Teaching Vocabulary in Music

1. Teaching Vocabulary in Music Melinda Van Aalsburg EdFL 4210 Spring 2012 3/4/2012

2. INTERACTIVE WORD WALL

3. Use the Word Wall to reinforce new terminology associated with a particular style or piece of music • Jazz music has terms associated with it that are sometimes not found in other pieces of music • Use the word wall to define new terms • Use the word wall to reinforce any terms carried over from previous music

4. Examples of Jazz Terms Examples of Terms to Reinforce • Back Beat • Bebop • Bridge • Diminished • Improvisation • Riff • Syncopation • Vamp • Whole Tone • Accent • Beat • Coda • Dynamics • Flat • Legato • Rubato • Sharp • Staccato

5. Each time you work on a section of the music discuss the vocabulary as you come to it. • When you encounter terms in the music ask the students if it’s one of the familiar terms or if it’s a new one. • Add new terms to one section of the word wall. • Pull familiar terms from the other side of the word wall and put them with the unfamiliar terms for that song. That way students are reviewing as well as learning new words. • When you are ready to move onto a new piece of music add all the words to the familiar side of the word wall.

6. Word Placement on the Wall Terms already discussed Basic Musical Terms New terms and terms used for that particular song Jazz Terms

7. Teachers Guide to using the Word Wall effectively

8. In music we rarely have a normal classroom setup. Because of this it is important to build a quick visual reference that the class can participate in without taking time away from the music. Why using a Word Wall is an effective strategy Build vocabulary related to a particular instructional focus, in this case Jazz Terminology. Help students develop analytical skills like classification and deduction Build sight word reading fluency Provide a visual reference tool to help students remember important words related to a specific topic or focus Content Area Literacy Guide 2007

9. Remember: • Don’t throw every new word at the students on day one. • Add a few new words and a few old words each day. • In pieces of music terms are often repeated, this will give you several opportunities to introduce new terms. • When you are ready to move onto a new piece of music do a class review of the terms before adding them to the learned section of the board. • We often work on several pieces of music at once so it is important to pick one piece to focus on the vocabulary for. • Try and pick the piece of music that has the most unfamiliar terms. • For example, if your group plays or sings mostly classical music they are probably more familiar with those terms. Instead, focus on the piece that is the most different, like a jazz piece. This will give the students the most opportunities for learning new terms. • It will also make further instructions in that style easier.

10. Other options for Vocabulary Study Knowledge Rating Guide Give the students a list of terms in a song and ask them to state if they know it, what it means, or they don’t know it Save the Last Word for Me Have the students speak about which section of the music was their favorite. They should use the vocabulary words to describe what they picture is happening in the song. Think Aloud Use context clues in the music to figure out what specific words or symbols mean.