Musical Explorers are students and teachers who will
- meet artists representing diverse musical traditions and cultures from around the world
- sing and move to the artists’ songs
- make connections among the artists’ music, their cultures, and the students’ own diverse communities
- learn fundamental musical concepts
How to Use the Teacher and Student Guides
This Teacher Guide (TG) contains six units, each devoted to one of our Musical Explorers traditions. Every unit contains two lessons, each focusing on a song; the lessons guide you through the process of learning the songs, as well as teaching relevant musical concepts and exploring the cultural context. Each lesson includes transcriptions in Western notation to assist in learning the music, but note that these are best approximations for diverse traditions that may use different tuning systems or emphasize improvisation. When learning the music, let your ears and the recordings be your guide, and be prepared for live variations. There are multiple activities within each lesson; you can choose among them to best suit the needs of your classroom. The complementary Student Guide (SG) pages are incorporated within the Teacher Guide. Additional features that can be found within each lesson include the following:
- Audio Tracks: Audio tracks can be found online on each artist’s resource page.
- Videos: Introductory videos for the artists and their music can be found on each artist’s resource page.
- Resources for Teachers: Each unit starts with a page of resources that provides background information about the musical tradition and culture. Some of these resources are intended to be shared with students; others are for teachers who may want to explore further on their own.
- Creative Extensions: Creative extensions are designed to deepen the exploration of repertoire, culture, and musical concepts.
- Literacy Links: Each unit identifies picture books related to each artist’s music and culture that you can read with your students.
- Musical Word Wall: We encourage you to build a word wall and add vocabulary words as they are introduced in the lessons.
Options for Teachers of Students with Special Needs
- Students can participate in Musical Explorers in a variety of ways and may learn the songs by singing, moving, and clapping. You may also want to focus on smaller sections of the songs. Since you know your students best, allow them to participate in ways that will help them feel the most successful.
- Encourage students to engage with the music using tangible objects, such as handmade instruments (e.g., cups with beans for shakers), rhythm sticks, and drums.
- Allow time for students to experience the music and repeat it as often as necessary. The lessons outlined in this curriculum may take additional time and span more than one class period. Use one-step directions and visuals as often as possible to help students understand the concepts.
- Some visual aids are provided within the curriculum and at the Musical Explorers concerts, but you may wish to provide additional resources to help your students engage with the material. If you have ideas for elements to include in future curricula, please send them to education@savannahmusicfestival.org.
Pathways for Teachers
Explore
Minimum Requirements for Concert Participation:
Meet the artists by using your teacher and student guides and the artist videos found at
musicalexplorers.savannahmusicfestival.org.
Listen to both songs by each artist.
Learn the parts of the songs that the students will sing at the concert along with any movements that accompany the songs.
Enhance
If You Have More Time:
Try out some of the
additional activities
provided in each unit. There are musical activities as well as activities focused on
visual art, social studies,
literacy, and more. Choose the activities that speak
to you and fit your
classroom needs.
Discover
If You Have a Lot More Time:
Go deeper! If there is a genre that your students particularly love, listen to some of the additional
music suggested by the
artists or go on a related field trip. You’ll find additional resources on the Introduction page at the beginning of each unit. You can also dig into the
activities highlighted in Core Activities, by going on sound-discovery walks or making DIY instruments out of found objects.
Active Listening Tips
One of the goals of Musical Explorers is to develop habits of active and engaged listening. You can support your students on this journey by using the following strategies.
Make the Invisible Visible
Look for ways to make the invisible world of music visible and, whenever possible, kinesthetic. These methods include
- counting, clapping, and tapping rhythms (body percussion)
- drawing or painting to music
- connecting the music to narrative ideas
- dancing and moving to music
- connecting cultural ideas with music
Ask Open-Ended Questions
Here are some general suggestions to inspire discussion as students encounter new songs and new sounds. We include additional scripted prompts in blue italics throughout the Teacher Guide as a starting point for further learning and exploration.
- What do you hear in this music?
- How would you move to this music?
- What words can you use to describe this music? For example, is it busy or calm, loud or soft, high or low, smooth or bumpy?
- How does this music make you feel?
- What do you think the musicians are feeling? What makes you think that?
- What are the instrumentalists doing? What is the singer doing?
Next: Meet the Artists →