Workbook No 1
Look inside to see some sample pages from each section
€4.95
This little workbook is the first in a series of workbooks introducing music to young children. It is a companion to the Teacher’s book Music Is Fun! and will work well if both books are used together.
It introduces the young child to aspects of rhythm, pitch, melody and composition. It is a child friendly book with age appropriate colourful pictures that will hold the interest of the child, while introducing the young learner to pentatonic music through simple exercises that the child will enjoy.
The workbook is designed to be used and reused again and again, firstly through the aural experience that gently leads the child to perform, while learning rhythm names and gradually to be able to write, using stick notation for simple rhythmic patterns. In the hands of an innovative teacher this is a helpful book for your school.
Enjoy working with it!
Sr Karol O’Connell OSB MA
Kylemore Abbey
Using Workbook No 1
From the very beginning of this workbook for young children the emphasis should be placed on the pictures. Tell the child to ‘look at the picture only’’.
The first time the child sees a picture the teacher should ask questions like “How many umbrellas do you see? Will we count them out loud?” Here count with the child keeping a steady beat. Then simply say to the child, “in music language these are called ‘ta’ so now we will call them by the musical names”.
“Let’s do it together” and very steadily the teacher and the child count together ta ta ta ta.
Finally the teacher encourages the child to clap these ta beats.
So from the beginning the child is performing rhythms, reading rhythms from pictures and learning to count a steady beat.
Because a young child learns best from repetition the next two pages are the same rhythms. Reinforcement is essential at this stage.
On page 6 the ti ti beat is introduced by the teacher in exactly the same way, except that of course the teacher will be encouraging the child to say as he/she reads and claps ti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti .
From page 10 onwards the ta and ti-ti beats are mixed. There are many (36) colourful pages that the young child will love looking through and clapping.
Singing for the first time
On page 37 the child learns how to sing ‘s’ and on the very next page ‘m’ and at the same time learns the hand signs.
The teacher should show the hand sign and sing the note AT THE SAME TIME always.
Click the play button to hear the note ‘SO’
Pages 40 and 41:
Click the play button to hear the note ‘MI’
Page 48:
The child sees what these two note look like for the first time. Make sure the child realises that the ‘s’ will always (for now) be above the line and the ‘m’ will always (for now) be below that line.
On page 49 the child sees a green line going through the balloons, this is the contour of the music and simply shows the direction the music is going in. Ask the child to show this in the air using both arms. The young child will love to demonstrate this.
Page 55: The child learns a new note ‘l’. Let the child hear it before he/she sees it written.
Click the play button to hear the note ‘LA’
Page 60: First time reading the book let the child concentrate on the picture only, clap the rhythm, sing the melody, and only later show the hand signs as well as singing the melody.
Page 65: The child learns stick notation for the first time.
Show the child how to illustrate ta with a large lollipop stick and then demonstrate to the child how to show ti-ti using three sticks. At this stage the bigger the stick the better.
Important!!! From page 65 the child returns to page 3 and works through the entire book a second time, this time the child should be able to show the stick notation for each page. It is enough for the child to write all the stick notation using sticks. It is too soon to use a pencil.
On reaching page 45 the second time ask the child to turn to page 71:
Give the child two different coloured counters and ask the child to show you where ‘s’ and ‘m’ are. By using counters, this exercise should be repeated many times.
On page 72 the two line stave is written so the child can become familiar with writing the three notes ‘s’ ‘m’ and ‘l’ in any order. It is always good for the children to hear these notes sung before they write them.
Pages 73-77 provide written exercises showing the child how to write ta notes and ti-ti notes. When these pages are complete the child can revise the book for the third time, this time writing the stick notation on every page. At this final stage this little gem of a book truly becomes a workbook.
The last three pages provide the beginning of an introduction to musical instruments. From an early age allow the child to listen and express themselves freely as they listen to music.
