2016-17 Curriculum Unit 1 Lesson 2: Exploring “Hoe-Down”

Lesson 2: Exploring “Hoe-Down”

Aim: How can we explore the instruments in the brass family while listening to the steady beat in music?
Summary: Students learn the instruments in the brass family. Students learn to gallop to “Hoe-Down” while building vocabulary to describe American brass band music.
Materials: Musical Explorers CD or online audio
Time Required: 40 minutes (four 10-minute activities)
Standards: GA: MK-2GM.1, MK-2GM.6, MK-2GM.7, MK-2GM.8, MK-2GM.9, MK-2GM.10, SC: MGK-2.1, MGK-2.4, MGK-2.5, MGK-2.6
Vocabulary: brass family, hoedown, gallop

Explore brass instruments in “Hoe-Down”

  • Listen to “Hoe-Down,”  cdicon_22px Track 9
  • Mike and his friends all play instruments in the brass family. Identify the brass instruments on SG8. Brass instruments are made of metal. Brass musicians make sound by buzzing into a mouthpiece.
  • Listen to Mike and his friends each play his or her instrument. How do they sound alike? How do they sound different?
    cdicon_22px Track 10: trumpet
    cdicon_22px Track 11: trombone
    cdicon_22px Track 12: French horn
    cdicon_22px Track 13: tuba
  • We buzz into the mouthpiece by vibrating our lips together. Practice buzzing by making an “okay” sign with your hand, cupping your lips with your first two fingers, and vibrating your lips together.
  • Listen to Mike play “Hoe-Down” with only his mouthpiece, cdicon_22px Track 14

    Now listen to him play the melody with his mouthpiece and French horn, cdicon_22px Track 15

 

Explore Movement in “Hoe-Down”

  • Listen to “Hoe-Down,”  cdicon_22px Track 9, again

    • How does this music make you want to move?
    • What do you imagine when you hear this music?
  • A hoedown is a party, usually held in the country or on a farm, where dancing is included. The party was held after a harvest, and is called a “hoedown” because farmers would literally lay their hoes on the ground and stop working.
  • Demonstrate a gallop to your students . Ask them to identify a part of the song that sounds like horses galloping.
  • Encourage your students to gallop and explore moving to the steady beat of  “Hoe-Down.”

 

Literacy Extension:
danceBarn Dance by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault tells the story of a boy on a farm who discovers animals dancing in the middle of the night. Read the story to your students and then ask them to imagine the different animals dancing while they listen to “Hoe-Down.”

 

Musical Word Wall

Add the words brass family, hoedown, and gallop to the Musical Word Wall.

 

PDF Downloads

SG8 ↓ Download File

 

Musical Explorers Audio Tracks