I’m not gonna lie. Sometimes as a music teacher, the holiday seasons from October-December start blending together. Even though I love Fall with the air getting cooler, the pumpkin patches, and festivals left and right, often I’m not the most “seasonal” person during the Fall months. I don’t always put out pumpkins and halloween decorations, I don’t usually come up with a genius halloween costume idea, and I don’t like scary movies. Most years, that translates to my lessons as well. That being said, I thought I would get on the seasonal bandwagon this year and try to be a bit more festive! I decided to use the classic song “Skin and Bones”, with a simple lesson including singing, Orff, and composition. Hope you enjoy!
I started the class by making up a story for my 3rd-5th graders about the old lady who was skin and bones. I told one of my classes that she hadn’t left her house in over 10 years after her beloved husband had passed away. She finally decided to leave the house and go visit his graveyard in the dark of night. It was a very spooky night. When she came back she opened the closet to get a broom and there was something in there. I ask them all to guess what they think it was. This allows for students to feel excited to sing the song and gets them into the spooky spirit of halloween. Then they listen to the song.
Because I used this lesson with 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, I introduced the concept of 6/8 meter, and syncopated rhythms. I teach students the “ooooooo” part, and tell them it’s a syncopated rhythm because it has a dotted quarter note and eighth note. We listen to the song again, and I ask them to stand every time they hear the syncopated rhythm, and sing/clap the “ooooo” part.
After we’ve learned the song, I introduce 2 orff parts and have them clap the rhythm and then we practice on instruments.
After we’ve mastered the Orff parts, I let students compose their own lyrics with a worksheet that I made. This is also a good way to incorporate teaching about adjectives, nouns, and onomatopoeias!
When they’re done, I ask students to accompany themselves on the Orff instrument with their new lyrics!
I hope you enjoy this seasonal spooky lesson! Happy Halloween!!
-Paige-