Sigma Alpha Iota

MUSIC MEDLEY MEDLEY continued from page 3 • Research and fabricate costumes from an opera, narrating a fashion show while including facts about the composer and how the opera was written • Make calendars with composer information; pictures of composer life events could be the highlighted picture of the month • Collect and cut pictures from magazines or draw things of significance for each composer and assemble into a collage to share with class • Craft a composer alphabet book which features a composer for each letter with an alliterative phrase to go along with that composer (i.e. Chopin carefully creates compositions with crescendos) and list other facts about the composer somewhere on the page. You could also illustrate the page. Lessons and Teaching Tips • Check out "The Real Beethoven" game patterned after To Tell The Truth in Music K-8/ Vol. 11. No. 2 • Use KWL chart to determine what students already know, what they want to know and then to assess what they've learned • Display a Composer of the Month chart with a picture and information about a specific composer • Construct bulletin boards in your room and hallways with composer information; • Look at lessons from Plank Music K-8; John Jacobson's Music Express Magazine; The October 2009 issue of Music Alive has a section on the Gershwins • Contribute to your morning news show by suggesting a music selection accompanied by a short narrative about its composer • Find out about a learning strategy called DeBono's Hats as an avenue for lateral thinking about composers and their music. For an example, Liberty for All: A Musical Journey, a CD with music from Westward Expansion to the Industrial Revolution produced by MENC has Copland's Lincoln Portrait with a link to a lesson for Grades 5-7 using De Bono's Hats. • Share information in small doses and revisit your composers often using different musical examples of their works • Leave word searches, crossword puzzles, DVDs or videos focusing on composers for your substitute if you are away from the classroom. These can serve as reinforcements for lessons you've already begun. Resources: •Moldenhauer Archives from the Library of Congress (letters, manuscripts, materials in the 3500 piece collection) http://memory.loc.gov/ ammem/collections/moldenhauer •One Page Composer Bios: 50 reproducible biographies of famous composers by Jay Althouse, Alfred General Music & Classroom Publications •The Composer Special Series (DVD or Videos) • Bach's Fight for Freedom • Bizet's Dream • Handel's Last Chance • Liszt's Rhapsody • Rossini's Ghost • Strauss: The King of Three-Quarter Time •The Composer's Special Teacher's Guide by Betsy Henderson •Great Composers of the 20th Century by Jacqueline Wollan Gibbons: Teacher's Handbook and CD with reproducible student page. New Strings Curriculum Available S AI Member Laureate Doris Gazda has published a new series of books for string instruments. Her books of trios, Progressive Trios for Strings, was published and released in November by Carl Fischer Music. These books for violin, viola, cello and bass are designed so that the pieces may be performed by any combination of three string instruments. The books contain familiar folk songs and light classics. There are also some original pieces by Doris. Doris Gazda, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Penn State University, taught for many years as a string specialist in the Montgomery County, Maryland, public schools. Most recently, she was a faculty Associate at Arizona State University. She has served nationally as Secretary for the American String Teachers Association, President of the National School Orchestra Association and Member-at-Large for ASTA with NSOA. Nationally known for her leadership and expertise in string instruction, Ms. Gazda presents workshop sessions at conventions and teacher's meetings and guest conducts for city, regional and all-state orchestras. She is a frequent presenter at state and national meetings for MENC, ASTA with NSOA, MTNA, regional school systems and string workshops. She received the 2003 Alumni Achievement Award from the School of Arts and Architecture at Penn State University. In the spring of 2006 she was appointed String Editorial Consultant for Carl Fischer Music. In 2008 she was honored by Sigma Alpha Iota with Member Laureate status — an initiated member of the Fraternity who has achieved 4 PAN PIPES WINTER 2011 sai-national.org Member Laureate Doris Gazda's new series of books for string instruments includes Progressive Trios. international distinction in the music profession. Volunteer activities include helping with ASTA projects, participating in the Phoenix SAI Alumnae Chapter activities, visiting schools in the Phoenix, AZ area and volunteering as a teacher assistant at a school in Mesa, AZ. Doris is co-director of a New Horizons Orchestra in Mesa, AZ. This orchestra is made up of older adults who wish to get back to playing now that they have time in retirement. See Gazda's Composer Update on page 27 for more information.

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