One more thing that I like to cover is Beijing (Peking) Opera. Two online sources for more songs include Mama Lisa's website and this collection- as with anything, it's important to "fact check" any songs before using them in class by making sure you can find a reliable native source for the music! This is a great way to practice ensemble skills, inner hearing (if you do a verse with only instruments), and arranging.Īs I said before, there are so many songs to choose from, and you can easily teach them in the same way, adding instruments and arranging them in different ways. Since I am working with 4th graders, I have them come up with their own arrangement of the song using the sung melody and instrument parts- often we will have each instrument come in one at a time, layering on top of each other, then have everyone sing while playing, then play the song with only instruments, then sing one more time (or something like that). Gongs, triangles, and rhythm sticks would also be good choices for adding some quick instrument accompaniment. Here is an example of some of the percussion parts I might add (this one has tambourine, hand drum, and finger cymbals): With any of the songs that I use, I will usually add some percussion ostinati, along with a simple bordun on the xylophones and/or metallaphones. After hearing me sing the verse a few times while they are practicing the instrumental parts it's much easier for them to learn the lyrics to the verse as well. This is a song for New Year's and the chorus is very easy to learn because of the repeated lyrics- I usually start by having the students learn the chorus, then teach them some instrumental ostinati, and have them play while I sing the first verse. If you aren't comfortable modeling yourself, you could use the recording in your class to teach it- just pause after each phrase and have students echo.Īnother example of a song I have used is Gong Xi. I find that having students read from English letters makes them pronounce it more like English words instead of listening to the sounds and copying them that way. I always go by the sung recording rather than the music notation as my guide here- I'm sure, since it is a folk song, it has been sung many different ways over time, but I can know for sure that a Chinese person learned it that way, I will go with that one! I usually just teach one verse for brevity's sake, and I teach by rote. You can find the original lyrics, the translation, the notation, and a sung recording on Mama Lisa's website here. This one fits the bill (although, let's be honest, we are talking about a rather difficult language for English speakers- it will still take some time!) and has some great possibilities for discussions about Chinese history, architecture, and/or geography. I don't generally like to teach songs from other cultures with translated lyrics- I think it takes away from giving the students an authentic presentation of the song- so I always try to find songs that have fewer lyrics while still being interesting. There is so much that is included, both historically and geographically, when we talk about "Chinese music", that it's honestly hard for me to pick one song! The last few years I have used "Cowboy" (I know, you're already thinking what? stay with me.). I have used a lot of different songs in my classes over the years. This one is great for showing both the yangquin and the erhu: I use that as an introduction to Chinese music as a whole, but in subsequent lessons I will show them short clips of each instrument in a more traditional setting. Then we watch one more video and I have them point out and identify each instrument as we see it. After showing one of the "Twelve Girls Band" videos, I usually show them pictures of each instrument, tell them the name of each one, and see if they noticed how each one is played, or what familiar instrument it is most similar to. I use these recordings as a starting point to jump into a discussion of Chinese instruments, including the erhu, xiao, dizi, pipa, guzheng (duzheng), and yangqin. I of course discuss with the students which instruments are traditionally Chinese and which or not- that part is pretty clear- but it is a great way to showcase many of the instruments from China, see how they are played and what they sound like, and also get a taste of what Chinese music is like while still sounding somewhat familiar for students- this is like the gateway to exploring the traditional music that will sound more foreign and strange to their ears.
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