Lucas Hobson MUSED 351 Repertoire Analysis A. Text Resource: The Music Connection, Grade 3. B.

Title The First of January/ Uno de enero. Page: 66. C. (I) First of the first month, second of the second month Third of the third, and fourth of the fourth; (V) Fifth of the fifth month, sixth of the sixth month, Seventh of July is San Fermin. ( V ) ( I ) La, la, la, la, la, la, la. Tambourines broken, we cannot play it. ( V ) ( I ) La, la, la, la, la, la, la. If you broke it you should replace it.

(I)

D. This is written in the key of C major. E. This piece will have a range of C-C (middle C to the C one octave higher). The

tessitura sits from C-G, however, a range of a perfect fifth. When measured against the textbook, this seems to fit very well in the lower tessitura of third graders. The melodic shape of this piece is very basic, and repetitive. The piece is in an AABB form, with two double repeats written in, much like a Baroque dance. A can be broken into two identical melodic contours, although the second contour is based on a V chord. The B section can also be broken into two separate but similar sections, and each of these sections can be broken down again into two highly

contrasting sections; the first being arpeggiated while the second covers a major third in range. F. This piece of music has a very basic I-V-I chord structure, which I have

denoted in the lyrics, under letter C. The melody is largely based on notes within each chord, with very few passing tones, which lends to the simplicity of the piece. Section A has only two chord areas, and is evenly divided into a I and V section. Section B is based on the I chord, but uses the V in cadential fashion. When actually playing this piece on the piano, I will probably leave the sevenths off of the dominant chords. G. This piece is in 6/8 time. The rhythms should not be out of the reach of a

well-taught third grader. The rhythms match the syllables exactly, which help in the transplanting of spoken language into a sense of rhythm. This piece of music uses two short bursts of sixteenth notes, but they are on repeated notes and should not pose much difficulty for the students. H. This song contains simple language, and none of the words within are foreign

to an elementary school environment. Conversely, the optional Spanish side of the song would be difficult to teach to an English majority classroom because of the pronunciation and foreignness of words. Because this song is in Spanish, and because it focuses on a major Spanish/Basque holiday and tradition, it can be used to promote multiculturalism within the class and deepen understanding of a foreign culture. It also provides the opportunity to learn to count and/or name some of the months in a foreign language.

This is traditionally sung at the annual Pamplona running of the bulls ceremony. With that backstory in mind, one could easily interest third-graders in the song. The teacher would need to be careful, however, to skirt the origins of the bull run it was created in honor of a Christian martyr who was killed by being dragged around by a bull. This information is probably to mature for the third grade classroom, and would detract from the overall lesson. While studying this piece, I was confused by the tambourine lyrics. When I researched the original song, I found that it actually sang about wine skins instead of tambourines. The textbook authors must have decided to change the lyrics to fit the elementary school classroom better. I. I will be teaching this song by rote, in two line phrases. This song is two

complex to teach through the jumping in strategy, and I will not be using it to teach notation, so rote to note makes no sense. To keep the lesson from becoming boring, this song should be taught in two-line phrases, because there is an authentic cadence every two lines. In addition, the repetitive nature of the piece makes twoline phrases more reasonable. If I was teaching this piece in a real classroom, I would add tambourines in to give the B section lyrics more validity. Without doing this, I feel like they are completely random; they do not fit with the event at all. J. This song is included in the textbook under the concept of formspecifically

AABB form and I think that is what it would be best used to teach. Third grade may be rather young to teach arpeggios, which is the other fully new music concept that stands out in this piece to me. I could also use this piece to reinforce concepts that

they would previously be working on. We could follow the melodic contour, talk about whether this piece is in duple or triple meter, and apply body percussion to it. This piece of music could be used to teach National Standards 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9. Of course most pieces of music could be applied to 1 and 7 (our textbook specifically mentions the importance of reflection), but with the strong cultural background and inclusion of foreign language in this piece, it would be excellent for fulfilling standards 8 and 9 as well. K. Based on our course textbook and my own experiences with third graders, I

feel that this piece would work well in the third grade classroom. The concept behind the song makes the content appropriate for third grade, especially with the authors lyric modifications and the inclusion of percussive instruments in the learning process. The range fits well within the tessitura of the average third grader, if on the low side, and rhythms are appropriate as well. The melody has very few large skips, and the two times it really goes out of the range of a perfect fifth it I arpeggiating a I chord. I think that this piece works fine in this textbook. I wish they had thought up a lyric replacement that made more sense than singing about broken tambourines, but I think that other than this complaint this is an excellent song for third graders.