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Psalm 96, formally known as the Cantate Domino, commands all God’s creation to sing a new song. This new song is to stir within our hearts, promote our praise to God, and continue as long as we live. The psalmist reminds us to praise God with pipes, drums, loud clanging cymbals, and dance. Music has never been music alone, but has always been connected with speech, dance, movement, and drama. It is this fusion of the arts that the child should experience for him/herself. The joy of active participation in a social setting lays the foundation for the love of music and for the humanizing influence that all art has had throughout human history. We want to guide our students to claim this wonderful gift from God. At Cornerstone, we do this by using guidelines developed by German composer Carl Orff and his lifelong collaborator, Gunild Kleetman.
Rhythm - Speech, use of body percussion, unpitched percussion, and pitched percussion.
- Sound/silence, steady beat.
- Note measurements, meter, and tempo.
Melody & Harmony - Call, chant, ‘re’ development (mi-re-do)
- pentatonic keys of C,F, &G
- recognition of tonic (‘do’)
- folk songs, singing, composing, playing instruments, pitch awareness
- bordun, melodic ostinato, canon, orchestration
- G clef.
Tonal Texture - Accompaniment with unchanging tonal center;
- speech & song, sing & play 2-3 part canons;
- ostinato.
Form - Improvisation;
- phase development: single phrase, repetition combined phrases;
- rondo;
- introduction, interlude, coda.
Timbre - Voice – speech, singing;
- body percussion, pitched and unpitched percussion;
- orchestration;
- piano, keyboard, recorder.
Recorder - Soprano recorder: middle C to E’ including reading;
- improvisation and performing;
- Ensemble: duets, pitched/unpitched percussion, piano.
Literature - Folk songs/games, Bible, cultural materials, original source works from Orff/Kleetman, student improvisations.
Listening - Limited classic/contemporary composers
Performance - The value of performance before an audience is recognized, but not the primary approach; Sharing and refining their material is highly motivational to students; higher levels of skill development is obtained, leading to individual and group satisfaction.
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