Afternoon Ti

 Afternoon Ti Season 9 Episode 170 Pentatonic Scales with Recorders The pentatonic scale is one of my favorite parts of elemental music teaching.  It’s easy for students to engage in improvisation and composition without fear of others hearing mistakes.  It’s easy to transpose between C, F, and G pentatonic scales on barred instruments so students can experiment with changing of tonal centers and modulating.  It’s easy on the ears when students are creating because the tones all work well together and are pleasing to our hearing.  And it’s easy to facilitate in the classroom with singing, barred instruments, and recorders.   I’m going to spend the next few episodes focused on the pentatonic scale with a particular focus on lesson ideas.  That means that this episode is all about the soprano recorder!  Today we’re spending time with recorders and I’m sharing two songs that I’ve written that use the pentatonic scale and provide opportunities fo...

Season Three Episode 81 Recorders Within the Orff Approach Playing the recorder is something I have truly needed time to learn.  It didn't come naturally for me.  In fact, if I'm being completely transparent, it wasn't an instrument I really liked for a long time.  Especially in those first few weeks when students are learning proper breathing and fingering.  I found it challenging to help individual students produce the right sound while keeping students who learned quickly focused on more challenging content. Last week I shared three pieces you could use with your students within drum ensembles!  Today I'm sharing three recorder pieces.  In the summer of 2018 I decided to play around with the soprano recorder almost every day and find different melodies and short phrases that I liked.  I would choose a specific concept to focus on - for example: BAG, meter of 3/4, 2-part harmony, and so on.  Then I would write down whatever ideas came to ...

Season One: Episode 23 Part I - Darla Meek on the Orff and Kodaly approaches and using recorder in the elementary classroom   Darla Meek is the Music Education Coordinator and Lecturer at Texas A&M University in Commerce.  She teacher undergraduate and graduate elementary music education classes and supervises student teachers.  She earned her Bachelor of Music Education from Dallas Baptist University and her Master of Music from Southern Methodist University.  Darla also earned a Performer's Certificate from the Performing Artist's Musical Theatre Conservatory in Dallas.  She is currently working towards her Doctor of Education in Supervision, Curriculum, and Instruction. Darla is certified in Kodály and Orff Schulwerk and serves as a teacher trainer for the American Orff Schulwerk Association in both Basic Pedagogy I and Movement for Orff Levels Courses.  She has served as assistant conductor for the Mesquite Children's Chorus and the Childr...

If you're looking for some great ideas and insights into how to teach recorder to your students, this is the episode to hear!  I appreciate Natasha's enthusiasm for teaching and her gentle demeanor in working with students (and teachers too!)  Natasha Thurmon teaches K-5 general music, choir, strings, and Orff ensemble at Boldt Elementary in the Northside school district.  She has a BME in Music Education from Pacific Lutheran University and an MM in Music Education from the University of Texas at San Antonio.  She completed her Orff levels and two master classes at Trinity University, where she now teachers Recorder.  Natasha is Past-President of the Central Texas Orff Chapter, and also serves on two subcommittees for AOSA, currently chairing the social media subcommittee.  She has presented at various workshops locally and at state conferences, as well as at the national AOSA Conference and for Orff chapter workshops.  She serves on the Professiona...