The Beggarman and laws of motion

Class today was really fun! We worked more on our Irish song, The Little Beggarman, especially on memorizing the first two verses. The kids love this silly folktale-song about a little beggarman named Johnny Dhu who walks around with holes in his shoes, loving the free life. Once we got the first two verses memorized we used one of the topics they studied this week to make it more interesting. They have been studying all about force and motion in science this week, and as I was preparing, I thought about how musicians use these laws of physics to create motion and intensity in performance, specifically by means of dynamics. First, I had the children hold their hand in front of their face and blow with different air speeds, or different amounts of force. Then, to demonstrate how this applies to sound production, I brought my flute with me to class, and I asked the children what they thought would happen if I applied a lot of force or a little force when I played. They hypothesized accurately, and the more force I used the louder the notes, and the less force the softer the notes. Next, I drew a large crescendo symbol on the board, explaining what it was in musical terms. I then told them that it would be a force-meter for us. We sang our Irish song, but this time I directed the class as to how much force to use to make different dynamics by indicating on the crescendo. The students took turns directing me on the flute, and then directing their classmates.It was so much fun!