S2: E43 Kindergarten and Kodály with Lauren Bain

Season Two
Episode 43
Kindergarten and Kodály with Lauren Bain

Lauren Bain teaches K-5 elementary music at Carl Schurz Elementary in New Braunfels. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Music Education from Trinity University in San Antonio. She also holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Trinity University. Lauren received her Kodály certification from Texas State University, and her Orff-Schulwerk certification from Trinity University. She was named the New Braunfels ISD District Elementary Teacher of the Year in 2018, TEA’s Region 13 Elementary Teacher of the Year in 2019, and was a finalist for the HEB Excellence in Education Award in 2019.

She has served on music curriculum writing committees for both North East ISD and New Braunfels ISD. During her first 5 years in New Braunfels ISD, she field-tested kindergarten music curriculum for the latest publication in cognition and music education research by Oxford University Press entitled Kodály in the Kindergarten Classroom by Dr. Micheál Houlahan and Dr. Philip Tacka. 

Lauren served as the Vice President for the Kodály Educators of Texas (2011-2016), and is currently the President. She has presented at OAKE and AOSA national conferences, TMEA, and the 2014 CEDFA Summit, as well as workshops in central and south Texas since 2009. She is the Level 1 Musicianship and Pedagogy Instructor for the Rio Grande Valley Kodály Program in McAllen, TX.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW

Jessica:  One of the other things that you're passionate about is working with young students.

Lauren:  Mmm - yes.  They're my peeps.

Jessica:  We love the littles!  So how can we begin by teaching our kindergarten students to learn musical concepts using the Kodály approach? 

Lauren:  It absolutely completely applies.  The same structure can be applied down to Kindergarten. It's the thing with Kindergarten and Pre-K too (I've never taught Pre-K so everything with a grain of salt there with Pre-K, but I have lots of friends that have taught Pre-K and had discussions about it).  The thing about the littles is that the concepts are so ridiculously basic that it's hard for us adults to go down - down - down to that level.  

Let's see - the order of concepts I teach in Kindergarten.  We start with types of voices. tuneful singing.  So that's just - we're build, build, build.  We're singing lots and we're playing games.  It's just one big party in music for the first 6-9 weeks.  Minus all the crying that goes on because we miss our moms and stuff like that. 'Cause you have to have repertoire in them to then be able to teach the other concepts.  So that first 6-9 weeks is just routines and rules and personal space and 'let's play a game!' 'let's sing a song!' 'let me tell you a story,' 'let's read a book,' 'let's move with our bodies.'  Just all that sort of stuff so then when you go on, the next concept I teach is loud and soft.  So you think don't they...?  Yes, they already know what loud and soft is.  Of course they do.  But the whole idea of teaching loud and soft is to teach them how to perform loud and soft in a musical way.  Can they hear the difference between loud and soft?  Can they sing loud and soft?  Can they speak loud and soft?  The whole goal is to create musical musicians.  So yes, you can absolutely do that so we're moving in a loud way.  We're moving in a soft way.  We're singing in a soft way.  Singing in a loud way.  We're telling stories that are loud and soft.  We're just saying daytime/nighttime voice at that point before you actually label it.  

So those same things then apply to beat because if they don't have beat - everyone knows this - you just...you have to have beat before you go anywhere else.  And then the next one is - this is the most intriguing concept for me.  It took me a while to wrap my brain around it, but just the idea of a high voice and a low voice.  Separating that from the idea of a high melody and a low melody with pitch, but (speaking in a high voice) we're just talking in our bird voice just the whole time and we're saying bee, bee bumblebee (speaking in low voice) and we're doing it in a Grandpa voice and we're walking around like a Grandpa you know... and so at first when I first started teaching that I thought this is such a waste of six weeks 'cause of course they already know it, but what ended up happening is that when I finally got to the idea of pitches (singing): high and low (talking) or things that were high and low, they already had the physical feeling of it in their throats and their voices and their bodies so it was like ding! ding! ding! high and low.  Not a problem for them.  

So where was I... high and low chant.  Then fast and slow.  Again, they all know fast and slow, but can they perform fast in a musical way?  In a beatful way?  Can they perform slow in a musical and beatful way?  And then comes the high and low melody (singing): snail, snail - rain, rain - teddy bear ... all those.  And then rhythm after that.  So that's kind of my order of sequences.

So everything with kindergarten, I think you're like how can we apply it?  It's that you're still moving lots.  You're still singing lots.  You're still asking them questions about what they hear.  Can you show me what the Grandpa voice looks like?  Can you demonstrate it?  And then of course you label it (gasp) - you know musicians don't actually say Grandpa voice.  We call it our low voice and then we can talk all about low.

So it's really like a mind shift with them 'cause you're like of course they already know this.  Yes!  But can they physically in their body show you?  Can they actually demonstrate?  So just as an adult making that shift like this has to be so ridiculously simplified.  It's hard for us adults to go that simple, but it's so important to them and it's just once you have that foundation, then all the other concepts can be layered on top of that easily.

Jessica:  I find too that with students the comparatives are so great doing those comparatives and bringing that in.  My students have always confused high and low and loud and soft.  Because, you know, like on the radio we tell someone 'turn it up.'  Well it doesn't mean up higher.  You know like turn the radio... it's like no, you're making it louder not higher, you know, and doing those differences really helps them, but I know that was a shift for me as well because you're going 'they already know this.'  Like you said why am I spending my time on this?  But them being able to identify what it is is different than them doing it themselves.  

Lauren:  Yes.  Absolutely.  Absolutely.

Jessica:  Yeah.  Could we pull out one of the concepts and talk about what that would look like in the classroom?

Lauren:  Sure!

Jessica:  So the concept of high and low.  How do you guide students through learning the difference between high and low?

Lauren:  Okay so it starts with that first concept I was telling about - that high and low voice or high and low chant.  I do a lot of stories.  Every song in Kindergarten has some story attached to it and we're all ending up in Queen Caroline's Kingdom and then there is this forest nearby where the wolf lives and there's a train station where Engine, Engine No. 9 drops off Lucy Locket who lost her pocket.  Like everything is connected to some sort of story.

Jessica:  Did you create those?

Lauren:  Yes!  Some of them I sat down and had to write and then some of it was stream of consciousness thought in the middle of teaching like I am so bored.  How can I make this ridiculous for them?  My mom is a theatre - she has a Masters in Theatre so I think I grew up with lots of drama and so I think that I'm blessed to have had lots of drama in my life to be able to be ridiculous like that.  And I wear hats and costumes and all sorts of weird things.  Mustaches and...

Jessica:  I love that.

Lauren:  So anyways backtracking - how do you actually teach high and low chants.  You know, I start with some sort of story I want to introduce a song to.  So I think the first week is all about kinesthetic.  We're feeling it kinesthetically.  We're saying it.  I think I tell a story about Grandpa because I need my Grandpa voice and he goes to this apple orchard you know and he wasn't supposed to climb the trees and he did anyway and he got in trouble for it.  And now everyone says this about Grandpa:  

(in Grandpa voice)  

I climbed up the apple tree 

All the apples fell on me

Bake a pudding, bake a pie

Did you ever tell a lie?  No!

So we use our Grandpa voice and then we walk around the room like Grandpas so our bodies are low.  Our voices are low.  The movement's connected to what we're doing vocally.

Then a bird flies by and is like:

(in bird voice)

That's not really the story!  

-and he says- I climbed up...

...in your bird voice.  So then we fly like birds.  And so then you can connect it to like the bird flew across the forest and landed in a beehive (gasp!).  Oh my gosh!  (high voice) Bee, bee, bumblebee... so then we're doing other high chants in our high bird voice or our Grandpa voice.  So that's like that first day.  We're just in that story land and we're visiting all these people that we knew and we're practicing it in our bird voice and our Grandpa voice.  And I'll have icons on the board.  I'll have four Grandpas and I'll point to the Grandpas while we do it in our low voice.  And then four birds.  Same thing.  I have puppets of Grandpas and birds and I'll let kids be the birds and we'll do... we'll fly around while they do their bird voice.  As many visual and kinesthetic experiences with known repertoire is how we start with high and low chant.  

So then the next week I'll be like - we'll do a quick review.  And I'll be like okay, this is the aural week.  I'll be like I'm gonna try and trick you.  I'm gonna do such and such chant in my Grandpa or bird voice, but I'm not gonna tell you which one.  You have to figure out which one.  So then I'll perform it so they have to just listen and they have to decide is it high.  Grandpa or bird.  And then the next week I'll give them an icon each.  They each get a bird and a Grandpa and instead of saying it aloud, they have to show me a visual of which one they hear.  So that's kind of my assessment.  I'm looking around the room.  Do I see all birds or do I see all Grandpas?  Or if we're doing rabbit and turtle for speed - same thing.  So that's the visual week.

By then they've been able to perform it and we're still performing it every week.  You have to.  I have them once a week.  I don't have any time to waste.  They have to be doing it every week.  They've performed it.  They can describe it when they hear it and then they can show me a picture.  They can associate what they hear with some sort of picture and then hold it up to show me.  So then by the next week I'll say (it's the labeling week), "you know we don't actually say bird voice.  Musicians have a special word.  It's called high."  And I have the word written on the board and we spell it.  And then from then on it's only referred to as the high voice.  And same with the low.  So then we do in the next following weeks we do lots of practice.  We listen to high music.  We move to high music.  We'll play high instruments.  Or same with low.  Things like that.  So that's how I walk through a concept with the little ones.

Jessica:  Do you always do comparatives together?  You never do just high separate or low separate.  It's always together correct?

Lauren:  Yes, that's what I do.  Yeah.  And later in the beginning of my lessons, we'll do some sort of movement warm-up and I always have a quick review so like we'll review the previous concept.  We'll read it or act it out or something like that and then as the more concepts they know, I'll pair like high and slow.  Or high and soft together.  I'll mix the comparatives with a different set so that they know that music can be high and soft, but it can be high and loud as well.  And can you do that high and loud or high and soft?

Jessica:  So where do you start?  If you're a new teacher or you're new to the Kodály concept of teaching these comparatives, you know, 'cause I find I build my repertoire and I build all the different things I can do to engage students, but it can be overwhelming when first starting out like so overwhelming going okay - I need this and I need this and I need this and I need this.  Where would you start as far as to engage them in these comparatives or with students?  Or do you start just with your voice and using your voice and adding something visual?  And then maybe the next year adding something, you know, the cards the next year?  Adding you know 'cause it can be a lot to add it all at once.

Lauren:  It absolutely is.  So I, you know, I've had a lot of student teachers and they say the same thing like "ahh! it's so much you know."  It is.  You said something very interesting that I wanted to hook on.  You start with just the voice and yes, that's the big thing about Kodály's philosophy is that everyone has a voice regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status.  Everyone has a voice so absolutely start with the voice.  I am old school.  I like physical manipulatives.  I've got tons of things that are laminated.  I've got puppets.  That's just something you have to build over time.  People love using technology and having things posted so those are quick and easy to make too so if you're like the first year, you can absolutely have visuals through a powerpoint or keynote or some sort of projection for sure.  So moving is easy.  Using your voice is easy.  That's how I add the visuals.

Before I had all those little manipulatives for them to touch and hold and show up, I would add a movement.  "Okay if you hear it in your Grandpa voice, I want you to put your finger like you have a mustache on" or "If you're a bird, I want you to flap your hands like you're a little bird."  So adding in - they're still showing me their visual and I still get to see.  And then you just kind of, when you have the time (ha ha ha!), you add those little manipulatives in as you go.  Yes, it's very overwhelming so just don't try to do it all at once, but just as you go for sure.  So technology can be your friend in that regard.

Jessica:  Yeah I just wanted to throw that out there because you shared so many great ideas and I would imagine people would go, 'oh I want to do all of that,' but trying to find the time to go 'oh I'm gonna do all of that at once' and that's only for one concept let alone you've got, you know, most people teach at least four, five, six grades and then you multiply that song material and all the things you would need for every single song and so I just... it's like if you can just start with one small, or start with one grade your first year and really build out that grade.  And then the next year build out that grade or you know.  Not feeling overwhelmed that you have to have it all ready that first year 'cause it's - that's too much.

Lauren:  It is absolutely too much and this is where - this might be a sidetrack - but this is where T-TESS can kind of help you out in that regard.  At least as far as my district is concerned.  I try to think of what do I need done or push myself as a teacher?  And I think a lot of people go to improv because none of us are (well, not none)... a lot of us struggle with improv.  For sure that's a great one, but I've heard that one brought up a lot and I've thought that's very vague for you to measure.  For instance, my personal T-TESS goal last year was to have either a story or a visual or a prop for every new song that I taught.  And I teach one song per grade level per week so that's six songs.  My younger grade levels I have that set already because I've been ridiculous with them for so long.  That the older grade levels, I had this idea like ugh - they wouldn't buy into it because it's silly.  But the more I really work with kids, and especially really thinking about the ESL kids, they need the visual structure so sometimes it was - like for John Kanaka I just had a picture of a boat; a sailing boat.  But just having something for them to visually connect to or aurally connect to.  So that helped me this year focus on engaging the older kids with something that I thought was going to be too overwhelming to do.  Like I can't make all these props or I can't do all this stuff, but if I just do one.  Or make up some weird make-up story for the older kids.  So think about how you can use T-TESS to your advantage to get stuff done for yourself.  Like I need to provide a visual for Kindergarten.  So then that's your T-TESS goal and then you don't have all this other.  I just feel like sometimes the weight of T-TESS on teachers can get pretty overwhelming so use it to your advantage.

Jessica:  That's a great idea of making those goals things that you want to do within your classroom already so that it's not doubling your work.

Lauren:  Yes.  Yeah.  Absolutely.

Jessica:  Is there anything else that's been helpful for you in teaching the young students?

Lauren:  I think you just have to ...  Okay.  So two pieces of advice I was given my first day of teaching which is amazing because literally Kindergarten I cried every day that first year teaching after them.  I was like I'm herding cats.  I'm a professional cat herder.  I don't know what I'm doing.  So I made it a goal to conquer them.

But the first thing is:  kids attention span is their age in minutes.  So if you have Kindergarten like I do - five years old for fifty minutes once a week - you have to have a minimum of ten different things planned.  Now one of those things could be tossing a ball in the air for vocal exploration.  Sure.  But make sure you have at least ten - maybe eleven or twelve if one of them bombs or it's too short or something - and then make sure those activities are a high energy followed by a low energy followed by a high energy followed by a low.  You're basically manipulating their energy level and their focused attention for what you need for them to do.  So that would be my first one and that works for any grade level really, but really helpful with Kindergarten.

The second one was: never turn your back on Kindergarten!  You just, everyone knows you just be constantly vigilant, but the more ridiculous and entertaining you can be for them, you want them to just sit there and like mouth open like (gasp!) what's she gonna do next?  I think some people have seen me teach like 'wow, you were really ridiculous,' I'm like 'but I have to keep their attention.'  Like how can you move your eyes.  You know... just... enter into your own little world and they will come with you. 

Funny story: I had my composer posters against the back of my wall so I'm looking at them while the kids look at the white board and I was telling a story about Bobby Shaftoe, who is a pirate in my room, and I pretended to look off into the distance and pretended to spot Bobby Shaftoe way off in the distance and this little girl turned around and looked at the composer pictures and turned back around and she goes, "(gasp) Are those the pirates?!"  Cause she saw me looking back there, but just funny little things.  It's just the more you can be ridiculous and like an actor for them, they will go with you.  They really will.  That's what I'd say for you.

Jessica:  I love those two ideas.  Yeah, definitely not turning your back and the age in minutes is a great way to remember as far as for planning especially those littles because you feel like there's just so many things you have to do with them to keep them going.  Like you said especially those first few weeks of school when they're crying and you're crying.

Lauren:  Yes!  We are.

Jessica:  Well, thank you so much for sharing all about this.  There's so many great ideas in here.  So many good take-aways.

Lauren:  I'm so glad.  I'm so glad.