CHICAGO SCHULWERK - Squarespacestatic.squarespace.com/.../Chicago_Schulwerk_Spring_2012.pdf · CHICAGO SCHULWERK Greater Chicago American Orff Schulwerk Association Spring 2012 President’s

CHICAGO SCHULWERK Greater Chicago American Orff Schulwerk Association Spring 2012

President’s Message Marnie Macke

We are soon coming to the close of another fabulous year of work-shops, of laughing, and playing and learning. Not long after that we will be facing wrapping up our own classrooms at the end of another school year. Many will be thinking of the relief of another year done. Many will be focused on immediate summer vacation plans. Many will be reflecting on the past year’s events and successes. Among all the endings we look to the future and exciting adventures ahead. Are you ready for more Orff training? Don’t forget that GCAOSA offers scholarships for summer levels. See www.aosa.org for a list of this year’s approved courses. If you are not sure what the training is all about come talk to one of our board members. Getting your Orff certificate will be the best two-week investment you can make! Maybe your coming adventure is to attend your first (or eighth or nineteenth) National Confer-ence. With this year’s gathering being as close as St. Louis there is no excuse to stay home! We will all be quick to tell you, “Once you go, you’re hooked!” For our GCAOSA board we are looking forward to welcoming some new members. See page 8 and page 9 for information about our nominees. The ballot and voting instructions are on page 9. It is because of volunteers like these that we maintain such a strong chapter. Thank you to all of our GCAOSA board members!

IN THIS ISSUE

Perhaps you are thinking of a smaller adven-ture like joining us for one of our six fabulous workshops next year. We will be hosting Artie Almeida, Nick Wild, Vivian Murray Caputo, Beth Melin Nelson, Michael Chandler, and of course our very own talented members at Chapter Share. With a line-up like this you won’t want to miss a single one! Thank you, friends for another successful year. I wish you all many happy adventures ahead!

From Jacobeth's Archives 7

Fun With Bouncy Balls 5

GCAOSA Board 2

GCAOSA Board Ballot 9

GCAOSA Board Nominees 8

Photo Gallery February 3

Photo Gallery March 7

Rummage Sale 3

Summer Musical Fun 4

GCAOSA Board President Marnie Macke [email protected] Past President Thom Borden [email protected] Vice-President Manju Durairaj [email protected] Program Chair Caitlin Lucci [email protected] Asst. Program Chair Carol Vrotny [email protected] Treasurer Melissa Marchman [email protected] Corresponding Secretary Janet Tindell [email protected] Recording Secretary Regina Gibbons [email protected] Members At Large Jason Glashauser [email protected] Maryann Loda [email protected]

Liz Moore [email protected] Jennifer Schramm [email protected] Deanna Varagona [email protected] Support Board Hospitality Nancy Chlumsky holkadrah@!juno.com Moira Spangler [email protected] Newsletter Editor Kathy Hummel [email protected] Video Librarian Penny Johnson pfj1660!gmail.com Webmaster Marcie Kumor [email protected] AOSA Headquarters www.aosa.org Region VI Representatives Lissa Ray [email protected] Peter HInch [email protected]

Spring 2012 page 2

Gateway to Exploration

2012 AOSA Professional Development Conference

Renaissance St. Louis Grand Hotel St. Louis, MO

November 14 - 17, 2012

GCAOSA 2012-2013 Workshop Schedule Sneak Peek!

September 15, 2012 Artie Almeida October 20, 2012 Nick Wild November 14 -17, 2012 AOSA Professional Development Conference St. Louis, Missouri January 26, 2013 Chapter Share February.23, .2013 Vivian Murray Caputo March 16, 2013 Beth Melin Nelson April 20, 2013 Michael Chandler

Spring 2012 page 3

RUMMAGE SALE AT APRIL’S WORKSHOP GCAOSA‘s Annual Rummage Sale will be held at our workshop on Saturday, April 21st. All proceeds will benefit GCAOSA Summer Grants. Rummage through your long forgotten music, instruments, CD‘s, tapes, books and gently used classroom materials that are not being used and donate them to the sale. We will be happy to set the price for you! Don‘t have anything to donate? Come prepared to shop. There are great treasures just waiting for you.

Photo Gallery - February Workshop

Crab walk singing game: Do a crab walk while singing a song; or have one student who is the crab; all others are frozen. The crab walker sings one or two phrases and then freezes next to someone. That person then continues the song and begins crab walking and singing. Pass the Phrase: I have vinyl shapes that I use for form such as triangles, squares, cir-cles. Each shape represents a phrase, a song, a warm-up, or a movement. Each student could have a shape and sing the shape I hold up, or form a pattern of shapes. Shapes could be passed around to have a group repeat a phrase. Students could switch with others, like in a statue game, where when they receive the shape, they try to sing the part of the song. It can be done also with choreography with or without singing. Tongue Twister Groups: Give groups of 3-4 students each, a tongue twister. Have the group work on saying it 5 times in a row without hesitation and add a funny walk while saying it. Share with the other groups. Auditions: Make necklaces that say things like musical director, choreographer, pianist, etc. Have a group of students wear these and have one student come up to pretend to be the auditioning student, to show the kids what an audition for a musical is like. Go through how they are supposed to stand, how the kids waiting are supposed to be silent, etc. in preparation for the real thing next day. In other words, set up the room like a real audition situation. Maybe even have them pretend to hand music to the pianist? Song Show Order: Give the kids small cards, each card having a song from your show (song title for memorization OR whole song (lyrics only). In small groups, have the students figure out the order of the songs. Have students sing their organized song order (if need be, everyone can sing other groups' orders). Feel free to limit the excerpts of the songs to the weak sections of the songs you want to rehearse. Go around the room with each group take a turn revealing their or-der, and then at the end reveal the correct order. You may want to play a matching game, if they want to match the song to the correct scene, or match props/costumes needed with the song. Ball Fun: If any of the songs have a hard meter or groove, play a music game or get out some bouncy balls that reinforce the meter or groove. For example, if you are learning "America" from West Side Story, students could focus on stomping, clapping, BP, or gestures, with & without con-tact from others on each "America". Travel during the in between times. Videotape: Don't be afraid to video-tape the kids and show them quality performances from peers to show them how expression and body language are crucial to a good performance. A video cannot exaggerate and can be used to more objectively point out good freezes, a good use of expression, a good use of vocal projection & confidence, and other musical elements. Consider using a performance rubric for judging each element: expression, musicality, choreography.

Spring 2012 page 4

Summer Musical Fun Rehearsal Ideas Carol Vrotny & Regina Gibbons

Spring 2012 page 5

Materials: · Rubber bouncy balls , tennis balls. racquet balls, playground or Gertie balls General Rules: 1 ball per team. 1 person from team comes to get the ball. (team leader/captain) Hold the bouncy balls until the activity/song begins. And hold them when the activity stops. If your group loses control of the ball, return it to your group without disturbing others. Suggestions for success: Play “air ball”, spend a moment learning how your ball bounces, with a warm-up period/song. Use larger balls for smaller students. (K-2 rolling activities, 2 & up big group playground ball

bounce activities, 3 or 4 & up small ball activities) Alternate hands for bouncing and catching. Younger students need to catch a ball with both hands. T plays a steady beat or groove along with students to help keep the beat. If game is based on

a chant, everyone should know it before playing. Try to get the beat steady and the game continuing. If you lose the beat as a group, try to re-

cover the beat. Experiment with standing vs. sitting, group shape, etc., in close formation Basic Strategies: Meter (groupings of beat), Accents, Form, Bounces, Rolls, Passing games, self/partner/group/whole class

Other strategies: Quick-reaction games, Rhythm, Going along with text, Composition tool, As props in a story General Resources: Feel It by Robert Abramson, Rhythm Games by Robert Abramson , Dalcroze Eurythymics, Ball, Hoop, and Ribbon Activities CD, Hap Palmer CD The Feel of Music Your favorite tunes that show meter or form Recommended picture books about bouncy balls: A Ball For All by Brigitte Weninger & Eve Thalet – ISBN 0-698-40049-6 (sharing a ball), My Yellow Ball – by Dee Lillegard, il. Sarah Chamberlain – ISBN 0-525-45078-5 (imaginative sport-like movement with balls) , Henry and Pawl and the Round Yellow Ball by Tom Casmer and Mary GrandPre – ISBN 0-8037-2784-4 Some songs about Balls: I Roll The Ball by Feieraband ; My Ball , Rolling a Round Ball, and Roll That Little Ball from Music Together; Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Pinball Wizard by The

Who, The Bowling Song by Raffi, and TEAM / The Baseball Game from You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown

Fun With Bouncy Balls Regina Gibbons

Spring 2012 page 6

Quick Reaction Game “Blue Skies”

Word or sound cue to change direction, tempo, front/back, hands, traveling, ball activity, etc. In small groups of 3-5 people, play this game. (I used this activity as a introduction towards choreographing with lyric cues for Gr. 3-5.) Clap at word cues. At first, say words randomly placing the cue word. Slowly make the placement

more predictable. Insert the cue word as “blue”. Add song “Blue Skies” as sung by Doris Day. Ball must bounce to next person on the word “blue”.

Emphasize precision. Bouncy Ball Rhythm Composition

Quarter note = 1 beat = dribble Half note = 2 beats = bounce Dotted Half note = 3 beats = lob in the air Whole notes = 4 beats = roll Rests = no action T does an explorative session showing the note values and the ball version that corresponds to

each one. T adds a groove behind exploration and extends to 8 measure grooves. Students explore in teams of 2-4 and create an 8 beat version of their own. (Exploration Song:

______________) Teams create a 4-measure composition to perform to the class. Considerations: use of pattern, easy-to-perform, easy-to-remember, use of all note values, formation of group (standing vs sitting, etc). Each person in the group must notate the finished composition

Ball Composition & Performance Rubric Checklist

All team members participated in all parts of the composition & performance. Clear and correct notation of created piece. At least 4 of the 5 note/rest values are used in the composition. Use of pattern or easy to remember. Performance accuracy (start/stop together, coordination of movement) & visual allure.

From Jacobeth’s Archives

Spring 2012 page 7

Sea Shell

Photo Gallery - March Workshop

Jacobeths’ notes suggest adding an intro-duction and a coda using speech and vo-cal sounds, and creating sound effects on Soprano Metallophone and Soprano Xylo-phone using glissandos. This song also lends itself nicely to rondo form. Have the children create speech sections based on the ocean.

Spring 2012 page 8

Vice President (President Elect) Maryann Loda has been teaching for 24 years and currently teaches K-5 General Music at Deerfield Public Schools. She earned a BMEd and MM from Northwest-ern University. Maryann has completed Orff Levels I & II, and Kodály Level I. She has been an active member of GCAOSA for 16 years and is a member of AOSA. She has previously served on the GCAOSA as Member-at-large.

Statement: As a long-time member of the Greater Chicago AOSA Chapter, I am grateful for the na-tional-level presenters at our workshops and for the talented and well-educated teachers who learn and create here with me. Our strong chapter experiences have been made possible by the tireless efforts of our Executive Board. If elected, I pledge my time and energy to work with the Board to con-tinue this legacy.

Carol Vrotney has been teaching for 19 years and currently teaches Pre-K through 8 at Grass Lake School in Antioch. She earned a B.M. and has completed Orff Certification Levels I & II. Carol is an active member of GCAOSA and is a member of AOSA. She has previously served on the GCAOSA Board as Assistant Program Chair. Statement: I love our chapter and believe strongly in its value to current and future music educators, as well as our most important benefactors, our students.

Corresponding Secretary

Janet Tindell has been teaching for 27 years and currently teaches at Central Elementary in Plainfield. She earned a B.M. from Milliken University and an M.S. in Literacy from St. Francis University. Janet has completed Orff Certifica-tion Level 1. She has been an active member of GCAOSA for 25 years and is a member of AOSA. Janet has served as the IMEA JEM Representative for 15 years and has served on the GCAOSA Board as Corresponding Secretary for 12 years.

Statement: I would be very honored to continue serving as the Corresponding Secretary . I enjoy giving my time to the chapter as I have received so much in return: knowledge, lessons, inspiration, and friends. Assistant Program Chair

Lesley Pretkelis has been teaching for 10 years and currently teaches at G. Stanley Hall in Glendale Heights. She holds a BME from Millikin, a MM from Northern Illinois University, and has completed Orff Certification Levels I - III. Statement: I am fascinated by the Orff process and its limitless opportunities for students. I would love to become more involved and connected to others who share the same love of Orff!

Nominees for GCAOSA Board

Srpring 2012 page 9

Nominees cont. from p. 8

GCAOSA Board Ballot

Vice President Program Chair ___Maryann Loda ___Thom Borden ___Carol Vrotney ___Jennifer Schramm

Corresponding Secretary Assistant Program Chair ___Janet Tindell ___Lesley Pretkelis Mail completed ballot to Marnie Macke 1021 Augusta Ave, Elgin, IL 60120 by April 13th or bring to the April 21

th workshop.

Program Chair Thom Borden previously taught K-8 for 11 years in Gary, Indiana and in the Chi-cago Public Schools, and currently serves as a clinician. He earned a M.M. has completed Orff Certification Levels I - IV, and Kodály Levels I, II, & III. Thom has been an active member of GCAOSA for over 10 years , and is a member of AOSA. Thom has previously served on the GCAOSA Board as Program Chair, Vice President, and President. Statement: I enjoy working with clinicians and will work with clinicians that will support our training. I look forward to the opportunity to give back to the chapter.

Jennifer Schramm has been teaching for 27 years and currently teaches at Mark Twain Elementary in Niles. She earned a B.M. and has completed Orff Certification Levels I, II, & III, and Kodály Levels I, II & III. Jennifer has been an active member of GCAOSA for 17 years and is a member of AOSA. Jennifer has presented at our Chapter Share, the Midwest Kodaly Conference in Milwau-kee, and at IMEA. She has previously served on the GCAOSA Board as Assis-tant Program Chair, Program Chair, and Member-at-large.

Statement: I have enjoyed serving the chapter and would like to continue to promote teaching professionally through quality workshops. Professional and personal growth are at the heart of learning through the Orff process.