Vikings, Ho!

 Wow! September is just about over. In some ways, it felt long, and in other ways, it went by fast. 

   Our themed Viking month was a blast! I did something new that I haven't done with other themed months in previous years: I actually assigned students their choice of either learning a themed piece of music by ear or doing their own Viking-themed composition. The piece of music could come from VeggieTales's Lyle the Kindly Viking, Dreamworks's How to Train Your Dragon, or a Viking movie of their choice -- except the last option wound up being irrelevant, as no one actually used it. I guess there aren't too many popular Viking movies for kids. :)

   One student was already an HTTYD fan, so she jumped into the assignment with a delightful enthusiasm! She decided to both learn "This Is Berk" by ear, and do her own Viking-themed composition. And she did really well with both! "This Is Berk" turned out to be a popular choice among those who learned songs by ear, followed by "Forbidden Friendship," and "Romantic Flight" came in last, probably because it is more challenging and less epic sounding. (I hadn't realized it was actually slightly harder than "Forbidden Friendship" until I was teaching the pieces. I initially thought "Forbidden Friendship" would be harder, because the melody is harder to pick out from the original soundtrack.) A number of students also decided to do their own compositions, some with lyrics, some without. While there were a few that sounded very random, especially among the younger students, there were also a few that turned out really well. And there's a few others that are still works in progress. :) 

   Of course, as always, games were an important part of the process. 

   The first week's musical review wasn't really Viking-y, except that we were using a cardboard battle axe and broadsword. (If anyone else wants to copy my idea, take my advice and make sure you reinforce your sword with popsicle sticks, on both sides, under the aluminum duct tape. And be prepared to fix the battle axe handle, which is really an old roll that once held gift wrap. Kids are hard on weapons. Not just the boys, either. Some of those girls were attacking the paper dragon with a vengeance!) The idea was that they would gain victory over the sea-dragon by getting the right answers to most of the musical sticky notes stuck to him. It was amusing to see the responses of students to the idea that they could either tame or slay the dragon. I got everything from the girls who were lustily shouting, "Die, die, die!" as they played and the boy who wanted to actually take the paper head off, to the little beginner who, with eyes full of innocence, asked, "Why would I kill him? He hasn't killed anyone. Innocent until proven guilty." 💕

   The second week, beginners sailed over the keyboard as they identified correct key names, while older students were "sailing the 8 C's," practicing their note reading, their music symbols (8va, 15ma, and 8vb), and their thinking and observation skills all in one. Like the real Vikings, students had to "sail" from Norway to Canada as they worked their way through the notes. 

   My favourite game, though, was the Viking shields rhythm dictation.

   Students had to listen to the rhythm I clapped, then arrange the shields in the correct order back on the ship. I would tell them ahead of time how many shields I was using (I started with three, then worked my way up to as many as my students could handle -- most of them made it to using all six shields!). 

   I also used the shields for sight reading with a couple of students. Sticky Tac is a great thing! 

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