All About Articulation

I derive a certain amount of pleasure from making my Grade 8s uncomfortable. Is that wrong? My darling students would much rather sit quietly in their seats then do many of the things that I want them to do. I really liked this idea for teaching articulation using movement from the Don't Smile Until Christmas blog. This blog post talks about using an action to go with each type of articulation. I am a firm believer that moving and vocalizing really helps students to internalize concepts. My goal is to make my students believe that, too.

Staccato (very short) - quick flipping of the wrist (like turning a door knob)

Accent (with emphasis) - punching motion

Tenuto (long) - put hands together and move them apart

I put a variety of articulation patterns on the Smart Board. (See below). We read each pattern using the movement and saying the articulation syllable (tuh, Taw, doo). Then we played the patterns on our instruments using the first note of the B flat concert scale.  

We then turned to our GPS books and read the rhythm from the song using our movements and syllables. It is amazing how many students were punching like weaklings! I had a lot of fun trying to motivate them to punch with emphasis. After we read it, we played the whole song on one note and then played it as written.