“Ya alay ah oh ya ha we oh ya hey,” Rose, Emilia and Olive improvised, writing the sound sequences they liked down on a small musical notation whiteboard. Music teacher Brian Cuzzi came over and listened. “You chose to honor bunnies,” he said. “How will you move?”
The fourth graders were completely absorbed in creating Native American dances. It was the culmination of a unit which included learning several tribal social dances; it dovetailed with a social studies unit about the indigenous people of New York State. Cuzzi said that students learned various musical concepts in this unit, highlighting the call and response format, the beginning stages of composing music and practicing a song to prepare it for performance in the class.
Students approached the project like play.
As each group decided on the animal they’d like their dance to honor, they began prowling like wolves and ambling like bears. “How does a lizard move,” Mr. Cuzzi asked one group.
Next up—compose the vocables. They’d learned the term in the last class. It meant syllables that Native Americans use in songs that don’t have a defined meaning but convey emotion and create patterns.
The last step was to select a drum, shaker or other percussion instrument.
Before students performed their creations for the class, Mr. Cuzzi reminded them of the importance of respect for all cultures, and that Native American social dances were always in a circle. Everyone belonged.
