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New Composer Study
After time off from the holidays and some time to "ease in" to our new school year (5th Grade) I've decided it is time to get back to our composer studies. Inspired by a thread at the 4Real Learning forums, Duke Ellington is the composer of choice.
I selected 21 songs to listen to for this study. Songs are:
Clementine -- Ready Eddy
Take the "A" Train -- Sophisticated lady
Creole Love Call -- Suddenly it Jumped
Day Dream -- Mecuria, The Lion
Poor Bubber -- How High the Moon
(Back Home Again in) Indiana
Pretty Woman -- Cotton Club Stomp
Arabian Lover -- Gone with the Wind
Jazz Lips -- Mood Indigo
The Twitch -- New York, New York
Jam with Sam -- How Could You Do That to Me
(Poster available at art.com. Click image to go there.)
The songs I selected were from Duke Ellington's Centennial Collection (which you can hear snippets from at Amazon) and there are many single songs as well as whole albums available for instant purchase/download from iTunes, too. I don't personally think it truly matters which specific songs you listen to. What I do think matters is that you offer a variety of tempos, rhythms, featured instruments, etc. for your student to listen to. Especially nice are those pieces that have Duke Ellington giving an introduction to the upcoming number. Those songs that feature a vocalist are also something to try to offer if you can.
I made two simple items for a lapbook (perhaps you're doing a long-term study of jazz, American Music, or even just composers in general) or a notebook. Nothing fancy, just something that might be useful. There is a Shutterflap for intro the music (usable for any genre, really) as well as Jazzy Jive Words Diamonds. Additionally, or perhaps instead of, you may wish to use this one sheet notebook page I created for older students or this notebook page for the younger students (HWT lines at 48pt.) Color in the image, the title, and fill out the rest of the sheet during the course of your study.
(Images of Duke Ellington can be found on Google. As always, parents, be sure to check the webpage first for appropriate content as even with content filters in place sometimes Google Images can have less than desirable images appear as thumbnails.)
Additionally, there are various other sources for information and inspiration to go along with an auditory study of Duke's music.
Red Hot Jazz has, not only a biography and sound clips, but also a movie clip (Rhapsody of Negro Life) **Note- I have not personally yet seen the entire clip, so please check for content.
Of course YouTube offers some great clips here("A" Train), here (Mood Indigo), and here (Caravan). (Always check for surrounding content issues before letting your kiddos at the screen unsupervised. I recommend sitting right there alongside and being in control of the mouse clicking yourself as YouTube has comments often containing foul language as well as less than desirable videos sometimes.)
We'll be starting our new composer study next Tuesday, if not sooner. I'm sure my daughter will enjoy this style of music. I know we've often had jazz music on our TV (via cable radio) and it has made her get up and dance. Doing a study of this well-known, and well-loved jazz composer should prove fun!
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Hey, there!
Blessings to you and your family!
Karen
www.homeschoolblogger.com/testimony