Lesson Plan: Mash-Ups

1) Show clips of mash-ups that have different characteristics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BulXil2ROy4 (For the First Time in Forever. Frozen)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lExW80sXsHs (Evolution of Music, Pentatonix)

You can pick any other mash-ups you like for demonstration. My students introduced me to the Pentatonix one.  I loved it!

2. List together on the board characteristics of mash-ups.  Here are things you might come up with:

• 2+ songs mixed together
• Can be woven together or sung in succession
• Sometimes one song has the right words but the melody is altered slightly to match the other song
• Can be a cappella or accompanied
• Songs are usually related to each other in some way
• Works best when songs have similar chord progressions.
• Not all of both songs has to be used.  

3.  Print off lists of songs with the same chord progression.  Refer here and here for lists. There are two very popular chord progressions that many songs use. The first is I-vi- IV-v.  The second is I-IV-vi-V.  Play both progressions for students and show them a couple different songs that fit those progressions.

4. Have kids split in to groups (or assign groups) of 2-6. Give the lists of songs with the same chord progressions to each group to help them brainstorm. They don't have to use the songs on the list. In my advanced classes, I showed at least one kid in each group how to play the chord progression to assist them while practicing.  That really helped!

5. By the end of the first class period, they should have their songs chosen and should have ideas for their mash-ups. Be sure to circulate among groups to help give them ideas.

6. Second class period, they should finish mashing their songs (should take at least 45 minutes).

7. Have students perform for each other at the end of the period.  

Hoedown!

Today is Friday.  And I couldn't bear to do the same old thing today. So, I hopped on the Internet to find some ideas.  I wanted it to be musical and to challenge my kids, but be fun too.

One person suggested doing the "Hoedown" as seen on Whose Line is it Anyway?  Genius.  I got on youtube and found out they have a karaoke track with instructions on when to start singing and which lines have to rhyme.  Now that I have a projector, life as I know it has completely changed.

So now for my most difficult challenge: finding hoedown examples from the T.V. series to present to the kids that weren't dirty.  Nearly impossible.  I guess when people are on the spot, they tend to gravitate toward unsavory humor(?).  Or maybe that's what viewers want.  Anyway, after sifting through many clips, I finally found one where three of the four people participating weren't inappropriate (I had to skip over Drew Carey's).  It's the Backstreet Boys Hoedown.

So naturally I realized I needed to give students a music history lesson on boy bands before I could show the hoedown clip.  I had them list all the things they knew about this unique 90's genre (many of them have older siblings who liked these groups).  Here are some of the things they came up with:

• Frosted tipped hair
• Hair like top raman
• Falsetto
• Lots of harmonies
• Attractive boys (one of the first things my Ladies Ensemble contributed to this conversation)
• Baggy clothes
• Dancing 
• No instruments

We watched the first part of N'Sync's music video, "It's Gonna Be Me" (but be careful to stop halfway through...the guys start dancing with girls in swimwear and it's not appropriate to show high school boys).  I also showed them Backstreet Boy's music video, "Tell Me Why." Soooooo funny to watch.

Next, I showed them the Backstreet Boys Hoedown, minus Drew Carey.  The last guy is really funny because he talks about people can't be part of a band unless they play an instrument.

I then played for them the karaoke track and sang an example of my own, written in an AABB structure, just like they do on the show:

I teach high school choir and my students are really funny
They make me laugh and make me cry so hard it hurts my tummy!
When we sing our music, we make some awesome chords,
With students like the ones I have, how can I ever be bored?

Then, I had the class come up with their own verse together on the board.  My ladies ensemble wrote one about Nutella and my men's ensemble wrote one about Domino's pizza.  We practiced singing it with the karaoke track 3 or 4 times so the kids got used to the tune and timing of the hoedown.

Next, I had the kids get in to groups of four.  They were to pick one topic and each write a verse about the topic they picked.  They could write the verses all together if they chose, but they needed four verses total.  Each student was in charge of singing one of the verses. If he/she did not want to sing alone, the group could sing along with him/her.  Their groups performed together in front of the class along with the karaoke track.

I loved seeing the kids' creativity. It was also nice to hear some of them bravely sing solos.  Kids wrote about Hunter Hayes, Frozen, apple juice, spring, summer, each other, not knowing what to write about, and themselves.  It's best to give two ground rules; first, it has to be appropriate and second, it has to be kind.

In my men's ensemble, I got volunteers to actually try doing on the spot verses. It's so hard!

This is a good activity for a Friday toward the end of the year when the kids are squirrels!

Hey! Who turned out the lights?!

Due to finding myself in a teaching rut, I spent some time last week looking through college materials to find new ways to teach my students choral techniques. I picked up lots of tips that I've started using in my classroom. One that has made a HUGE difference in the sound of my choirs is turning out the lights while they sing a particular part of the song. I knew it would force them to listen to each other; however, what I didn't realize was that it would made them less nervous to sing. Consequently, everyone sang louder! It was such a pleasant surprise. It made me realize again just how inhibited students feel around their peers. No wonder no one sings half the time! They're all scared of each other.