I was given 10 minutes to do a mock lesson plan of the song "Hey, Harmonica Man" performed by Stevie Wonder. I had my mock class listen to the recording, discuss instrumentation, dynamics, the lyrics, gave some background on Stevie, asked to have the compare and contract this piece to other pieces that we 'analyzed' in this hypothetical class. Where did I go wrong? Well not only did I exceed the time frame allotted, but I tried to jam all this information down my 'students' throats all at once. Seems I should've taken the 'less is more' approach, amongst a few other things.
I was excited about getting to analyze this song! It's so fun and lively, full of character and I thought it would really be a nice piece to add to a students' repertoire. So I wonder how I was able to suck all the fun out of it in this lesson? Well I took the textbook approach, discussing basic music facts, and facts about Stevie (his birthday and basic life story). I was fortunate to have a group of graduate students as my mock high school students, they were so kind. I'm certain I would've either been eaten alive by real high school students, or just had them drooling and disengaged for most of the lesson. I will not ever pry away from the textbook knowledge that is so vital, not for anything. However, I will add in other factors that are both engaging and educational.
I didn't exactly give myself butterflies when I researched Stevie's life, to give that basic background knowledge on him. I did however get butterflies by listening to and analyzing this song (I'm a bit of a music geek though, I don't think that is a quality all my future music students would have though). So what would engage them? Part of the lyrics mentions the 'monkey watusi'. What in the world is that? A little research later, I found out that it was the second most popular dance in the early 1960's in America (second to the twist). Do the wah-watusi!! Why not dance in class? It can be turned into a unit about the 1960's in America, or act as a solo lesson. Teach the "Hey, Harmonica Man" piece, teach the dance associated with this song. Maybe add another lesson to study the most popular dance song of that time, "The Twist". Back to the watusi, it is a dance used in any basic duple meter song. So I could use any song that fits the criteria from that time frame to dance to, maybe something with a simple melody line and memorable lyrics? It would get the students not only up and dancing, but singing as well.
For the purpose of a mock 10 minutes lesson, I would go in with the notion that we had already learned some textbook facts, and now are going on to learn the dance moves associated with the era of that piece. It would also be good for the teacher too, I don't want to spend a class standing in front of a computer droning through a powerpoint presentation, or writing everything on the board, or consistently reverting to 'teacher talk, student listen' to get information across. Even sitting behind a piano is less informal then being with the group of students. A more hands on approach would give the students an opportunity for them to have some direct impact on their learning, they'd resort to working in co-operative groups with their peers to perfect their dancing, it would give camaraderie for them to sing amongst their peers, while dancing and probably feeling slight foolish (especially if their teacher is joining along). This is clearly a more engaging part of the assignment, not to mention it will allow for a quick student assessment. The dance calls for particular moves on the one beat, another on the second beat, and another on the third. The students would have to keep a beat, recognize where the beats fall and keep time. Of course the best part of all is it's fun, and nothing can compare to that.
