[Harp-L] Blues in the schools taught from the inside

[Mark Panfil <markpanfil@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I teach a performance/composition based Blues unit to my fourth and fifth graders here in upstate NY. The key element in "hooking" them into the work needed to play it themselves has been teaching them to write their own verses and sing them. The form is so basic but so pervasive they can get three or four verses written and sung in one or two class periods. The advanced kids play solos on 5 note scales that I give them and the more basic skilled kids just play a five note answer phrase made up of just two different notes. 
We use recorders,  harmonicas and their traditional band and orchestra instruments as the solo/ answer instruments. Guitars and simple snare drum shuffles are played on rhythm instruments.

They write about anything from loving or hating the Buffalo Sabres to homework. The blues is a great vehicle to learn a holistic approach to folk music. They connect to the old through the new.

Mark

www.MarkPanfil.com
www.BuffaloBluegrass.com
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