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This page was updated
November 18, 2008

Workshop Notes

AOSA National Conference
Charlotte, North Carolina
Thurs - Sat, Nov 13 -15, 2008

Dear AOSA Teachers,

Mary Alice and I are continually impressed by the dynamic group of musicians and artists (you) that are teaching music in American elementary schools under the umbrella of AOSA.  We are having a wonderful time with you at this conference; and we look forward to seeing you at future events.

Many thanks to everyone who worked and is working so hard to make this conference possible.  Special thanks to Diane Sabourin who has been our main contact and who has been wonderful to work with.

Here, below, are notes on our sessions.  You can click on any of the titles to go directly to notes on the session you are interested in.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

You can get more detailed information on the below upcoming Amidon workshops (and all our upcoming workshops) at:

or you could subscribe to the Amidon e-mail list, below:



  
 

I send postings maybe once a month - the classic format is Dance Workshop - Announcements - Musings.  Here is the most recent one:

Mary Alice and I were pleased to see many of the folks who have taken our summer week-long, 3-credit course at Hartt School of Music in West, Hartford, CT.  We are offering  it again this summer:

Rich Traditions and New Creations:
Dance, Song, Storytelling and Literature in the Music Classroom

Mon - Fri, July 6-10, 2009:

Information on that course will be posted at the Hartt Summerterm website probably in January:

or e-mail dehansen@hartford.edu for more information.

       *              *              *

Adult Village Harmony singing camp

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon are joined by two young gifted  singer/ percussionists: Luke Hoffman, and the Amidons' son Stefan Amidon in leading a 9-day camp of SATB singing from ethnic choral traditions including American shape note music, African American gospel, and the leaders' own transcriptions and arrangements of songs steeped in the oral tradition.

CHARLOTTE SESSIONS:

LITERATURE, STORYTELLING AND MUSIC

(Thursday and Friday afternoons)


Whose Woods These Are
This is on our CD "All I Really Need".
I learned, early on, the same thing that many of you know
already: that introducing a song with a story will more
deeply invest the children in the song.  Use every detail
from the song that you can in your story.


Tree Song
On New England Dancing Masters' (NEDM)
"Down in the Valley"
I have developed a family of characters
focused around Roger, his wife Mary,
and their granddaughter Eliza, around several
songs and singing games: "The Tree Song",
"Old Roger is Dead" (both on "Down in the Valley"),
"Chiney Doll",  "When I First Came to This Land"
(both on Mary Alice's "Songs for a Singing Family")
and "Go Tell Aunt Rhody".
 


Grain of Rice
Mary Alice learned this from the Storycrafters:
http://www.storycrafters.com/
We have not transcribed this story or the songs yet.
We will try to get to this soon; but we want to get this
page up right away.  Meanwhile, here are two resources:
First, a summary of a slightly different version of the
story:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/713274.html
Second, a picture book with a version of the story:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/One-Grain-of-Rice/Demi/e/9780590939980


Mary Alice's Picture Books

These are all listed on page 21, 22 in the notes.

I Live in Music

The Day the Babies Crawled Away

Summertime

Whales (Friday only)

Keep on Singing - the Ballad of Marion Anderson
Here is Mary Alice's tune setting of the poem:

The Day You Were Born (Thursday only)


The Month Brothers
Here is a summary of my version of the story:

And here's a picture book of the story you can buy:
http://www.amazon.ca/Marushka-Month-Brothers-Anna-Vojtech/dp/1558586288


Acting out stories
Children do this quite naturally; you just
set it up and, as much as possible, get out
of the way.  After telling a folktale I give
them the homework to retell it aloud,
we might go through a speed through of
the story or do a quick group map of the
story or discuss the story (What was the
funniest/saddest/most scary/most memorable
moment?)   Once they all know the story well,
you are the narrator, and maybe also the musician
(guitar, accordion).  Pull the characters (and
human props) from the 'audience' of children
sitting in a bunch in front of the 'stage'.
All the action takes place right in the middle
in front of the audience.  The 'actors' speak
loudly so everyone can hear.  If they forget
what happens next you can feed them a line
as the narrator: "And then Helene told
Marushka to go pick some violets."

You can use this method to create a musical performance
with added instrumental music, songs and dancing, or
just do it once and leave it at that.


Classic folk tales
TELL THEM!
Little Red Riding Hood, Three Bears,
Three Billy Goats Gruff, Rapunzel,
The Mitten, Cinderella, Rumplestilskin,
Sleeping Beauty, Jack and the Beanstalk,
Hansel and Gretel, Three Little Pigs,
Gingerbread Man, etc.

Tell any other favorite folktales.

Tell stories from your own childhood.

Create your own storytelling introductions
to songs.


Final Picture Book Love Me Tender
On the bibliography in our notes; page 20/21.



       *         *         *



TEACHING DANCE TO CHILDREN I - DEMONSTRATION

(Thursday afternoon)

Thanks to the 3rd and 4th grade children of the University Creative Arts School and their music teacher, Lisa Lashley.  What a wonderful group of students!

Head & Shoulders
This is in our New England Dancing Masters (NEDM)
collection "Jump Jim Joe"
We often use this dance in a school assembly program:
we teach most of it with the students sitting down, then
they all just stand up and do the dance in place.


Dance Teaching Tips
Here are some of the steps I use in teaching, say,
Comment ça va (in NEDM's "Sashay the Donut" or
La Bastringue (in NEDM's "Chimes of Dunkirk") :
Mittens; front of your mitten on the front of your neighbor's
mitten, thumb lightly on back; take hands drop hands take
hands drop hands; posture; teach the forward separately
from the back in the forward and back; shake partner's
hand, hang on, take partner's left hand for teaching promenade;
while promenading: inside person is the moon/peanut butter/gent,
outside is the star/jelly/lady; four steps of making a circle from a
promenade: "Hang on to partner stop walking, hang on
to partner face the center, drop hands, take hands.";
9 ways of keeping the circle big and round on circle
left and right; dosido (gents start on inside, ladies start
going outside) flowing into two hand turn flowing into
promenade; when music starts clapping the first of
each 8 beats; doing the dance with your hands; "thick"
calling, then "thin" calling then no calling; saying the
call right before the 'clap' or before the first beat of
the phrase and figure.


Sally Go Round the Sunshine
Both this, and its English cousin "Sally Go Round the Sun"
are in NEDM's "Jump Jim Joe" collection.
We like using this singing game with all ages:
especially 2nd grade and up (right through middle
school/high school/adults) to teach the
relaxed, rhythmic style of walking characteristic
of contra dancing and of nearly all the
Anglo and African/American dances we teach.
We teach the song quickly by rote, and then
keep singing the song over and over again as
the students first walk in place in time to the
song, then do the dance, and then maybe
add a forward and back into the figures.


Comment ca va?
In NEDM's "Sashay the Donut" collection
Music: Any reel (French Canadian is nice for this;
for example, "Quebeqois Reels"on NEDM's
"Sashay the Donut" CD
Comment ca va?
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut

formation: Circle of couples
music: Any reel medley

A1 (16): Forward and back (8)
              Forward and back again (8)
A2 (16): Circle Left (8)
               Circle right (8)
B1/B2: (32) Allemand left corner (about 6)
              Dosido Partner (about 6)
              Allemand left corner again (about 6)
              Promenade partner (or short swing with
                partner, then promenade) (about 14)

This is really a version of "La Bastringue"
with a more sophisticated B1 section
(after the Circle L, Circle R, and before
the promenade) that makes it a great
dance for 4th - 6th graders; it is not
too difficult, but it keeps them engaged
and the flowing B1 figures makes them
feel like sophisticated dancers.


Going to Alberta
In NEDM's "Sashay the Donut" collection
This is a GREAT way to teach the ballroom position (used for the waltz,
the polka, and for a contra dance swing) at the same time as a simple
polka step.  We have found this to be a great dance for little kids,
big kids mixed ages, community dance, in short, for anyone.  You can
do it as an a cappella singing game, or accompany it with piano,
guitar, accordion, or Orff instruments, or do it to the music of
the "Sashay the Donut" CD.


Sasha

In NEDM's "Sashay the Donut" collection.
A great dance for all ages! We are not sure of the origins
of this dance: one source suggested it was a novelty dance
based on a Russian pop song from the 60's.  'Ras, dva,
tri' is Russian for 'ready, set, go!'


Sashay the Donut
In NEDM's "Sashay the Donut" collection
Formation: Circle of couples, gents facing out, ladies facing in

A1: Forward and back/RH Turn partner
A2: Two hand turn partner/Dosido partner
B1/B2: Cascading sashay.

I like calling this with groups of 4th-6th graders, 6-8 couples
in a set, to "The Flying Tent" on NEDM's "Other Side
of the Tracks" CD.  You have to call pretty strongly in
the beginning to help define the phrase, but later on the
phrase gets much more clear and the dance goes great
with the music.  You can also do this dance with larger
groups, in which case the dance will go across the phrasing
of the music (once through the dance is more than once
through the tune). You just pick up the beginning of the nearest
8 or 16 bar phrase when starting each sequence over again.


Durham Reel
In NEDM's "Chimes of Dunkirk" collection.

Circle left/Circle right
Cast off #1, Cast off #2
Coach and horses to the left
Coach and horses to the right
Thread needle under "Queen's" arch.
Thread needle under "King's" arch

We used 'Slow G' from NEDM's "Sashay the Donut" CD;
Assembly (the same band that recorded Other Side of the Tracks)
at their dreamy best.  This dance was first published in John
Playford's 'Dancing Master' in 1651.


Down Down Baby
In NEDM's "Down in the Valley" collection.
We have found that some children know other
versions of this.  Encourage children to teach
this to their friends on the playground; that
is where Maureen Kenney (Kennedy) learned it.


TEACHING DANCE TO CHILDREN 2 - DISCUSSION/DANCING

(Thursday afternoon)


Here are some online dance resources for
finding dances in your own area:

Dance Teaching  Tips:
Mittens; front of your mitten on the front of your neighbor's
mitten, thumb lightly on back; take hands drop hands take
hands drop hands; posture; teach the forward separately
from the back in the forward and back; shake partner's
hand, hang on, take partner's left hand for teaching promenade;
while promenading: inside person is the moon/peanut butter/gent,
outside is the star/jelly/lady; four steps of making a circle from a
promenade: "Hang on to partner stop walking, hang on
to partner face the center, drop hands, take hands.";
when music starts clapping the first of each 8 beats; doing
the dance with your hands; "thick" calling, then "thin" calling
then no calling; saying the call right before the 'clap' or before
the first beat of the phrase and figure.


Choosing Partners

We think it is a real gift to children to teach them
how to choose their own partners.  I like to frame
this in 'Kings' and 'Queens' language to help the
children get over their self consciousness over
choosing partners.

I have them all practice the words: 'May I please
have this dance?' 'Yes thank you.' and then
practice answering me, and then practice
asking me.  Then I demonstrate what it
looks like to ask a partner to dance, by
asking one of the 'Queens'.  Then, I
have that Queen sit down, and I ask
her again, showing the 10 steps:
The approach. Eye contact. The question.
The answer. King puts out his hand.
Queen stands and takes King's hand.
They hang on to each other's hand and
walk to the top of the hall. The King
stands on the King's side, the Queen on
the Queen's side and they face each other,
nose, toes and bellybutton, taking two hands.
Then they drop their hands, and, voila, there
they are.

Then I have a volunteer Queen ask a King,
then a volunteer King ask a Queen, and then
all ask.  This can be quite wonderful, and the
children who succeed in doing this should be
quite proud of themselves.

Here is my sequence:
1) Talk about an adult contra dance where folks line up in
60 seconds, many of them dancing with folks they have
not met before, because of a special way of asking that
goes all the way back to Kings and Queens:

Everyone repeat: May I please have this dance.
Everyone repeat: Yes, thank you.
They practice the answer: I ask:
May I please have this dance?
They answer Yes, thank you.
They practice asking:
May I please have this dance?
I answer: Yes, thank you.
I demonstrate choosing a queen for a partner.
Then I do it again, describing the steps:
Step 1: the approach
Step 2: eye contact
Step 3: the question
Step 4: the answer
Step 5: I put out my hand.
Step 6: Queen (Susan) takes my hand.
Step 7: We hang on and walk to the music, to the
top of the set.
Step 8: I stand on King's side, Queen Susan stands
on Queen's side, we take both hands to face each
other, nose, toes and bellybutton.
Step 9: We drop hands.

That was an example of a King asking a Queen,
now for an example of a Queen asking a King:
 any volunteers?


Pepperell Stomp
An original dance by Mary Alice Amidon
She made this up while doing an elementary school dance residency
in Pepperell, MA.  It is great for a wide range of ages and for a
community dance.

Formation: circle of couples (circle mixer)
Music: Reels.  Mary Alice loves, and we used,
"Irish Reels" from NEDM's "Sashay the Donut".

A1 All go forward, clap on the fourth beat, and go back. (8)
       All go forward, kick and flip hands and say 'Whoo!' on fourth beat
              and go back. (8)

A2 Right elbow turn partner. (8)
       Left elbow turn partner. (8)

B1 All facing center: Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap, Stamp, stamp, stamp-stamp-stamp (8)
       Dosido partner

B2 All facing partner: Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap, Stamp, stamp, stamp-stamp-stamp (8)
       Pass right shoulders with partner, and do a two hand turn with new partner.


Lucky Seven
In NEDM's "Chimes of Dunkirk" collection
Music: Mary Alice played a jig.  We like doing
this to "The Coming Dawn" on NEDM's
"Any Jig or Reel" CD.
Formation: Circle mixer.
A1 (16) Circle to left (8)
            Circle to right (8)
A2 (16) All forward and back (8)
            All face partner and get ready (or dosido partner) (8)
B1 (16) Grand right and left, passing six people and stopping at seventh.
B2 (16) Promenade this new person counterclockwise around circle,
              gents on the inside, lades on outside (12)
 All join hands in one big ring, ready to circle  left . (4)


First Night Quadrille by Bob Dalsemer
in NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird collection
Formation: Square dance
Music:
1) any jig or reel, or
2) use recorded calls on NEDM's Listen to the Mockingbird CD or
3) I love calling this to "Old Time Reel Medley" on
NEDM's "Sashay the Donut"

Opening

Main figure:
A1 (16) Head couples go forward and back.  (8)
Same four circle left.  ( 8)
A2 (16) Same four circle right.  (8)
Same four right hand star.  (8)
B1 (16) All allemande left corner.  (8)
Give right hand to partner and begin a grand right and left. (8)
B2 (16) When you meet partner do-si-do.  (8)
Promenade home.  (8)

Repeat main figure for side couples
Middle break
Repeat main figure for four gents, and then for four ladies
Closing
The Opening, Middle Break and Closing can be whatever figures youíd like to do; they often include circle left and right, forward and back with a hoot, promenade, whatever.

A great dance for, say, 4th grade and up who have
some dance experience.  

Teach your students Lucky Seven first so that
they already know the grand-right-and-left
figure going into this wonderful flowing
square dance.


*         *         *

EVENING COMMUNITY DANCE

(Thursday night)
Wow! What a crowd!  Sorry the space was so small;
but you all looked beautiful and Mary Alice and I had
a wonderful time!


Circassian Circle Mixer
in NEDM's "Listen to the Mockingbird" collection
A1 All forward and back, and forward and back again.
A2 Ladies ("stars") forward three steps, clap on fourth beat and (spin) back to place. (8).
       Gents ("moons") forward, clap on 4th beat, then back to corner. (8)
B1 Elbow swing corner (new partner) (or dosido and then elbow swing).
B2 Promenade new partner, gents ("moons") on the inside.

Mary Alice played for this.  You an use any
hot reel, for example "Fancy Hornpipe" from NEDM's
"Any Jig or Reel" CD.
Always start teaching this dance by having
the students promenade and defining 'inside'
and 'outside' (gent/lady or moon/star or
whatever).  I like doing this with fourth
graders who have a little dance experience.


Bridge of Athlone
In NEDM's "Listen  to the Mockingbird" collection.
I used, and love using "Reel de Rimouski" from NEDM's
"Andy Jig or Reel" for this.

A1 (16) All forward & back.  (8)
All cross over to partner's place, passing right shoulders. (8)
A2 (16) All forward and back.  (8)
All cross back to original place, crossing right shoulders again. (8)
B1 (16) First couple take two hands and sashay down the center. (8)
Sashay back to the top of the set.  (8)
B2 (16) First couple cast off and all follow behind down the outside of the set.  (16)
C1 (16) First couple make a two hand arch at the bottom of the set. Other dancers
meet their partners below the arch, take one hand with partner, duck under
the arch, and walk back to place. All but the original first couple take two
hands and make arches, forming a long tunnel.  (16)
C2 (16) The original first lady goes up the center through the tunnel while first gent
goes up the outside of his side of the set.  (8)
Then the original first gent goes down the center through the tunnel while
the first lady goes down the outside of her side of the set. Then all step back
to place to prepare for the opening forward and back.  (8)

In our Charlotte dance, the lines were too long
to stay with the phrasing, which was fine.
But if you have sets of, say, 7 - 9 couples
(and more space than we had) and encourage
the children to "power walk" (walk fast but
not running) through the cast off under the
arches, the dance works very well with the
three parts (AABBCC) of "Reel de Rimouski".
I is a nice touch to have every couple
successively go into a wave of two-hand-turns
as the active couple moves from the top to
the bottom of the dance (one of the dancers
going through the tunnel) at the end of
the sequence.


Dance Party not in any of our collections.
I made this dance up as a way to teach
the buzz-step swing used in contra dancing.
You can use any reel medley on any of
our CDs for this:

A1 Everyone walk around.
A2 Grab someone's muscles and swing.
B1 Everyone walk around
B2 Grab someone else's muscles and swing.

This a non-gender  way of doing the
contra dance swing that shows up in
EVERY contra dance you'll do, except
in contra dancing folks swing in more
or less ballroom position.

I learned this non-gender grip/swing
from Marianne Taylor, a tremendously
gifted dance teacher and mentor to many
in my generation who died just last summer.

Here's what you do.
You grab someone's muscles (upper arms).
They grab your muscles.
Put right foot more in front of left foot.
Both "sit back" (lean back a little,
knees slightly bent , keep your elbows
a little bent, and support each other's weight.)
Then you swing clockwise (to the left) by
doing that scooter step we worked on:
sort of pivoting on the to of the right foot
while pushing around with the left foot.
The sing should be smooth, and in time
with the music.


Susan Kevra Mixer
This is not in any of our collections.
I am sure it must have another name,
but I learned it from dance caller
Susan Kevra and I didn't get to ask
her what she calls it:

Circle mixer
Starts with a circle of couples
Music: any jig or reel

A1: Forward and back
        Forward and back again
A2: Allemand right (Right hand turn) partner
        Allemand left partner 1.5 times (trading places)
B1: Swing next (new) partner (we did a dosido/right-elbow swing).
B2: Promenade new partner


Haste to the Wedding
In NEDM's "Chimes of Dunkirk" collection.
Use the "Haste to the Wedding" cut on the
"Chimes of Dunkirk" CD.

Formation: improper contra dance
Music: Haste to the Wedding from NEDM's Chimes CD or any jig or reel.
A1: Circle L, Circle R
A2: Star R, Circle L
B1: #1's dosido partner, swing partner (two hand turn)
B2: All dosido N, clap twice (with music).  Pass right shoulders with N to new couple.
 
This is the simplest  contra dance we know; a great
first contra dance for, say 4th grade (who
have some dance experience) and up.   Note
that there is also a Sicilian Circle version of th
dance in the same "Chimes" collection.


Zip It Up
In NEDM's Sashay the Donut collection.

A1: Long lines forward and back, right hand turn partner
A2: Two hand turn partner, dosido partner
B1: top couple sashay down and back
B2: top couple cast alone down to bottom, and *Zip it up, sashaying back up the middle.
C1 & C2: Top couple do a #weaving pousette to the bottom.

This works perfectly with a three-part tune:
Try either the three part jig to reel
Quadrille Jos Bouchard/Reel Beatrice on
NEDM's Sashay the Donut CD or Reel de
Rimouski on NEDM's Any Jig or Reel CD.
You can also do it to a regular 2-part (AABB)
jig or reel and have each time through the dance
take up 1.5 of the tune, OR you can ignore the
phrasing of the tune, let the dance take its natural
course, and start the forward and back at the nearest
8-bar phrase OR OR OR if you are leading this at a
community dance, after calling for a while you can
stop calling and let each set find their own natural
rhythm.  The sets will naturally get out of synch with
each other: one set will be sashay while the other is
poussetting.  Stop the dance by calling, at the end,
a partner swing for everyone.

Larry's Mixer
In NEDM's "Listen to the Mockingbird".

Formation: Circle of couples, gents facing out, ladies facing in
A1 (16) Do-si-do partner.  (8)
  Allemande left the person to the left* of your partner. (8)
A2 (16) 'See saw' partner.  (8)
  Allemande right the person to the right* of your partner. (8)
B1 (16) Swing partner.  (16)
B2 (16) Promenade partner.  (8)
  Gents move up to the next lady and promenade.  (8)

We used the cut "Old Favorite" from NEDM's
"Other Side of the Tracks" CD, which is the
band "Assembly", a quartet that includes
our two sons Sam (fiddle) and Stefan (percussion).
Also try doing this to "The Coming Dawn" from
the same CD, or try "Golden Keyboard" from
NEDM's "Any Jig or Reel" CD.  All of these are
flowing music, and I find that this dance can
have a sublime "Historic English County Dance"
feel (think Jane Austen) when done to those
cuts of elegant music.
We did this in FOUR CONCENTRIC CIRCLES;
Mary Alice and I were in heaven!



That's it for now, except, oh yes, your homework:

    * Dance.

    * Sing.

    * Tell stories.

Best,

Peter (and Mary Alice) Amidon
--
Peter Amidon
peter@amidonmusic.com
20 Willow Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
802-257-1006
cell: 917-922-5462
http://www.amidonmusic.com
http://www.dancingmasters.com