Submitted by Sara R. Fuld, Baltimore, Maryland
Idea posted October 28, 2009
Since I got a ceiling projector installed in my room, I've become a total YouTube maniac. Here are some of the ways I used it this year:
1. I was able to show the kids videos of famous musicians that related to the subject we were studying. During a 4th grade jazz unit, I was able to find historic video of Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Pat Methany, and Charlie Parker. For a lesson on the four types of voices (SATB), I showed video of different opera singers, including Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills. I combined a reading of a book about Marian Anderson (called "When Marian Sang") with footage of her singing at the Lincoln Memorial. When we studied instruments of the orchestra, I showed YouTube video of Itzhak Perlman (one of him as a 12 year old), YoYo Ma, James Galway, and others.
2. I accumulated a collection of cute/funny videos from YouTube to use as part of a reward day after a performance. Many of these were suggestions from the MusicK8.com Mailing list. The kids really like "Mahna Mahna" and "Java" from the old Muppet Show, the comedy duo Igudesmann and Joon, Michel Lauzière on David Letterman, the Vegetable Orchestra, Mo Kin the Xylophone Girl, the Beatboxing Flute guy, and Snowball the dancing cockatoo.
3. I created lessons around two ideas I got this year from the list. In the first, I had the kids compare the original Gene Kelly version of "Singin' In The Rain" with the recent homage done by Usher on a CBS program. We also compared Pavarotti's "Nessun Dorma" with that of Paul Potts' (Britain's Got Talent).
4. For a lesson on Broadway musicals, I downloaded YouTube video of performances from past Tony Award shows. My students were able to see famous scenes from Fiddler on the Roof, Les Misérables, Wicked, and others, all performed by the original Broadway casts.
5. Video of a Boomwhacker® group called Plastic Musik really showed my students the ultimate potential of these instruments.
I have made Zamzar video files out of most of these. That way, I can show them without worrying about ads, comments, or the other "related videos" on the right side of the YouTube page that may not be appropriate for the kids to see.
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