The curriculum for the 10-week course for music teachers, Come Children, Sing!, offers a curriculum model in miniature. The course was designed for only 10 weeks, intended for teacher growth as much as that of the children, and included experience in 6 tonalities and 5 meters, immersion, movement, interactivity through Rhythm Dialogue, Resting Tone Activities, Macro/Micro Beat Activities, and Tonal Dialogue, plus Art Songs, Gem Songs, and Play Songs. Review the course layout here and note the following:
Overall:
· Rhythm, Tonal and Song appear in every set of activities.
· Extensive immersion in various meters and tonalities and extensive use of movement are provided to lay the foundation for interactivity.
· Immersion and movement continue throughout the course, while interactivity is introduced and continues to advance.
· Movement is encouraged throughout all activities
Rhythm:
· Note the rhythm sequence throughout. Each meter is introduced one week and reviewed the next, until children are familiar with all. They are then rotated to keep all alive in the musical mind. Successive activities offer contrasting meters. Subsequent activities in the same meter are more difficult than the earlier. More difficult meters are interspersed to advance skill development in easier meters. Macro and micro beats are presented in duple meter, contrasted with macro and micro beats in triple meter, with those contrasted by macro and micro beats in the unusual meters. Divisions are introduced in duple meter before triple meter, and in immersion before interactivity.
· Rhythm Dialogue and Macro/Micro Beat Activities are each introduced over two weeks, with each week in a different meter. Rhythm Dialogue and Macro/Micro Beat Activities are introduced in successive weeks in duple and triple meters with macro and micro beats, and brought back later with more difficult rhythm patterns that have been introduced in immersion.
Tonal:
· Note the tonal sequence throughout. Each tonality is introduced one week and reviewed the next until children are familiar with all. Then they are rotated to keep all alive in the musical mind. Tonalities are introduced in duple meter, reviewed in triple. Successive tonal activities are in contrasting tonalities.
· Resting Tone Activities and Tonal Dialogue are each introduced over two weeks, with each week in a different tonality. Resting Tone Activities are brought back later in two additional tonalities.
· Rhythm Dialogue is presented before Resting Tone Activities. Rhythm provides the foundation for tonal learning and children respond with greater ease with rhythm than with tonal. Rhythm Dialogue teaches children how to do interactive tonal activities.
Songs:
· Play Songs establish delightful musical interaction.
· Art Songs are introduced after some tonal immersion.
· Gem Songs are introduced after experience with Art Songs, replacing Play Songs with very playful songs of greater musical depth.
· Art Songs and Gem Songs are in the same tonalities as preceding tonal activities, extending the experience in each tonality and using each tonal activity to prep the musical mind for the more sophisticated Art Song or Gem Song.
· Successive songs are contrasting songs, with one generally more playful and the other more artistic.
· Art Songs and Gem Songs are in many tonalities, with successive songs in different tonalities.
· Art Songs and Gem Songs offer many rhythmic challenges, including shifting meters and unusual meters. Songs in unusual meters are presented only after children have been immersed in the unusual meters.
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