Teaching Through Music: Down to the Baker's Shop

By Summer Davis
Understanding Statement:
The student will recognize the overall architecture of a ternary song as well as
understanding the repetition of the beginning at the end. The will be able to sing and clap the
dotted-eighth sixteenth rhythm and recognize it in multiple visual contexts. The presence of this
rhythm is undeniable in contemporary music, folk music, classical music, and world music.
Thus, it is useful for a student to be able to recognize the rhythm at a young age through
audiating, body percussion, and hearing.
"I Can" Statements:
Core Arts Standard MU:Pr4.2.5
SOL Music Standards 5.2:2, 5.2:4, and 5.4
I can demonstrate an understanding of rhythm through audiating, clapping, and visualizing.
I can identify large scale form through listening and singing.
I can analyze selected music to understand standardized notation.
I can under use different kinds of notation to read melodies.
I can sing, clap, and read dotted-eight sixteenth note groupings.

Materials:
"Down to the Baker's Shop" by James T.R. Richie.
Slideshow with symbols
Process:
1. Facilitator will sing the song straight through
2. "What did you hear?" Allow time to think
3. "Did it sound like a story?" Allow time to think
4. Facilitator remarks on the story they hear
5. Tells listeners that they are going to sing it again, and ask them to try and keep the beat
on your body and listen to see if anything repeats.
6. Sings through again.
7. "What did you hear repeat?" Allow time
8. "What happens at the beginning?"
9. "What happens in the middle?"
10. "What comes back at the end?"
11. Through these three questions, sing the phrases of the songs
 12. After going through all three, talk about how we could call it A-B-A because the
beginning and end are the same.
13. Have the listener sing with the facilitator in the A section.
14. Sing it together
15. Next, sing and clap the syllables together.
16. Facilitator demonstrates first, then together.
17. "What do you hear as far as rhythm?" Allow time
18. "To me, it sounds like some words are squishing up close to other ones."
19. "Let's sing it again and see if we can pick out some words that are squished."
20. Sing again.
21. "Did you pick out any words that were squished together? What were they?"
22. Talk with listeners about contrasting the ending "Hop, Hop, Hop" rhythm to "to the
baker's shop"
23. Move to the visual aid to continue discussion on rhythm.
24. First show slide of "Hops" to discuss their evenness and sing through them
25. Move to the second slide with the two types of bread
26. Sing through this slide and discuss how the big happy loaves of bread sound the same,
but the darker brown loaves with the pieces cut off sound different
27. Move to the next slide that places the words on the bread
28. Have the listeners sing again and tap the bread along with the syllable
29. "What are you noticing about the middle loaves of bread?" Allow time
30. "How many times are you tapping them?" Allow time
31. Move to block notation slide "Let's look at it in a different way.
32. Sing through again while tapping
33. "Do you see four big sections?"
34. "What about in these middle ones?" "The bread got sliced."
35. Sing through again
36. Extension
a. Move to the next slide with standard music notation
b. "You might be familiar with this kind of notation, but for bigger note values."
c. "If the dot adds half of what it's worth, what does the extra line mean?"
d. "If the single sixteenth note is at the end, and we know the whole figure is equal
to four, how many are in the dotted line?"
e. Slowly tap out subdivisions for each line
f. "As you go forward learning this kind of notation, see if you can recognize this
kind of notation in other music. Also, see if you can hear this kind of pattern."
Assessment:
Self-Assessment
o Am I being playful?
o Am I asking appropriate questions and allowing time for response?
o Am I explaining connections between different ideas?
 o Am I thoroughly explaining the concept in a digestible manner.
Extension:
See number 36
Adaptations:
If I were to teach this in a physical classroom, I would bring in some large Duplo blocks
to discuss the four little bits inside of one big bit and work on "slicing" off a sixteenth
note
I will provide the transcript to my video underneath of it so that the viewer could follow
along
For some students, I might stop with the bread and block analogy and not move onto the
musical notation until after they fully understand the concept and can recognize it in a
new piece