Submitted by Monica Gelinas, Monteagle, Tennessee
Idea posted June 3, 2005
As part of my teaching the "Star-Spangled Banner," we did its form, AABC. I used an instrumental version, and all grade levels listened to it as part of our listening segment at the beginning of each class.
I hit upon the idea of using a paper chain to talk about how music has form. I compared each section of the music to a link in the chain. Then, I took the links apart. We listened and decided, with some guidance from me, where the first section ended and labeled that piece of paper "A." Then, I fastened the ends together and turned it back into a link. I asked if the music had ended when I had stopped it at the end of the A section, and they all said "No."
I put another paper segment on the board. We listened some more, and I stopped the music at the end of the next section. I asked whether that was the same or different from A. Almost everyone from kindergarten through sixth grade could identify that it was the same. I asked, "If it's the same as the A section, does it get a new name, or does it keep its old name?" They told me to name it the same. I fastened that link to the other A link.
With the younger students, I picked a student each time to hold the link or links while we listened to the next section. We did that for each section until we had a chain with four links. After we had the four-link chain, I asked if there was any more music to which to listen, and they told me "No." I told them that our pattern was complete and that they had analyzed the form of the "Star-Spangled Banner." I told them we could do that for any piece of music, no matter how long or short. It seemed to make sense to them. I guess it was having that visual of the links in a chain that helped.