I don’t know about you, but my elementary students are ALL ABOUT the song “Old Town Road” right now. At first I wasn’t a fan, but I have to admit it has grown on me. There are only 4 more work days until summer, so I needed a lesson that would keep my students engaged and also pack in some standards. In came the idea for a rhythm stick lesson incorporating “Old Town Road” that teaches about form. This lesson was definitely a hit with the students. And if I’m being honest, it’s probably one of my favorite lessons I’ve taught this whole year! This is why I just HAD to share it with you today!
EXPLAIN:
First, I explain that form is how we organize a song into sections. It’s often a pattern, and each section is represented by a letter. A form can be as simple as ABA. An example I give the students of ABA form is “Hello” by Adele. I have them raise their hand when they hear the B section, in which they’ll hear a change in instrumentation, melody, rhythm, tempo, etc. After this, I usually show the Form video from the Quaver curriculum, or the other Form video featured below.
ANALYZE:
After the form video, we listen to the clean version of “Old Town Road” on Youtube. I ask them to raise their hand when they hear each section. I usually pause it on each section and ask them what changed about the song and why it’s a new section. This is also a great opportunity to analyze the song with the elements of music. Ask them about tempo, dynamics, style, instrumentation, form, meter, timbre, rhythm and more. When it comes to style, I usually tell them it is a “genre-bender” which means more than 2 styles together in a song. The 2 styles being country and hip-hop.
PERFORM:
After we’ve figured out the form of “Old Town Road,” (ABCBCA) we clap out rhythm patterns that represent each section. After they’ve clapped it out successfully, I hand out rhythm sticks and we try it with the music on the youtube video. The rhythm patterns can be performed with rhythm sticks or bucket drums! I already put my bucket drums away so I chose rhythm sticks. If you’d like a bucket drum lesson, check out my “We Will Rock You” bucket drum/guitar blog post.
LESSON EXTENSION: Use these Music Listening worksheets to analyze musical elements of “Old Town Road.”
I hope you have a great time teaching this lesson!!! And an even greater time on your summer break. : ) I’d love to hear about what you’re doing this summer. Come hang out with me on social media so we can make our friendship official!!
Keepin’ it simple,
Paige Bell