Teaching a Rondo (Jim Solomon’s Alpha IV from The Body Rondo Book)
This rondo may be viewed on Amazon.com here: http://tinyurl.com/3xhepb6
Click on the book, search inside, and you can view the rondo.
Part I
- Have students to walk for 16 beats. Label that walk as a letter A on the board. Talk about taking a walk on a country road.
- Tell students to imagine they see farmers working in a field. Allow them to choose how to move to illustrate farming movements. They make work with one or two people. Label this action as letter B.
- Have them take a walk again and let them know that they are doing the letter A movement again.
- Ask what they might see on their walk next. A student might suggest they see people playing on a beach. Have them act this out for 16 counts again and label this movement as C.
- Have them repeat the A section again and let them know that the pattern they have demonstrated is called a Rondo.
Part II
- Teach these words a section at a time. The words fit the Alpha IV rhythms.
A. Little chili peppers, Little Chili peppers, Little Chili peppers hot-cha cha cha
B. Cool my tongue with water from a water hose, Cool my tongue with water from a hose.
A. Little chili peppers, Little Chili peppers, Little Chili peppers hot-cha cha cha
C. I feel much better, I feel much better, I feel much better. I want more!
A. Little chili peppers, Little Chili peppers, Little Chili peppers hot-cha cha cha
- Say the words and pat legs. Add the claps and foot stomps back in.
- Perform the whole rondo while saying the words.
- Drop out the words and perform the rondo as a body percussion piece.
Part II
- Transfer the A section to hand drums and/or congas or djembes.
- Play the B part on another percussion instrument.
- Repeat A part
- Play C part on another percussion instrument
- Repeat the A section once more.
Optional: Have a student improvise the notes while playing the B section rhythm on an alto xylophone in C pentatonic. Play the C part the same way.