Kim Chin, Chicago Opera Theater Teaching Artist at Hampton Elementary and Calmeca Academy

I decided to do a lesson using a musical improve technique. I used only the solfege syllables Do, Mi, Sol, and Do using numbers 1,3,5,1*. I also used long and short notes indicated by a line or a dot. I had a mini lesson on declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences. Some of the classes already new what these sentences were but some 4th and 5th graders didn't. They did great job of coming up with examples of each. After we came up with these sentences, we assigned each syllable of the sentence with numbers 1,3,5,1* and labeled the syllables with long and short notes depending on their stress and importance.
We played the melody on the piano and had them sing and edit their classroom creation. This class was a follow-up session from learning about recitative in an Opera; a musical conversation. Their homework was to write a conversation and label each syllable with numbers and label long and short notes.
This lesson was very successful! The students did really great, understood each step, and had a blast "writing" their own melody. It was also really fun seeing them act out the sentences and act it out with the melody. There were quite a few that used their whole bodies and facial expressions while acting. Most thought it was funny at
first but still enjoyed the challenge. They also came up with great sentences that related to the Opera we are doing. Since this lesson was so successful, I can't wait to add the rest of the numbers 2,4,6,7 (re, fa, la, ti). I believe that every child has natural creative and
musical talent and this lesson really broadcasts this talent.