Flight of the Bumblebee Listening Lesson!

Last month, my student teacher created a bumblebee themed unit that incorporated grade 2 curricular music outcomes. The unit included an Orff orchestration of a bees song as well as a listening activity to Flight of the Bumblebee!

Part one (5-10 minutes):

For the listening lesson, students each received a piece of water colour paper and a black crayon. They were told to draw the sound of the music thinking about fast/slow, high/low, forte/piano and to think about what kind of movement the music is trying to represent.

 After they were finished, we discussed the piece and their drawing. Students figured out that the piece was representing the movement of a bumblebee and we discussed how it moves.

Part two (20-30 minutes):

This part unfortunately had to happen after my wonderful student teacher Lauren had already finished her time with me. So I continued with the lesson! 

Next, we discussed the tempo of the piece and imagined being that bee. What colours would we see? If we were moving presto, would we see details of nature or would it be a blur of colours? With these questions in mind, student painted their drawings.

When they were finished and dry, I cut the paintings in two. I gave one piece back to the students and the other piece was put to display together with the others.

This is so accessible to students and does not take very long! We finished this in one and a half classes!

What types of activities do you use to engage your students in listening to music?