"Hello, Somebody" is a traditional greeting song that appears in Jump Right In  Grade 3 General Music Series. I've been using it for several years, singing the song and engaging students in improvising on a woodblock between verses.  Listening and Improvising: Rhythm Focus  This week I decided to try something new. Instead of singing the entire verse before demonstrating improvisation, I broke each verse into phrases, and modeled improvising 4-macrobeat (two-measure) rhythm patterns on a woodblock after each phrase. I also transposed it to D-major to make it more accessible for developing voices (usually between D and A). VERSE 1: IMPROVISE ON THE WOODBLOCK ( two measures) IMPROVISE ON THE WOODBLOCK ( two measures ) VERSE 2: Hello, somebody, hello.  Somebody wants to know your name  (Improvise) Hello, somebody, hello.  Somebody wants to know your name  (Improvise) After I modeled the sequence--alternating singing and ...

Some of the best teaching moments in my classroom happen spontaneously, without prior planning or expectations. My favorite musical moment of this week was improvising with my choir the last two minutes of rehearsal.  As buses were lining up outside the music room windows, my fourth graders and I were interacting in Dorian tonality. I started by improvising a simple repetitive chord root melody, and invited the altos to join in. As they got comfortable with it, I demonstrated a slightly different part for the sopranos, using the fifth of the tonic chord.  Finally, I added an improvised melody over the two-part harmony. There was a magical feeling in the air: we were making music together, spontaneously, without any preparation or memorization. The music brought us to a logical conclusion as we organically slowed down and struck the last chord. I am inspired to continue exploring this musical journey with my students next week. Perhaps we can try a different chord progr...