The beginning concept will be to use nursery rhymes to get ideas of what can be done. Nursery rhymes have several advantages as material; familiarity, they are easy to learn, they are rhythmic, and they have some kind of easily grasped message. I will address the fact that we are using nursery rhymes to get us started. I don't want third graders to be resentful of working with material that may seem below them.
The counting rhyme
Bumble Bee
is in a simple meter and would be fun to start with.
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Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee,
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Stung a man upon his knee,
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Stung a pig upon his snout,
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Goodness me if you're not out.
The class would then learn the rhyme and repeat it several times. Then I will divide the class into two and we will recite the poem in a round fashion with the second entrance coming at the conclusion of the first line. We will then recite the poem while clapping the syllables. With the class divided in two, the first group will recite the poem and then clap the syllables of the poem while the second group recites the poem, and both will end by clapping the syllables. We could experiment with this rhyme by dividing the class into three or four segments and continue with this kind of imitation form, where the first group recites and then claps and each entrance repeats the process until all are clapping.
We would then have a discussion about the text of the rhyme. I want the students to be aware of the word bumble, and how it sounds like a bumblebee. Onomatopoeia can be defined in High School, but the simple idea that a word can sound like what it represents is a useful concept for writing poetry. The alliteration of Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee, with the repetitions of those 'b' sounds should also be brought out in discussion. The concept seems to be a useful tool for writing (the words "repetition" and "consonance" are of little if any value at this stage).
The feel of the meter will also be addressed. Bumble Bee, Bumble Bee- short, short, long- short, short, long from the beginning of the rhyme. And then- stung a man upon his knee (short, short, short, short, short, short, long). I don't want to be too technical with the class but I do want them to have a sense of what is making the poem so easy to learn and memorable.
Another treatment of the same rhyme would be to use different body parts for different sound effects. So the first group could recite the poem, then clap the syllables, then slap their thighs to the same rhythm, and finally they could make a buzzing sound to the rhythm. Each successive entrance could follow the same pattern, each one entering after the one before it has said the verse. We could introduce other sound sources. We may tap on our desks, our knees, small drums, wood blocks and so on.
Another rhyme that we could treat in a similar manner is
If I Had A Donkey
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If I had a donkey
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That wouldn't go,
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Do you think I'd beat him?
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Oh, no, no.
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I'd put him in a barn
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And give him some corn,
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The best little donkey
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That ever was born.
This rhyme is a little more intricate but can be treated and expanded upon in the same manner. First we would learn the rhyme. I think we will learn all the poems as we are working on them by reciting them. As an afterthought I will give out copies of what we have worked on so the students can see what they look like. After we had committed this rhyme to heart then we could work on performing it for ourselves. For this poem I think a stanza of clapping the rhythm might precede the reciting of the poem. The clapping of the rhythm might be done on small drums, or knees, and the round would go for maybe three iterations. We would then discuss the form of the poem: how there is a conjunctive statement, the "If I had."part, and then the clause-"that wouldn't go", and then the question. And then how the rest of the poem answers the question and says what would be done instead.
Hickory Dickory Dock
is a compound meter example that would be good to work with. Compound meter (6/8 in this case) is where the beat breaks down into three smaller parts: hick-or-ree or 1-2-3, all being one beat.
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Hickory, Dickory, Dock.
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The mouse ran up the clock,
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The clock struck one,
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The mouse ran down,
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Hickory, Dickory, Dock.
We would review the rhyme a few times, and then treat it as we have the other rhymes, clapping the syllables and in a round fashion. In this rhyme we have alliteration, a very pronounced rhythm, and the meter of the piece is different from the others we have looked at so far. I will point out how the similar nonsense words follow each other and how the shared rhythm creates continuity. To accompany this we could use the same array of claps, knee slaps, tabletops and small percussive items. I will be looking at this nursery rhyme again in the next section, so the students will be able to differentiate separate performance ideas.
