Thursday, February 3, 2011

Presto! and Adagio...for children

Presto!
...it's not a magic trick
...presto is just the Italian musical term for fast.

Meet Presto Bunny...

Presto Bunny!
Presto Bunny!
She's fast!  She's quick!
She's oh so funny.

Yesterday, after meeting Presto Bunny (fingerpuppet) one of the kids actually said...
Let's run presto!  Let's do the running game and hit the drum! 
I suggested the Spiderman theme song music, they agreed and off we went!



I stood in the running pathway holding a drum out.  

The children hit the drum as they ran by.  

(It's an African dance class activity...and we all love it)

We've been hitting the drum for a few months now and the children are so accurate at hitting the drum as they run by,  they are
beginning to get some loft as they move thru the hit!  

It's absolutely thrilling for them and beautiful to watch!
When the running is complete it's time to bring out Adagio Bird.


Meet Adagio Bird...

Adagio Bird 
Is slow and sweet
Be gentle with him
Don't tangle his feet!

Because Adagio is a marionette, he must move slowly or his strings get tangled.

After Adagio meets the children and sits with them,
we all try to walk with Adagio using our own "Adagio Feet". 
This is quite a challenge.

We listen to Mozart's Piano Concerto #23, Adagio movement (check out yesterday's post to hear this beautiful adagio music)  moving with our adagio feet.

Of course, we all take turns holding the controls.  

What they don't know yet is I have a class set of Adagios and 
next week we will move as a flock of Adagios!  

In classes here at Musicalia the children move...a lot. 
I believe movement and language are connected 
and when we design activity that can incorporate both, 
very young children have a more integrated learning experience.

2 comments:

  1. It is great to see others sharing music definitions with children. Building a vocabulary can start at an early age.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree! Hearing a very young child use musical vocabulary to describe what they hear sure brings a smile to my face.

    Children love to learn!

    Thanks for commenting:)

    ReplyDelete

Comments welcome

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