The
project which I was required includes the performance of a concert
performed by 94 boys
and girls in classes first, second,
third, fourth and fifth in a primary school in a suburb of Verona.
The school, which has only one section, is located in a beautiful
building, in a hilly area very green and quiet.
The
project involves the use of Orff
instruments and a keyboard.
I decided to avoid
the use of pre-recorded backing tracks,
which seem to me not very effective from the didactic point of view.
The
instruments are supplied to the
school are claves, snare drums, tambourines with bells, triangles,
castanets, maracas, little bells. Each song provides therefore an
instrumental accompaniment based on the melody
and harmonic support
entrusted to a keyboard and a rhythmic
structure entrusted to the small
instruments.
In
the preparation of the scores I choose the rhythm instruments based
on the timbre
(in relation to the text and music) and then realized a polyphonic
rhythmic structure (in two or three
parts), I choose to keep constant
throughout the song: we are in a situation of initial approach to
music education.
In
November there were four meetings in each of the five classes. The
first meeting was dedicated to a mutual
presentation: the children had to
learn this music teacher, I had to know the kids and quickly
understand their potential. For this reason I have set up an
intervention plan that includes easy
rhythm games (to be implemented
with the voice, hands and feet, possibly with other movements of the
body) and games of
intonation, based on the scheme
"question and answer". Finally, I proposed the most famous
of Christmas songs ("Silent Night"), even if it is not the
easiest for both the rhythm and for the extension of the vocal part.
Subsequent
meetings will follow a similar pattern (rhythmic,
intonation, learning of the text),
applied to a series of songs, chosen among the most famous. The time
is short, we have to optimize it.
In
December we had three ensemble
rehearsals in the school gym. On
this occasion most of the 94 children have made one great chorus,
while some of them have even tried the rhythmic structure I expected
the score. The keyboard instead was entrusted to a young student of
music bigger and more experienced.
We
then had dress
rehearsals in the environment where
the concert took place: the parish church of the district.
The
concert was therefore the
result of a learning path.
