Inuit Lesson 1 Introduction to Inuit Culture and Drum Dancing By Alexander Duff 7 th, 8 th Grade

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Inuit Lesson 1 Introduction to Inuit Culture and Drum Dancing By Alexander Duff 7 th, 8 th Grade"

Charles Derek Logan
5 years ago
Views:

1 Inuit Lesson 1 Introduction to Inuit Culture and Drum Dancing By Alexander Duff 7 th, 8 th Grade Standards 3. Playing instruments 7. Roles of Artists 8. Concepts of style 9. Inventions, Technologies 10. Interdisciplinary Connections Objectives 1. Have students gain a better knowledge of geography and climate of the Inuit settlements. 2. Have the students be able to describe some aspects of Inuit culture such as clothing. 3. Introduce the students to drum dancing. 4. Show the students a whale drum and how to use it. 5. Influence students to make unique drum instruments for homework. Materials 1. Giant map of northern Canadian territories and northern Alaska 2. Two recordings of Inuit drum dance music 3. Whale Drum 4. Pictures of Inuit clothes 5. Overhead/Projector Procedure 1. Explain the geography of northern Canada and Alaska by using a giant map. 2. Explain the climate of the Inuit settlements such as -Vast tree-less ice-covered ocean. -Animals in this area include fish, polar bears, wolverines, birds, and whales. - Artic is a Greek word meaning Great Bear in reference to the constellation. -The coldest average temperature during the winter is -90F. 3. Explain the Inuit clothing by using pictures either on an overhead or by passing around.

2 -Hooded coats of fur made from the animals in the area. -Their boots were made from animal stomachs and parts of whale to make them waterproof. 4. Introducing drum dancing by playing two examples of this music and explaining the music form to the students. -Most popular form of music in the Inuit cultures. -A drum dance was when drums were played in a circle and a singer would sing out a story. The dancers would then act out the story through movements. -The drum dances were played in almost every gathering including birth, marriage, seasons, successful hunts, first kills, greetings, and death. -Many people would travel long distances to attend these drum dances. 5. Introducing the students to Inuit Instruments. -Eskimos used drums made out of bones, animal skin, or any other materials that could be in this region. -The drum was not striked like a traditional drum. 6. Explain and play the whale drum. -Most popular drum in Inuit culture. -Demonstrate the drum by using the drum to hit the drumstick and not the other way around. Inuit cultures did not strike the drum with the drumstick. 7. Let the students play the whale drum -After showing them how to play it by using the drum to hit the drum stick, have the students one by one come up to the front of class and be able to play a few notes on the drum. 8. Give the students the homework assignment. -Since the Inuit cultures had to make their own drums from materials in the area, have the students for homework construct their own drums from household materials. -These drums will be used in the following lesson s drum dance activity -Encourage the students to decorate the drums. -Give them ideas such as coffee cans, plastic bottles, and boxes. -Encourage the students to create unique ways of making music with the drum by not just striking the drum but by scraping and adding other items into the drum like pasta or rice. Anticipated Outcome 1. Students will come away with a greater understanding of Inuit culture. 2. Students will be able to identify an Inuit drum dance. 3. If the students have any questions, they will not hesitate to ask the instructor. 4. Hoping the students will not play too loud on the drum and that the other students sit and pay attention.

3 6. Students will be influenced enough to make unique drums for homework. Standards 3. Playing instruments 5. Critical response 6. Purpose and meanings in the arts 8. Concepts of Style 9. Inventions, technologies 10. Interdisciplinary connections Objectives Inuit Lesson 2 Drum Dance Activity By Alexander Duff 7 Th, 8 th Grade 1. Have the students present their instrument at the front of class and tell why their instrument is unique. 2. Increase the student s understanding of drum dance ceremonies. 3. Have the students play their instrument in time with the drum dance. 4. Have the students act out the story that the teacher is singing. Materials 1. Whale drum 2. Student s homemade drums 3. JVC drum dance video 4. Musical story Procedure 1. Drum Presentation -Have the students one at a time come to the front of the class and give a small presentation on their homemade instrument. -Make sure the students explain how they created the instrument and how they make music with it. 2. Give the students more information on the drum dance ceremonies.

4 -The amount of performers at these large ceremonies did not exceed ten people. -These ceremonies would continue deep into the night only interrupted by short tea breaks. -The women and children did not participate until toward the end of the ceremony. -The drum dance reflects the structured society of those whose livelihood was based around cooperative activities like whaling. 3. Perform the drum dance activity. -Get the students to sit in a circle with their instruments in front of them. -Have the students keep a 4/4 rhythm striking the drum on every quarter note at about 100 Bpm. -Have four students come to the center of the circle and tell them that they will be acting out the story that the teacher will be singing on top of the drumbeats. -Next, sing the Inuit activity song and have the four students in the center act out the story. -Rotate the students so that everyone gets a turn in the middle acting out the story. -If the students successfully demonstrate that they can handle the quarter notes, have them move on to keep the same beat on eight notes, then a mixed rhythm consisting of a quarter, two eights consecutively (for a native American feel). 4. Play the JVC video of Inuit drum dancing for the class after they have passed in their instruments. Anticipated outcome 1. The students will have had participated in group settings. 2. The students will have a better understanding of Inuit music through drum dances. 3. Students will visually see how official drum dances are created. 4. There might not be enough time for the video because of the drum dance activity. Inuit Lesson 3 More Culture and Introduction to throat singing By Alexander Duff 7 th, 8 th Grade Standards 1. Singing 4. Improvisation and Composition 5. Critical response 6. Purpose and meanings in the arts 7. Roles of artists in communities

5 8. Concepts of style Objectives 1. Introduce more aspects of Inuit culture such as shelter, food, and hunting. 2. Introduce Inuit throat singing. 3. Teach the students how to throat sing so they can practice for homework. Materials 1. Two Recordings of Inuit throat singing 2. Videos of Inuit throat singing 3. Pictures of Igloos 4. Overhead/Projector Procedure 1. Introduce Inuit food -Inuit cultures usually eat fish, sea mammals, and a few land mammals. -Main sea mammal for food was the ring seal. 2. Introduce Inuit hunting -Very patient hunters. -Seals would dig holes to come up for air in the ice and they would wait and use a harpoon or sharp blunt object to strike the seal. 3. Introduce Inuit homes -Pass around/ put on projector pictures of Inuit houses. -Igloos were only used in specific cultures. Igloos were homes made out of ice blocks and when they melted in the summer the Indians had to move to fur tents. -Most Inuit homes were made out of driftwood covered in mud or soil. -Beds consisted of twigs and furs. 4. Introduce Inuit throat singing -Play two examples of Inuit throat singing. -Ask the questions if they are confused or if they have any questions because it s nothing like they would expect. 5. Explain Inuit throat singing -In Inuit throat singing, two women face each other while standing or crouching down. One leads with short deep rhythmic sounds while other responds filling in the gaps with her own rhythmic sounds. -Sometimes Inuit women would dance by swaying side to side. -The sounds that were used were voiced or unvoiced and could be made by either inhaling or exhaling. Both Inuktitut words and meaningless syllables were used.

6 The meaningless syllables are often portrayals of sounds found in their natural environment. -The songs were identified by the first sound or word that is produced in each song -Throat singing is a skill that has taught or developed. This technique was gained through singing individually into a kettle or large bowl because they would hear resonance of their voice -Throat singing was not viewed as a musical activity by the Inuit people but as a form of entertainment. It was a game or form or competition that the women played while their husbands were away on hunting trips. -The person that would laugh, come to a halt, or run out of breath would be declared the loser. 6. Play the videos of Inuit Throat singing. 7. Assignment -Explain to the students during the next class there will be a throat singing competition. -Have the students go home and practice and create sounds, words, and noises that they will be using in the next class. -Give the students hints at sounds to use like birdcalls, animal noises, or anything they hear around them. Anticipated Outcome 1. Students will add to their already extensive knowledge of Inuit cultures 2. Students will be able to recognize throat singing 3. Students will go home and try out sounds they will be able to use during the next class. Inuit Lesson 4 Throat Singing activity and the pentatonic scale By Alexander Duff 7 th, 8 th Grade Standards 1. Singing 2. Reading notation 4. Improvisation and Composition 6. Purpose and meanings in the arts 8. Concepts of style Objectives

7 1. Have the students abide by the rules and participate in a throat singing competition. 2. Have the students then celebrate the winner through a drum dance with the instruments they made. 3. Introduce Singing into the Inuit drum dance. 4. Have the students sing the C major pentatonic scale. Materials 1. Video of throat singing 2. Student s drums 3. Keyboard 4. Giant Visual of the C Pentatonic Scale (either on overhead, white/black board, or on a poster). Procedure 1. Play the Inuit throat singing video as an example of the competition the students are about to participate in. 2. Explain the rules of the game. -One student will make a noise on beats one and three of a slow four beat measure and the other student will make a noise on beats two and four. The students are allowed to change the noise at any time but once they stop, pause, laugh, or run out of breath, they lose. -After the winner is declared they will pick another student to face that has not gone yet. After every student has gone at least once, the game will come to an end. -To keep the game fair it will be kept simple with no beat changes and they are only allowed to make a sound on the downbeat. 3. Demonstrate the activity -Pick a student to join the teacher and have the teacher make constant beats on measures one and three and have the student fill in. 4. Have the students practice -Randomly pair up the students so they can practice this for a few minutes. 5. Start the competition. -Have two volunteers or randomly select two students to first. When the student wins, they will pick the next person to play but they cannot pick someone that has already competed. The last one competing wins.

8 6. Pass out the homemade drums so they can keep a steady 4/4 rhythm around 100 Bpm. -The teacher will then sing a short victory song during this drum dance celebration. 7. Introduce the C Pentatonic scale. -Play the pentatonic scale at the piano and have the students look at the visual of the scale. -Explain penta means five so there are five different notes in this scale. 8. Have the students first warm up their voices by singing their regular warm up exercises such as sol, fa, mi, re, do. Then have the students sing the C major pentatonic scale with the piano ascending and descending. 9. Explain to the students that the C major pentatonic scale contained the notes that Inuit Indians used in their singing. 10. Have the students use the C major pentatonic notes to come up with a little melody for next class. -The melody should be no more than two measures of four beats long. -In addition to this melody the students should make a short list of things that describes them. This will be used in the next class activity. Anticipated Outcome 1. Students will be able to throat sing and really feel like they are in the role of an Inuit wife waiting for her husband to come home while having fun. 2. Students should be able to keep the tempo. 3. Students might be too silly and the game might have to come to a pause until they can settle down. 4. Students should be able to sing the C major pentatonic and come up with short phrases of their own at home even without knowing exactly what it will sound like. Standards Inuit Lesson 5 Individual Songs and Lesson Wrap Up By Alexander Duff 7 th, 8 th Grade 1. Singing 2. Reading notation 3. Playing instruments 4. Improvisations and composition 5. Critical response

9 6. Purpose and meanings in the arts 7. Roles of artists in their communities 8. Concepts of style Objectives 1. Have the students hear their homemade melody. 2. Have the students sing about themselves using the C pentatonic scale. 3. Have the students understand the importance of personal songs in Inuit culture. 4. Have the students throat sing during a drum dance. Materials 1. Student s drums 2. Keyboard 3. Student s melodies 4. Student s descriptions 5. Visual of the C major pentatonic scale Procedure 1. Warm the student s voices up with regular exercises such as sol, fa, me, re, do. 2. Have the students sing the pentatonic scale ascending and descending 3. Explain to the students the meaning of the homework -At local Inuit drum dances, people usually volunteered to perform. When no one volunteers, a person is chosen to perform by the previous performer. The previous performer chooses someone and sings out a personal trait describing that particular person. 3. Next have the students take out their homework -Collect the melodies and descriptions and play them at the piano for each student -Now take one of the student s words that he describes himself with and fit it to their melody. -Make sure the teacher never uses the same word for two people. -Have the student repeat after you and sing back his or her melody and do this with every student. 4. Have the students take out their drums and sit in a circle and create an official drum dance. -Get volunteers to throat sing -Have the students keep a slow tempo around 100 Bpm as the two students throat sing.

10 -Eventually use the student s homework and sing out during the drum dance to choose students to do the throat singing. Anticipated Outcome 1. Students will gain more understanding of Inuit music. 2. Hoping the students will hear their own composition and create more music on their own. 3. Hope the students will be able to combine all three concepts of Inuit music into the last exercise. Bibliography Inuit Music. Vanessa Franklin and Mary Ann Culo. (no date) < Inupiatun: In the Manner of the Eskimo < Throat Singing Music in Inuit Culture. Free Spirit Gallery < Victor Company of Japan Ltd. JVCBook VIII of Video Anthology at World Music and Danc. Cambridge: 1978 Video Anthology at World Music and Dance. JVC. Victor Company of Japan Ltd min.

Chapter 2 Musical and Historical Encounter: Inuit Communities Text: Beverly Diamond Online Instructor s Manual: J. Bryan Burton

Chapter 2 Musical and Historical Encounter: Inuit Communities Text: Beverly Diamond Online Instructor s Manual: J. Bryan Burton Map Skills On a map of the eastern North America, locate the nations discussed