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WEEK of January 23, 2006 |
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Bringing Out the Sun: Lower School Students Soar in Music Class by Jeffrey Stanley “Who knows what metallophones are?” Second grade hands shot up. Music teacher Piper Macleod (at right) hinted that xylo means wood in some African languages. The students know what a xylophone is, so a metallophone must naturally be a… “A xylophone with metal bars instead of wooden ones?” “Very good, that’s right.” Two rows of xylophones—and a few metallophones—waited on the floor of the seventh floor music room, a pair of mallets in front of each instrument. The second graders (photos) waited as their names were called to sit in pairs before a xylophone or metallophone. “Remember you’re sharing,” said Piper. “Lucia, you come over to a glockenspiel. Good.” The teacher waited a moment more. “If you have your mallets you are so ready.” Most of the students were indeed ready, poised over their instruments with mallets in hands, their eagerness getting the best of them. It wasn’t time yet, though. Piper sat in front of her own xylophone and began tapping out a steady, metronomic rhythm. “What is a walking beat? Does anyone know?”
“A quarter note beat?” She nodded. “A quarter note beat.” Finally it was the students’ turn to steadily bang out a quarter note beat in unison, the aural analogy of a person walking at a slow and steady gait. Piper moved among them to correct hand positions, mallet angles, and striking zones. “Strike it right in the middle. There you go.” One student had his finger extended rather than curling it around the mallet handle. “Put that poker away.” After practicing the quarter note beat they moved along to the faster 8th note or “running beat.” Piper again lead off on her own instrument, then invited others to join her. Eventually they played freeform as a group. The sound was cacophonous but somehow it sounded good. Piper invited volunteers to perform improvised solos, then duets. After this percussion warm-up the instruments were left behind and students scrambled to another area of the carpeted floor for singing time. “Who can tell me what song we are going to do that is a song about the winter solstice? Who’s the composer?” “Tony Soll,” answered the children. “And who is that? How do we know Tony Soll?” Piper asked. Most of the children only know Tony as the man who plays the guitar and participates in the Friday sings in the Preschool. In a few years’ time, they will come to know this veteran BFS faculty member as a humanities and history teacher in the Middle School. The children sang the first line of Tony’s song. “Revel my friends by the warmth of the fire. Revel together as one.” Piper stopped them and used the opening line to give mini- singing lessons. When she asked for volunteers to stand in front of the room to be coached, the hands again shot up. She picked a brave student who hopped up and happily joined her at the piano.
“Revel together as one,” the student sang. Piper patiently worked with the student on her breathing, her hitting the right pitch, and on opening her mouth to enunciate for clarity. After a few tries, the student had matched her teacher’s singing nearly note for note. “That was perfect. Give her a hand. Who’s next?” Hands again shot up. “So many volunteers, so little time.” Piper, who instructs kindergarten through third grade students, has been teaching music at Brooklyn Friends School for seven years. She has a master’s degree in education from New York University and has worked professionally as a singer, composer, producer and writer. Prior to coming to BFS she was the director of Children’s Music at the 92nd Street Y. She has taught in the public school system and she also teaches a music workshop for younger students at Friends Seminary. Her students’ eagerness to perform—even the solos—was unexpected given their age. They seemed to have no self-consciousness or reluctance whatsoever about performing in front of their classmates. Simple as the tunes were, the sight was impressive. Piper revealed her approach: “I respect children.” She elaborated. “I think that they have all the complexities that adults have. At times we can be playful and silly, at other times my expectations are that they are colleagues.” Piper takes advantage of the fact that she, like her students, is “always learning.” She sees her classroom work as a collaboration among the students and the teacher in which mistakes are part of the process. “We celebrate and participate in the creative process together. We all take risks.” She also involves students in the assessment process, making them all of aware of each other’s musical strengths and weaknesses, including her own. “Not all people are born with the ability to match pitch. I wasn’t,” she said. “That skill can be taught if a student is invested in learning.” Piper continued: “Most children hear mistakes, so rather than avoid them we directly and gently make adjustments in each student’s sound so they can be more successful. This is a particularly valuable teaching method when preparing for a public performance such as the Thanksgiving sing. Students begin practicing about a month beforehand and she individually guides them toward matching each other’s pitch and blending their voices. She teaches them the differences between merely shouting the words and using a singing voice. “I try to instill a sense of ownership and pride.” Meanwhile back in the classroom, after a few more mini solo singing lessons the class continued Tony Soll’s winter solstice song in unison. “Revel together as one, and together we’ll bring out the sun.”
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