From Tickling to Reading: A sound to symbol process for melody

by Terolle Turnham

A music educator first exposed to a music game which is not like Music Bingo may question its learning value. If the game involves laughter and interaction as well as talking and tickling, it is even more difficult to image that the environment is ripe for solid learning. That is, however, exactly what I am proposing and what I will attempt to describe.

This article will present a thorough description of a game and developments for the folk song, "Hey Betty Martin." Included are:

• Variants on the song game to highlight phrases to study
• background knowledge necessary to the study process
• questioning strategies to prompt song analysis
• form book pages for teacher and student investigation.

Before beginning the game, I prepare the children (kindergarten, first, or second grade) for the tickling touch. We discuss ideas about how it will feel as well as how to appropriately tickle another person. Talking about a parent or friend who tickles too hard, helps us know that we do not like that tickle touch. We also do not like to be tickled in our most ticklish places. Sometimes we laugh so hard that we are afraid we will have an accident resulting in wet pants! On the other hand, we love tickling that reminds us of kitten fur against our hand. A touch that is soft and gentle.

The Game

As the class is seated in circle formation, the teacher stands outside the circle and says, "Someone will be tickled right down the spine. The song will choose who is it will be. Will it be you?" The children watch as the teacher sings the song "Hey, Betty Martin and walks around the outside of the circle, bending low to tickle the child who is nearest when she sing "fine." Moving on, she touches the shoulders of the child she is nearest when she sings "mine." "Think about how far I walked before I tickled someone. Whom do you predict will be tickled when I start from this spot outside the circle?"

Once the children seem comfortable with the events of the game and the song, and have noticed that it is the word "fine" which makes the walker tickle someone, the interaction changes. As the teacher touches shoulders on the final word "mine," she or he now asks, "Would you like to go tickling?" If the answer is "yes," the child stands to walk with the song, and the teacher sits in that empty spot in the circle. The children will probably be content with this format for many days of play. When their interest begins to lag, it is time to change the invitation to involve more students in the action turn. The walker can be encouraged to ask, "Would you like to come tickling with me?' And off go two, then four, then eight "ticklers." Soon all are "ticklers" and there are none left sitting the circle.

Game Assessment

What has happened for the children during this time spent with "Betty"?

• They have had delightful experiences with the song and with one another.
• They have practiced taking and giving turns.
• They have used appropriate touch.
• They have practiced patience as they await their walking turn.
• They have practiced inviting someone to take a turn.
• Seeds for music learning have been planted.
• The song has started and stopped the action, reinforcing the fact that music happens through time.
• Children sing the song with accuracy.
• Children have experienced the partial and the final cadence through touch and movement.

Antiphon Game

The teacher has hummed the melody of the song and the (second or third grade) children have identified it as "Hey, Betty Martin" or perhaps "The Tickle Song."
The class is then invited to antiphon the tune with the teacher; the teacher sings a phrase and children respond with the next phrase. The teacher gestures to herself or himself to clue his or her voice and turn then toward the children to invite them to sing. Next, the children find partners and take turns leading or following an antiphon rendition of their own. They change partners several times, improving the gestures they use as they lead, and sharpening their perceptual skill as they follow.

While doing the antiphon study, the children notice new things about the song. They become aware of the structure in concrete way as they manipulate the performance and plan for the chunks they wish to sing. Will the students automatically become aware of the structure? Some will but many will need guiding questions such as:
• "What comes after you sing the words, "Hey Betty Martin?"
• "After 'Hey, Betty Martin', are the words always 'tippy toe, tippy toe'?"
• "Where do the rhyming words come in the song?"
• "How many times do you sing the words 'Hey, Betty Martin'?"

Pitch Study

Before formally studying the pitch, isolated phrases or chunks of the song can be highlighted to assure that third and fourth grad children are aware of the melodic contour of the material to be studied. In the example described here, the chunk will be highlighted through movement.

First, the teacher tells the students they will be working with the song "Hey, Betty Martin" and then hums the phrase "Hey, Betty Martin" and asks the students to identify that portion of the song. After identifying the chunk, students work with a partner and plan an action that they will perform each time they sing the "Hey, Betty Martin" chunk. Then, they share their action plan with the class. The other children observe carefully so they can imitate what they see. After each sharing time, observers will be given the opportunity to report what they noticed. Many will use actions which begin high and move lower. To direct student attention toward the melodic contour of the chunk, the teacher may ask a question or two calling attention to pitch change and movement.

"Did the motion match the pitch movement of the voice?"

If students move down when the pitch is going up. "Would it make sense to move in the opposite direction?"

Finally, the Curwen hand signals for pitch are demonstrated by the teacher and the children sing the normal text of the song using the appropriate hand signals during the words, "Hey, Betty Martin."

The hand sign practice becomes game-like as the children are asked to show ME RE DO with the right hand and LA SO with the left. Student can be given added challenges by asking them to perform the patterns by reversing hands, so that the left hand performs MI RE DO and the right LA SO. An added challenge might be, "how can your hands touch your partner's hands as we sing the song and perform the signals?" Partners share their ideas and the class imitates them. They also begin replacing the words, "Hey, Betty Martin," with the solfege syllables, ME RE DO LA SO.

Pentahand

At another time, students are asked to shape their hands in pentahand formation by looking at the palm of the hand, and bunching the thumb, pointer, and middle fingers. A gap is formed which separates those fingers from the ring and pinkie fingers which are also bunched. The three top fingers become MI RE DO and the lower bunch become LA SO.

"Can you play the chunk, 'Hey Betty Martin,' on your pentahand?

Can you play the chunk on your partner's hand while he or she plays it on yours?"

Other Pentahand Patterns

Frequently, students are familiar with the search for and use of patterns from their mathematics study. They expect to make meaning of things by discovering patterns. We want to use their "pattern detection" ability to link the pentahand to other patterns in their lives and eventually to the music staff. So we think of other ways to describe the pattern of the three and two.