Making Musical Masterpieces

By Paul Provencio,Townsend Elementary

Stephen Foster lived most of his life in the northeastern U.S., but many of his songs are about the South. When his “Swanee River” was published, Foster had never been farther south than Ohio. Today it is the official state song of Florida. Another Foster song, “My Old Kentucky Home.” is the state song of Kentucky.

Making Music Masterpieces - Reading

Making Music Masterpieces - Questions If you could compose the official song for a

place, which place would you choose? Why?

1. Choose a place (home, school, community, state, country, continent, solar system, galaxy, universe, etc.)

2. Write the lyrics (the words) to your song.

3. Improvise a melody to go with your lyrics (sing your lyrics aloud, making the song up as you go.

Making Music Masterpieces Teacher’s

Page General Tips for success:

First let class read silently. Then read out loud as class. Brain-storm to find out their schema and stimulate ideas. Repetition of key words or phrases is an important lyric writing technique.

When singing, making it up as you go: think about melodies that go high and low, fast and slow, in steps or skips, loud and soft to create interest. Don’t worry about sounding like Pavarotti. God gave you a voice, you give it right back. Don’t worry if your voice won’t do what you want at first. Keep trying until your voice listens to you. You’re the boss. Tell your voice you want to sing. Have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously. Laugh and look like your having fun. Kids will follow.

Work in structured cooperative learning groups to create a classroom song. Each group creating a variation on a theme or different part of the song. Perform.

2Activity notes

Making Music Masterpieces Teacher’s

Page Activity 2

Process: Choose the number of lines (keep it short). Decide which ones will rhyme. Have a repeated phrase or section.

Example:

Townsend Tigers are the best,

We work much harder than the rest.

Music class is lots of fun,

Townsend school is number one!

Rah! Rah! Sis boom bah!

(Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap)