Teaching Harmonic functions to 3rd and 4th grade on their first day.
I've posted this kind of thing before, but it's worth posting again with a sequence of how I taught them.
I sang Mary Had a Little Lamb using the appropriate I and V7 accompaniment, but I stopped on the penultimate chord (the V7, fleece was white as. . .) and asked, "Can I end there?" Most said, "No!" right away. After playing the tonic (I), I asked, "How about there?" Yes. I then taught them that there are two functions that go underneath the melody to Mary Had A Little Lamb. Listen to when they change. Sing them with me. "Yes Yes, No, Yes." Again. "Yes Yes, No Yes." We then did the same thing with London Bridge. Hey, they have the same functions at the same time!
After successfully testing a handful of individuals to tell me whether I was playing NO or YES, I then played I V7 I V7 I V7 I V7 I V7 I V7 I V7 back and forth for 20 seconds or so. I said to listen carefully. Is this YES, NO, or something else. Then I played a IV chord. Uh-Oh, that's not NO or YES. It's something different Remember we sang On Top of Spaghetti? Listen. Here are the functions to that song. I (on top of spa-) IV (ghetti) - I - V7 - I , IV - I - V7 - I. Then we sang UH-OH, YES, NO YES a bunch of times. Afterwards, I tested a few more individuals. Most of them could hear all three functions. We did this on the first day of class with no previous instruction and did it in less than 15 minutes. I even played a V/V7 chord for them to hear. Yes, there's gonna be more and I'll help you learn them over the next couple of weeks.
My older kids already hear functions I couldn't do even after playing Dixieland Jazz for years. They "feel" these functions V/vi, vi, V/ii, ii, and this circle of 5ths sequence in the key of C: C E7 A7 D7, G7 C. Those are the changes to 5 Foot Two, Eyes of Blue. Can you hear the song and the functions in your mind? My 2nd year 3rd and 4th graders can. I'm astonished at what they can learn when taught through their ears. I wish we could get away from the theory a bit. It never helped my musicianship much. Teaching these functions to the children has helped my improvisation with the dixieland jazz band tremendously. I win. The students win. I feel good. [James Brown just ran through in my head.] I've got to figure out the changes to that tune now. Oh my! I just did it in my mind. Isn't it just a blues? I think so. You see, I couldn't do that before I started teaching this way. I'm modeling the learning which may be the best way to teach. Model the learning YOU are doing.
I've since done Muffin Man and Take Me Out to the Ballgame. They've learned:
Do you know the muffin man? The [I - I]
muffin man the muffin man, Do you know [ii - V7/V - V - I]
And:
V/ii - ii - V7/V - V7 -I [Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack, I don't care if I ever get back for it's root, root, root for the]
And they're getting this in 2nd grade now, not just 3rd on up. One is a first-year child. Never had her in previous years.
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