<h3>Not Without My Whale (literacy link)</h3><p>A highly recommended book by Billy Coughlan and Villie Karabatzia, for Early Grades children.</p><p>Published by Maverick Arts Publishing ISBN 1848861826</p>                                                                    <div class="img img_sml">        <img class="lazy_img" src="https://rippleeducation.blob.core.windows.net/media/Not_without_my_whale.jpg" alt="Not Without My Whale">    </div>

<h3>Maestro the Music Dog</h3><p>The original story about Maestro the Music Dog, who lived on top of Hannah's piano. When Hannah did her piano practice she liked Maestro to listen to the tunes she made up.</p>                                                                <div class="video">    <div class="embed">                    <iframe class="lazy_embed" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/159955427?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;color=A2D6BD" allowfullscreen="">            </iframe>            </div></div>                                                                <h3>The Music Dog Goes Round and Round</h3><p>A little passing-round-the-ring song. Mrs Crocosaurus is joining in the singing!</p>                                                                <div class="video">    <div class="embed">                    <iframe class="lazy_embed" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/372728007?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;color=A2D6BD" allowfullscreen="">            </iframe>            </div></div>                                                                <ul class="simple lyrics">            <li>All Maestro the Music Dog materials Â©E-MusicMaestroPublishing Limited</li>            <li>Original watercolors and story: Sandy Holland</li>            <li>Original music: Peter Noke</li>    </ul>

More Maestro the Dog Stories Level: Early Grades - Introductory

<h3>Did You Hear Maestro Say ... ? (tempo, dynamics, pitch)</h3><p>This song is great for reinforcing the elements, tempo (speed), dynamics (loud and quiet) and pitch (high and low). I think it's best to do the actions right from the start of each verse so that the children can start copying them as they sing, and then follow the instruction for loud/soft fast/slow high/low.</p>                                                                <div class="video">    <div class="embed">                    <iframe class="lazy_embed" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/382620325?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;color=A2D6BD" allowfullscreen="">            </iframe>            </div></div>                                                                <ul class="simple lyrics">            <li>Did you hear Maestro say</li>            <li>Clap your hands for today?</li>            <li>Teacher loudly: clap them loud! (Children clap loudly)</li>            <li>Teacher quietly: clap them soft!  (Children clap quietly)</li>            <li>__</li>            <li>Did you hear Maestro say</li>            <li>Stamp your feet for today?</li>            <li>Teacher loudly: stamp them loud! (Children stamp loudly)</li>            <li>Teacher quietly: stamp them soft!  (Children stamp quietly)</li>            <li>__</li>            <li>Did you hear Maestro say</li>            <li>Tap your knees for today?</li>            <li>Teacher loudly: tap them loud! (Children tap loudly)</li>            <li>Teacher quietly: tap them soft!  (Children tap quietly)</li>            <li>__</li>            <li>Did you hear Maestro say</li>            <li>Roll your hands for today?</li>            <li>Teacher quickly: roll them quick! (Children roll hands quickly)</li>            <li>Teacher slowly: roll them slow!  Children roll hands slowly</li>            <li>__</li>            <li>Did you hear Maestro say</li>            <li>Wave your arms for today?</li>            <li>Teacher quickly: wave them quick! (Children wave arms quickly)</li>            <li>Teacher slowly: wave them slow!  (Children wave arms slowly)</li>            <li>__</li>            <li>Did you hear Maestro say</li>            <li>Make a silly sound today?</li>            <li>Teacher in high voice: make it high! (Children make a silly, high-pitched sound)</li>            <li>Teacher in low voice: make it low!  (Children make a silly, low-pitched sound)</li>    </ul>                                                                <h4>Improving the singing</h4><p>At one point here I say, 'I think we can get that a little bit better!' The problem, as I taught the song, was a lapse in concentration so I drew the focus back by giving specific instructions to look at me and listen, which was enough to produce better singing. This was one of our first sessions and the children were still finding it interesting being filmed, as you can see! It's a long, quite demanding song and, had I been in an ordinary classroom situation without needing to record more of the song for Music Playtime, I would have stopped sooner and come back to the song another day.</p>                                                                    <div class="img img_sml">        <img class="lazy_img" src="https://rippleeducation.blob.core.windows.net/media/Maestro_Music_Dog.png" alt="Maestro Music Dog">    </div>                                                                <ul class="simple lyrics">            <li>All Maestro the Music Dog materials Â©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited</li>    </ul>

More Maestro the Dog Stories Level: Early Grades - Skills & games

<h3>Maestro Dog Can Hear Me Play (rhythm, pitch)</h3><p>In supervised pairs or individually, using a keyboard or piano, the children can do what Hannah did - play on one black key, one note per word, as they say:</p>                                                                <ul class="simple lyrics">            <li>Maestro Dog can hear me play</li>            <li>My tune has one note today</li>    </ul>                                                                    <div class="img img_sml">        <img class="lazy_img" src="https://rippleeducation.blob.core.windows.net/media/toddler_piano.jpg" alt="Toddler Piano">    </div>                                                                <p>First the children play this with their right hand, then they play it with their left hand.</p><p>Next they play on two black keys, in any order. First they play on high pitched notes, then they play it on low pitched notes. Remember that children need help with identifying high and low pitch, as opposed to high and low dynamics (volume). It's not obvious on the piano because all of the keyboard looks the same!</p>                                                                <ul class="simple lyrics">            <li>Maestro Dog can hear me play</li>            <li>My tune has two notes today</li>    </ul>                                                                    <div class="img img_sml">        <img class="lazy_img" src="https://rippleeducation.blob.core.windows.net/media/Hannah_and-Maestro_play.png" alt="Hannah And Maestro Play">    </div>                                                                <h3>Copy clap</h3><p>The teacher or adult helper says and claps each of these phrases four times: <em>Maestro Dog</em> then <em>Cheeky Monkey</em>, and the children copy:</p>                                                                    <div class="img img_lrg">        <img class="lazy_img" src="/internal/----/_lrg/Copy_clap.png" alt="Copy Clap">    </div>                                                                <h4>Making Up a Dog and Monkey Tune (rhythm, pitch)</h4><p>When the children can clap the rhythms, they can experiment with playing them. It's better to use two chime bars, bigger chime bar D and slightly smaller chime bar F. for this activity instead of keyboards, otherwise children tend to play all the keyboard notes, one by one, and the result isn't singable. I suggest D and F because the notes make an easy pair for children to sing in tune.</p><p>The children make up a tune by choosing in which order they play notes D and F as they imitate the rhythm of the words, <em>Mae-stro Dog</em> and <em>Chee-ky Mon-key</em>. They can choose whether to say or sing the words as they play. Recording each child's attempt on your phone is quick and easy, children love to listen to themselves play, and it gives you evidence for your records if you need it. </p><p>Here's Robert's tune and, below it, Stephanie's tune, played on a big xylophone, which are much easier for small children to play than little xylophones. The bars near D and F had been removed so that the children could more easily hit the right ones! I had to teach the children first to bounce the beater right off the bar, otherwise the sound is dull. </p>                                                                <audio class="lazy_av" controls="" controlslist="nodownload">    <source src="https://rippleeducation.blob.core.windows.net/media/maestro_dog_cheeky_monkey.mp3" type="audio/mp3"></source></audio>                                                                <audio class="lazy_av" controls="" controlslist="nodownload">    <source src="https://rippleeducation.blob.core.windows.net/media/Maestro_stephanie.mp3" type="audio/mp3"></source></audio>                                                                <p>All Maestro the Music Dog materials Â©Music-Playtime: Arts Enterprise Limited</p>

More Maestro the Dog Stories Level: Early Grades - Cross-curricular activities

Not Without My Whale (literacy link)