Teacher Guidebook: The Jazz Fly

Transcription

1 Teacher Guidebook: The Jazz Fly

2 Meet the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra The Orlando Philharmonic was established following the closure of Florida Symphony in 1993, and from the very beginning education was a huge part of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra s offerings. From free outdoor concerts for families to performances by classical artists like Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, the OPO strives to make classical music available to everyone with more than 170 performances presented annually. Each of our four instrument families has musicians who have been with the OPO since the beginning, and our musicians can be seen all over Orlando. Our musicians perform at Disney, teach in area schools, provide music therapy to hospital patients, and even perform in the Orlando International Airport during the holiday season. To learn more about the OPO s Education and Community Offerings, go to:orlandophil.org/education Visit OrlandoPhil.org/Family-Friendly to learn more about our concerts for kids and families. Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

3 The Jazz Fly: About the Author About Matthew Gollub* My first language is English, but through studying and working overseas, I ve learned to also speak Spanish and Japanese. To record The Jazz Fly, I even learned to speak jazz! Language, rhythm, color, life! are the threads I weave through my books and presentations. Though I wasn t what you would call a bookish kid, I knew from the 5th grade that I liked to write. It all started when my 5th grade teacher took the time to type a story written by every kid in the class. (This was in the days before computers.) She snipped and glued our pages of text then bound the pages between cloth sidings. What we each wound up with was a hardcover book. I remember feeling pride as my friends laughed at my funny story. Next to shooting baskets on the playground after lunch, I decided, writing was the activity for me. There was a rhythm to dribbling a basketball, a rhythm to writing words. Soon I would discover the rhythms of travel and playing drums. The drumming started in my elementary school band. First came the snare drum rat-a-tattat. Then the bass drum-boom! Then the crash cymbals spshing! At night, I d fall asleep with my radio tuned to the jazz station. I heard scat singers, big bands, many of the jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington. Master drummers like Max Roach, Buddy Rich, and Joe Jones inspired me to study the drum set. And the early seeds for writing and performing The Jazz Fly were sown. Travels to many countries have inspired other books in progress. I feel stories in foreign settings are of great value to children and that ultimately the world s peoples must learn from each other to solve the many problems we face. At home, I find inspiration to write from my wife, and my son Jacob, who has already given me more ideas for stories than I ll ever likely have time to develop. I also derive inspiration from playing drums. I have conga drums, bongo drums, a drum set, and a Middle Eastern dumbek, and I am fond of tapping rhythms between paragraphs. But writing children s books and drumming has led to invitations from schools. I enjoy presenting my stories with music and drama, sparking the creativity inherent in young people. My interests since I was a kid have broadened but not changed. Writing, traveling, and playing drums are still the activities for me, but these days I prefer to play basketball in a gym. * Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

4 The Jazz Fly: About the Composers Scott Joplin ( ) was known as the King of Ragtime and wrote 44 original ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. Joplin came from a musical family in Northeast Texas. In the late 1880s he left his job with the railroad to become a traveling musician. In 1894 he moved to Sedalia, Missouri, earning his living as a piano teacher. The very next year (1895) he published the Maple Leaf Rag, considered the definitive example of Ragtime. Ragtime eventually evolved with other jazz styles into stride, jazz, and big band swing. About The Entertainer: A Rag Time Two Step The Entertainer is a type of music known as a piano rag (short for Ragtime). It was popular between 1895 and 1918 and was known for its syncopated, or ragged rhythm. Ragtime originated in African-American communities, particularly in Missouri near St. Louis. Scott Joplin s music was first considered classic by Joplin s music publisher, John Stark, to make it seem more elevated than other published ragtime compositions. Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

5 The Jazz Fly: About the Composers Ella Fitzgerald ( ) was an American jazz singer known as the First Lady of Song and the Queen of Jazz. Ella was most closely associated with the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, with the work A- Tisket, A-Tasket elevating her to national fame. Although known as a solo artist, Ella collaborated with several well-known jazz greats including Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Ella received worldwide recognition, including fourteen Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and several tributes on stamps, music festivals, and even theaters. Scat Singing In vocal jazz, scat singing is when you improvise above and beyond the written music using vocables and nonsense syllables. The vocalist often mimics other musical instruments, and many artists develop their own scat language. For many singers, scat singing and improvisation (creating variations on a well-known melody in real time) was a way to distinguish their particular version of a song. Singers often sang standards such as My Funny Valentine but would make it their own through improvisation and scat singing. Ella Fitzgerald recorded dozens of standards. One of our favorites was her version of Old McDonald Had a Farm. Watch her live here: Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

6 The Jazz Fly: About the Composers Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington ( ) was born in Washington D.C. and was eventually based in New York City. Duke Ellington s jazz orchestra received national attention due to its appearances at the Cotton Club, a jazz club located in Harlem. Ellington resisted having his music labelled as strictly jazz, preferring to call it American Music so he could have more freedom with his compositions. Ellington wrote more than 1,000 compositions as well as recorded jazz standards by other composers. Because of his inventive use of his jazz orchestra, Ellington is considered to have elevated jazz to an art form like classical music. Listen to Ellington s orchestra perform Take the A Train on YouTube: About Take the A Train Take the A Train was first recorded on January 15, The title referred to a subway service that was new at the time known as A that ran through New York City from Brooklyn into Harlem. The composer, Billy Strayhorn, who at the time was commuting from Pittsburgh to New York City. The directions Ellington provided Strayhorn began with Take the A Train. Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

7 The Jazz Fly Creating a Jazz Story in Class (Teacher Version)* by Matthew Gollub ) Choose two consonants such as "Z" and "D. 2) Have your students create two-syllable jazz words by adding vowel sounds to each. Write the words on the white board as you go, for example ZA-Dee, Du-DAH, ZOOdoo, DAY-duh. Use all caps to suggest where to accent the invented words. (Tip: decline to use sounds that are sure to evoke laughter such as Pee-pee, Poo-poo, etc.) Demonstrate to older students how vowel sounds can be written in different ways; i.e. "u" or "oo"; "e" or "eh, "ae" or "ay" etc.) 3) Insert 2-syllable jazz words into spaces 1-3 and 5-7 of the template below. Sample jazz words provided in red. 4) Now have the students create 1-syllable jazz words, for example, zlip, boim, schloz, fumpf. Enter a 1-syllable jazz word into space 4. (Tip: try using blends with hard sounding consonants such as K, T, P, TZ, etc. for humorous effect!) 5) Next, have students create a 3-syllable jazz word. Enter the 3-syllable jazz words into space 8. Tip: these longer phrases will flow well if you accent the first of the three syllables. (Exa. KOCH-a-ku, ZOP-a-dee, ZOOM-vee-bop; TAH-bu-doing.) 6) Now for the fun part! Lead the students in chanting the story, call and response style. (You chant one sentence. They repeat it. Then move on to the next and so forth.) Turn the performance into an exercise in drama, snapping your fingers and changing your tone of voice from super serious to loose and jazzy. The X marks indicate where to snap your fingers on beats 2 & 4. I had a ZEE-buh. It used to be a ZOY-buh. X 1. X X 2. X But when I got a _BLOO-chee, it turned into a _SKOITZ_. X 3. X X 4. X After all the DEE-pah, I really had to YEE-pah. X 5. X X 6. X So if you want to BLIM-bop, you d better ZAH-bah-DING!. X 7. X X 8. X 7) Now ask students what they think the story s about! * Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

8 The Jazz Fly Creating a Jazz Story in Class (Classroom Version)* by Matthew Gollub ) Choose two consonants such as "Z" and "D. 2) Have your students create two-syllable jazz words by adding vowel sounds to each. Write the words on the white board as you go, for example ZA-Dee, Du-DAH, ZOOdoo, DAY-duh. Use all caps to suggest where to accent the invented words. (Tip: decline to use sounds that are sure to evoke laughter such as Pee-pee, Poo-poo, etc.) Demonstrate to older students how vowel sounds can be written in different ways; i.e. "u" or "oo"; "e" or "eh, "ae" or "ay" etc.) 3) Insert 2-syllable jazz words into spaces 1-3 and 5-7 of the template below. Sample jazz words provided in red. 4) Now have the students create 1-syllable jazz words, for example, zlip, boim, schloz, fumpf. Enter a 1-syllable jazz word into space 4. (Tip: try using blends with hard sounding consonants such as K, T, P, TZ, etc. for humorous effect!) 5) Next, have students create a 3-syllable jazz word. Enter the 3-syllable jazz words into space 8. Tip: these longer phrases will flow well if you accent the first of the three syllables. (Exa. KOCH-a-ku, ZOP-a-dee, ZOOM-vee-bop; TAH-bu-doing.) 6) Now for the fun part! Lead the students in chanting the story, call and response style. (You chant one sentence. They repeat it. Then move on to the next and so forth.) Turn the performance into an exercise in drama, snapping your fingers and changing your tone of voice from super serious to loose and jazzy. The X marks indicate where to snap your fingers on beats 2 & 4. I had a It used to be a. X 1. X X 2. X But when I got a. it turned into a. X 3. X X 4. X After all the I really had to. X 5. X X 6. X So if you want to, you d better! X 7. X X 8. X 7) Now ask students what they think the story s about! * Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

9 The Jazz Fly Improvisation Lesson Materials: The Jazz Fly By Matthew W. Gollub, character card printouts (See pages 16-19), recording of Air Mail Special By Ella Fitzgerald Objective: Students will use animal sounds to improvise their own responses to the repeated scat phrase, ZA-baza, BOOzaba, ZEE-zah, RO-ni used throughout The Jazz Fly. Standards: MUK.C.1.2-Identify various sounds in a piece of music. MUK.O.1.1-Respond to beat, rhythm, and melodic line through imitation. MU.1.H.3.1-Explore the use of instruments and vocal sounds to replace or enhance specific words or phrases in children's songs, choral readings of poems and stories, and/or chants. MU.1.F.1.1-Create sounds or movement freely with props, instruments, and/or found sounds in response to various music styles and/or elements. MU.2.S.1.1-Improvise short phrases in response to a given musical question. MU.2.O.1.1-Identify basic elements of music in a song or instrumental excerpt. Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

10 The Jazz Fly Procedures: Talk it up! Begin the lesson by explaining (or reviewing) what Jazz is. Explain that scat singing is an improvised technique, used in jazz, where singers use their voice to mimic different instruments and sounds. One of the world s greatest scat singers was Ella Fitzgerald. Listen! Play the song Air Mail Special by Ella Fitzgerald or use the link to show students an amazing clip from 1961 of Ella performing the song live! ( Allow students to share their opinions about the piece and what sounds or instruments Ella might have been trying to mimic. Read! Read or use the provided recording of The Jazz Fly. Ask students to help by filling in any animal sounds needed throughout the story. Encourage students to do their best to echo any scat they hear throughout the book. Hint: Younger students may struggle to echo the scat line but will still enjoy trying. For older students, you may choose to display the scat words on the board and teach it to students prior reading the story. Discuss! Discuss how the fly used the animal sounds he heard to create new scat lyrics. Ask students to recall the animals and sounds the fly encountered on the way to the club and display the Animal Sound Cards provided. Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

11 The Jazz Fly Procedures: Improvise! If you have young students or students you feel may struggle with this activity, it may be beneficial to allow them to work with a partner. Start by asking students to choose one animal sound and repeat it for four beats. (Show the four beats using fingers if students struggle with this concept.)ex. Woof, woof, woof, wood Next, have students add a second animal sound of their choice and improvise a four beat response combining the two sounds. Ex. Woof, woof, rib-bit, woof Depending on your students skill level, you may continue this process until they are using three to four animal sounds in their scats. Younger students may need to stick with two. Ex. Woof,ribbit, ribbit, ribbit, hehaw, woof Have students practice responding to the line, ZA-baza, BOO-zaba, ZEEzah, RO-ni, with the scats they created. If time allows, re-read the book and select different students to perform their scats in response to the line, ZA-baza, BOO-zaba, ZEE-zah, RO-ni. Extended Learning In a following lesson, teach students to play their created scat lines on Orff instruments by setting the instruments in a pentatonic scale and having students assign a specific note to each animal sound. This free website introduces various elements of jazz and uses fun games to teach students how to identify various jazz instruments, create lyrics and sound patterns, and even improvise with a jazz band. Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

12 The Jazz Fly: Other Activities Call and Response: Lesson Extension Call and response is a common element in jazz and is a common element in multiple musical genres around the world. The Jazz Fly features call and response between the musicians and the author. After students have created improvised rhythms and sounds from the previous lesson, have them practice call and response through vocalization or with Orff instruments. Call and Response Telephone Another fun way to practice call and response is by playing rhythmic telephone. Form a circle with all students, and have a student create a simple two bar rhythm. Remember the first student s rhythm. Going around in a circle, have each student mimic the rhythm of the student before them, not the first student. When everyone has had a chance to perform, play back the rhythm of the first student to see the change. Compare and Contrast One of the most enjoyable elements of jazz is that many artists take the same pieces of music and make it their own through instrumentation, improvisation, or even unique rhythmic structure. Have students listen to two versions of a well-known work and discuss the similarities and differences. We ve provided a few examples in the Spotify Mix: Take the A Train (Original version and a vocal version) The Entertainer (Different instrumentations) The original version of Old McDonald Had a Farm with Ella Fitzgerald s version. Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

13 Teacher Guidebook: The Jazz Fly Resource Pages Visit OrlandoPhil.org/family-friendly to find more great offerings for kids and families!

14 Music & Video Resources 1. Spotify Mix for The Jazz Fly (includes everything but Jazz Fly plus a few extras: 2. Videos with Matthew Gollub books: 1. The Moon was at a Fiesta Excerpt 2. The Jazz Fly (performed by a fourth grade class in Japan) 3. Other Jazz Videos 1. Jazz version of The Entertainer 2. Pianola performing The Entertainer

15 Standards & Benchmarks LAFS.1.W.2.5: With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed. MU.1.C.1.1: Respond to specific, teacher-selected musical characteristics in a song or instrumental piece. MU.1.C.2.1: Identify the similarities and differences between two performances of a familiar song. MU.1.H.3.1: Explore the use of instruments and vocal sounds to replace or enhance specified words or phrases in children s songs, choral readings of poems and stories, and/or chants. MU.1.F.1.1: Create sounds or movement freely with props, instruments, and/or found sounds in response to various music styles and/or elements. MU.1.S.1.2: Create short melodic and rhythmic patterns based on teacher-established guidelines. MU.2.C.1.2: Respond to a piece of music and discuss individuals interpretations.

16 Ribbit!

17 Oink!

18 Hee-haw!

19 Ruff, ruff! (Woof, woof)

20 The Jazz Fly Recommended books by Matthew Gollub The Jazz Fly Written by Matthew Gollub Illustrated by Karen Hanke ISBN # The Jazz Fly 2: The Jungle Puchanga Written by Matthew Gollub Illustrated by Karen Hanke ISBN # Gobble, Quack, Moon Written by Matthew Gollub Illustrated by Judy Love ISBN # Ten Oni Drummers Written by Matthew Gollub Illustrated by Kazuko G. Stone ISBN # The Twenty-five Mixtec Cats Written by Matthew Gollub Illustrated by Leovigildo Martinez ISBN # Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

21 Recommended books about jazz Symphony Storytime: The Jazz Fly

22 Thank you for joining us on Symphony Storytime! Learn more about Symphony Storytime at OrlandoPhil.org/Storytime Buy tickets for our season at OrlandoPhil.org/Family-Friendly Contact Director of Education Dr. Leia Barrett at or , ext. 232 with any questions.