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Week 4: Grade 43/11/2020 Grade 4 is the beginning of the primary levels. Within the Ontario Arts Curriculum, the C1 section (Creating and Performing) states that students should be exposed to varying cultures and historical periods by "perform[ing] folk songs with syncopation and traditional songs with a simple harmony part," (Ontario Arts Curriculum p. 104) As such, the emphasis of this lesson will be a song entitled "Little Birch Tree." This song is a traditional folk song in Russia and it speaks of the power and spirituality present in birch trees. As with any other songs in the classroom, it is important to highlight the historical context in order to properly do the song and the culture justice. Note: The balalaika is a stringed, traditional Russian intstrument This song offers many different educational outlets. The first being the key. Since students are being introduced to major and minor modalities in grade 4, this song (being in d minor) is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the difference between a major tonality and a minor one. A good way of showing the difference would be to alter the F and C to become sharp, showing the parallel major, D major. Some questions you could ask are; "What was the difference between the two?" or "How was the first one different from the second one?" Rhythmically, the song can be used as a stepping stone to syncopation, as bars 7 and 10 are very simple examples for students to latch on to. Although the syncopation does not follow the exact 'syn-co-pa' syllable, I believe it is still quite effective in demonstrating the element. Structurally, this song is divided into verses and a chorus. The grade 4 level in the curriculum calls for the students to be able to recognize the difference between choruses and verses. To do this you can have students raise their hands or perform some kind of action when the chorus comes around. It can also be done where they only sing the chorus. Another option is to have students keeping the pulse of the at all times. Here is an example of the song being taught Now here is my attempt at teaching the song:
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