Workshop 5: Body Percussion and Soundscape

Topic: Body Percussion
Context: Who- VELS level 4- Grade 5/6 When- Beginning of topic Where- Inside (dance room) What- Body Percussion Why- To learn how to dance according to difference cultures and learning different ways to moving and using bodies to create rhythmic sounds.
Theme: ·         The elements that will be explore and manipulate are timing, energy and body ·         Body movements and physical skills that are used to make sound: slapping, stomping, clapping, etc. ·         Students need to gain an understanding of rhythm, timing and beat to accurately perform body percussion
Learning outcomes – the children will be able to…. Cognitive (Intellectual/artistic): Create a body percussion sequence in a group Psychomotor (Thinking/Physical): Students must be aware of safety aspects of dancing with those around them, students must remember and practice the sequence and execution of the dance. Affective (Emotional/Social/Cultural): Student will explore the use of body percussion as an expression with sound and body movements.
Assessment I will be observing and continuously attending to individual and groups of students assisting them. I will assess their cooperation, choreography and performance as I record it on video. Students at Level 4, Dance to address the Arts standards, students individually and in groups, improvise and compose dance sequences using ideas about past and future times, different environments and cultural contexts. They experiment with and manipulate the dance elements of space, time and energy and begin to use symmetry/asymmetry and different spatial groupings to organise their movement and express their intentions. Students plan, rehearse and refine dances.  They identify cultural influences on their dance and evaluate the effectiveness of own dances, reworking dances to their satisfaction
WHAT - content	HOW – strategies and approaches
Warm up – Kinesthetic tune-up Students move around the space and follow movements of the teacher such as rhythmic clapping, slapping and stomping. Form a circle and practice canon using body percussion. Get students to use their bodies to make loud and quiet sounds. Get students to share different ways to do it and try it all as a class (stomping feet, clapping hands, slapping legs, sides and arms, clicking).	Management of children in the space safely Teacher will be facing majority of the students at a time, walking around to all students in groups and individually. No props will be used and the lesson will be conducted in a clear space with any hazards removed. Make sure groups aren’t standing too close together Establishing rules and expectations of behaviour Teacher will state the signal to stop and listen at the beginning of the class Students will be told they are expected to behave sensibly and respectfully of each other and the teacher Consequences will be communicated and followed through eg. 3 warnings and time out Safe dance practice of physical skills? I will need to check student’s technique of movements in the dance to be sure they are not hurting themselves while slapping their bodies or stomping feet, etc. Aesthetic Awareness How will you develop their movement/character response? Exploring different ways we can make sounds with our bodies together Watching videos of body percussion performances Feedback to children about their movement response References Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2009, Background to VELS: The Arts Domain, State Government of Victoria <http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/arts/background.html>
Development  - Exploration Watch the following videos: Children making music with body percussion (Brazil): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqnNu3u-Apw&feature=related African-American Step: Stomp 'n Shout (Springstep - Medford, MA): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwaYnJ2ogQk&feature=related Discuss what they are doing and the kinds of movements they are making to create sounds. Teach students a simple 4 beat body percussion pattern. Students individually create their own body percussion sequence of 4 beats using different parts of their body. Get students into pairs. They must teach each other their sequences and put it together. Pairs join with another pair. Put all sequences together and practice it. They can add or change movements if they like. They must add in a canon somewhere in the dance.
Culminating Dance  - Have two groups at a time performing while facing each other like a dance battle. They could possibly take turns performing four counts.
Discussion – Memory integration -          Their physical skills? How did you use all of your body to make sounds? What body part did you use the most of to make the sounds and why? How did you keep the beat? What other ways can you think of to use your body to make sounds? -          Their safety skills? What did we need to do to make sure we didn’t hurt ourselves or the people in your group? What parts of our bodies did we need to make sure we were using properly the most? Which movements in particular? -          Creative skills Why did you choose to move that way? What was your aim or what were you thinking when you created your own dance part?
Closure In the same groups, pick one of the sequence of four counts to dance. Create a class orchestration of body percussion in time conducted by the teacher. One group adds on every four beats, and then slowly stops until one group remains again.  Film this and show the students straight away/next lesson.