
has a nice, musical sound, and the words stuck with the song.
Ask whether anyone knows the song. (Remind them that they may have
learned to sing it in Kindergarten or even outside of school.) Have those
who know the song sing it through with you for the rest of the class. Then
tell them: Today we will all sing the song together, in unison,
and then you are going to learn to sing it in two-part harmony. (Write
the words unison and harmony on the board.) Ask someone to
read the two words and give definitions for them. (Unison means
everyone playing or singing exactly the same notes at the same time. Harmony
means two or more different notes sounding at the same time and making
sense together.) Ask them: What about "Evening
Bells" and "Dona Nobis Pacem"?
Did we sing those in unison? (learned in unison, then sang as rounds, which
means singing the same notes but not at the same time) Tell them that singing
songs as rounds is actually one way to produce harmony. With "Kum
Ba Ya" the students will learn two different parts and then put
them together.
Project Part I of "Kum Ba
Ya" on the overhead and teach the song in four phrases to everyone. Ask
them:
the time signature (4/4)
how many beats in each measure (4)
Fourth Grade - Music - Lesson 15 - Singing in Harmony
what kind of note gets one beat (quarter note)
any sharps or flats (no)
When they all know the melody, divide the class into two groups and
pass out copies of the music, Parts I and II. Show them that Part I is
the same melody they have just learned. Tell them that Part II is only
a little different, but it's the part that is really responsible for making
the harmony. Have them all put down Part I and sing Part II, dividing it
in four phrases as you did with Part I. When you feel they are secure about
Part II, divide the class into two groups, making sure you have some singers
who sounded particularly strong on Part II in that group. Remind them of
the names they learned (Music Lesson Two, Vocal Ranges) for the highest
part (soprano) and the middle part (alto), and tell them they can think
of Part I as the soprano part and Part II as the Alto part.
Have the students stand with their group, and make some distance between
the two groups for your self to stand. Have them fold their papers in half
horizontally so that the music for Part I is on one side; music for Part
II, on the other. Be sure they understand that the first group sings Part
I and the second group sings Part II. They will begin singing the same
two notes; the two parts diverge after that, and you will probably need
to help Part II not to get dragged into the melody part of Part I. Use
as much hand and body language as you can to help them along. They should
be surprised and pleased at the harmony they produce.
Fourth Grade - Music - Lesson 16 - Mozart's Magic Flute
Note for the Teacher
The revised Core Knowledge Sequence (1997) recommends selections from
Mozart's last opera, The Magic Flute, for Fourth Grade Music, and
we include the recommended pieces in this lesson within a sense of the
opera as a whole.
Objectives
Recall the term opera.
Recall musical terms designating some high and low vocal ranges.
Listen to selections from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute.
Materials
Biographical material about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, see Suggested
Books
Recording of selections from The Magic Flute, see Suggested
Recording
Suggested Recordings
Mozart, The Magic Flute, Naxos CD 8.660030-1
Several of the songs recommended from The Magic Flute are on
Vozart Concert in Vienna, Naxos CD 8.550866
Mozart, The Magic Flute (Highlights) Naxos CD 8.553438.
Suggested Books
Student Titles
Downing, Julie. Mozart Tonight. New York: Bradbury Press, 1991.
Illustrated with watercolor paintings by the author, this biographical
storybook is told in the first person, through the voice of Mozart himself,
looking back on his life.
Isadora, Rachel. Young Mozart. New York: Viking, 1997.
Easily read by 4th graders, this storybook first biography gives them
a good sense of how precocious Mozart was -- writing music at age 4, before
he could read words, and teaching himself to play the violin well enough
at age 5 to be sent on a performing tour with his older sister.
Kaufmann, Helen. The Story of Mozart. New York: Grosset &
Dunlap, 1955.
This biography holds up well in spite of its age. It is a chapter book,
very accessible, and
full of lively dialog that brings Wolfgang and his family to life.
Switzer, Ellen. The Magic of Mozart. New York: Atheneum, 1995.
An extensive biographical section, best suited for reading aloud by
the teacher, opens this book. What follows is a group of photographs that
show a performance of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute by puppets
of the Salzburger Marionettentheater. This includes a telling of the story
of the opera as well as interesting brief descriptions of the several different
kinds of puppets and marionettes made and manipulated by puppeteers.
Thompson, Wendy. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. New York: Viking,
1990.
Part of a British series called "Composer's
World," this book is filled with archival photographs and reproductions
of contemporary paintings. The text may be difficult for most 4th graders,
but it is a good student reference book. A carefully marked map shows the
routes of Mozart's major performing tours. Also included is a simply written
List of Works and a helpful Glossary of Musical Terms relevant to Mozart's
compositions.
Teacher Reference
Hirsch, E. D., Jr., ed. What Your Fifth Grader Needs to Know.
New York: Delta, 1993.
Although this is Hirsch's 5th Grade guide, pp. 233 and 234 contain
good information on Mozart, useful for teaching this lesson.
Video
Ingmar Bergman's The Magic Flute, The Music of Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, VHS Bel Canto 2351.
A thoroughly enchanting version of the opera, filmed by Swedish filmmaker
Ingmar Bergman. It takes about 2 1/4 hours to view and is filled with wonderful
faces, people playing dragons and other animals, and beautiful singing.
Filmed in Swedish with English subtitles.
Teacher Background
If you did not already do so for Music Lesson 6, reading one of the
Suggested Books aloud would be a good way for the students to learn about
Mozart's life. If you need to review information about the composer's life
for the students, tell them that Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg to
a family that loved music. Mozart's father Leopold was a composer and violin
teacher; Mozart's sister, Nannerl, was a piano prodigy as a child and held
promise as a composer until that activity was frowned upon by Leopold.
The Archbishop of Salzburg became their patron, enabling both children
to travel and perform at an early age. The girl was a keyboard player;
Wolfgang played both violin and keyboards. They traveled with their father
to Paris and London several times when Wolfgang was between 7 and 10 years
old, by which time he had already written several compositions.
The next Archbishop of Salzburg was less sympathetic to Mozart, and
so he sought patronage elsewhere. In Italy he received commissions for
operas; in Germany he found some precarious and brief employment with various
patrons who had need of music for church or court. The last ten years of
his life were extremely difficult, in spite of the fact that his music
had achieved some renown. He was largely without patrons and supported
himself by giving lessons and playing in public as much as possible. He
died when he was only 35 years old and was buried in a common pauper's
grave, having written some of the most brilliant symphonies, chamber music,
operas, and concertos the world had ever known. The Magic Flute
is one of the last works Mozart wrote. It was given its first performance
in Vienna in September 1791, just a few months before Mozart died.
Procedure
Having reminded the students about Mozart's life and the music of his
they have already heard (sections of Clarinet Concerto, Horn Concerto,
Overture to the Marriage of Figaro, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), tell them
that they are going to hear some music from an opera of Mozart's. Tell
them that Mozart wrote the opera in the last year of his life, and its
name in English is The Magic Flute. Mozart wrote the opera in German,
and its title in German is Die Zauberflöte. Ask them: What
is a good definition of opera? (play in which all or most of the
text is sung; orchestra accompanies the actors; music as important as the
words) In this kind of German opera, there are some parts that are spoken
as well as sung, and the students will hear a little of that in one of
the comic exchanges between Papageno and Papagena.
Say to the students: There are really two magical instruments in this
opera -- a magic flute and a magical set of bells, or glockenspiel (remind
them it is part of the percussion family and show a picture if you have
one). These two instruments sound very different from the regular instruments
of the orchestra playing the music, and you will be able to pick them out
easily. They are given to the main character, the hero of the opera, named
Tamino, and to his companion, whose name is Papageno. Tamino needs the
magic flute to help him pass through some terribly difficult ordeals that
test his courage, his honesty, his loyalty, and his faith. Papageno is
a comic character, a bird catcher. He himself is dressed in feathers, carrying
a bird cage, and mainly looking around for a wife while he's helping Tamino.
(If you have access to the Switzer book, there is a full retelling of the
story of the opera for reading aloud to the class.)
The following are the songs from the opera that will appeal to the
students the most. They are listed with brief descriptions and the amount
of listening time they take.
1. Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja, in Act I, the second
aria, takes about 2 2 minutes.
This very playful song is sung by Papageno, telling that he is a merry
bird catcher who wishes he had a net for catching a pretty girl for himself
so he could have a wife. The students will be able to hear a rustic-sounding
flute, or Pan pipe, playing by itself at the ends of all the phrases. Papageno
has a baritone voice, which the students learned is the middle range of
a man's voice, between a tenor and a bass (Music Lesson Two, Vocal Ranges).
2. O zittre nicht - Zum Leiden bin ich auserkoren, in Act I,
aria by the Queen of the Knight, takes about 5 minutes to play.
In this aria, the Queen of the Night tells the hero, Tamino, the sad
story of how her beautiful daughter, Pamina, was taken from her. She appeals
to Tamino to rescue Pamina. The Queen of the Night has the very highest
kind of soprano voice, and during the last part of the song she sings some
amazing high notes, the very highest pitches possible for a soprano.
3. Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen - Da bin ich schon,
halfway through Act II, aria by Papageno & then brief exchange with
Papagena disguised as an ancient crone, takes about 6 2
minutes.
The students will hear Papageno singing about how much he needs and
wants a wife. At the ends of the verses of his song, they will hear him
play the magic glockenspiel, which sounds like tinkling bells. In the last
2 minutes, Papagena enters disguised as an old crone and speaks to Papageno
in a witch-like, funny voice in order to test him.
4. Pa-pa-gena! - Pa-pa-geno!, part of the Finale, sung by Papageno
and Papagena, takes less than 3 minutes.
This is the most playful of all the songs, playing with the names in
a very rapid-fire duet between Papageno, the bird catcher, and his soon-to-be-mate,
Papagena, with plans for all the little boys and girls they will someday
have (Papagenos and Papagenas).
5. Die Strahlen der Sonne vertreiben die Nacht, the last song,
sung by Sarastro, high priest of the gods, and the chorus and soloists,
takes 32 minutes.
Sarastro, a real bass, which the students know is the lowest of the
male voices, introduces this final number in the opera. It is serious and
expansive, opening with the lines "The
Sun's golden glory has conquered the Night:/Original Darkness gives way
to the Light." The students will hear the chorus singing in harmony and
a very prominent tympani part.