| The Tale of
Sudan and Zimbabwe |
The Tale of Sudan and Zimbabwe is
a book that allows you, as a teacher, to be creating and
also allows your students to be creative. I have told
this story to one child, but I have told this story to 1300
students at one time. I have used this book in
preschool classes, elementary classes, and middle school
classes.
The outline below uses the book as a launch into many areas
of learning. You can approach this as an entire unit
or pull out certain sections to fit your classroom:
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The Tale of Sudan and Zimbabwe Book
Various Percussion Instruments (approximately 7 different kinds)
Limited Budget: use buckets, ice cream pails, sand pails, etc., from the dollar store or your favorite ice cream store or deli.
Optional - rainforest scenery or a simple tree painted on appliances boxes or sheets of cardboard:
Note: I always provide scenery to set the stage for the students. This helps the visual learner and helps with everyone’s imagination.
World Globe - this helps the teacher explain where Africa is and
the fact that Sudan and Zimbabwe actually exist.
Other rainforest books can be used to explain what the forest would look like. |
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Performance Standards that will be covered: |
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.Sing ostinati songs. An ostinato is a recurring rhythmic, harmonic,
or melodic motif over which the main melody is presented.
.Sing in groups, blending vocal timbres, matching dynamic levels,
and responding to cues of the conductor.
.Play in rhythm, with appropriate dynamics and timbre and maintain
a steady tempo.
.Play easy rhythmic patterns accurately and independently on rhythmic classroom instruments. Echo short rhythmic patterns.
.Play in groups, blending instrumental timbres, matching dynamic levels,
and responding to the cues of a conductor.
.Play independent instrumental parts while other students sing or play contrasting parts.
.Improvise “answers” in the same style to given rhythmic and
melodic “questions.”
.Create and arrange music to accompany readings and dramatizations.
.Use a variety of sound sources when composing and arranging.
.Identify ways in which the principles and subject matter of other
disciplines taught in the school are interrelated with those of music. |
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Other curriculum items covered |
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.Read quarter, rest, and half notes in 4/4 meter.
.Use a system to ready Mi, Sol, La pitches.
.Explore sounds in the environment and create musical sounds for them.
.Experience the use of repeat dots in a song. |
| By doing the following steps you will now enhanced your classroom with a story that gives the students a life learning community message: Human nature leads us to long for a purpose within the community. We can help each other find that purpose. Through the story and the process of circle drumming, your students
have now gone from a community to individual learning, back to community
sharing. |
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The Tale of Sudan and Zimbabwe is a story about a giant and a little boy. The adults of the village are afraid of the giant, but the little boy is not. Find out how one small boy changes the adults' way of thinking
forever.
This book is a great tool for music teachers. It can be a hands-on experience for the listeners. The tale can be told while the story reader is playing various kinds of drums. The listeners can echo the storyteller. Rain sticks can be used for the rain. Use your imagination through the sounds of thunder, etc. The song uses pitches mi, so, and la and can be taught as an echo song, or it is perfect for having the listeners read the pitches and figure out the melody. You can have the listeners play the rhythm of the song, using the concept of the quarter rest. When Sudan sings the song with the village people, some of the listeners can sing Sudan's part and some can sing the village people's part as an
ostinato.
This tale also can coincide with a unit on African drumming; and it is always interesting for the listeners to find out that Sudan and Zimbabwe really exist on the map. Many questions arise if the story reader has a world map handy to show the listeners where Sudan and Zimbabwe are located.
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