Summer Curriculum Week 5

Week 5: Drums and Storytelling

Rabbi B brought in African Djambes for everyone to play with

This week, Rabbi B brought in all types of hand drums for the kids too play with. They used them in the following ways:

A) Show and Share:

Rabbi B brought in Djambes, Bongos, Tambourines, Cymbals and Shakers to teach the kids all about the percussion section of a band/symphony. He showed how they can be played in a variety of ways, fast and slow, loud and quiet, high and low and how if you hit the Djambe in different places it makes different sounds. 

 Following the beat of the leader

Rabbi B taught the kids that the percussion section set the speed of the music. The speed of music is called the Tempo. Rabbi B and the kids sand various songs and practices increasing and decreasing the Tempo. Rabbi B taught the kids that when music stays on Tempo (in time) it sounds good, but when the music does not go according to the tempo it can sound confusing and off.

It was fun when everyone sang Hashem is Here to a very fast tempo. Rabbi B also taught the kids the African Djambe song Shoshaloza which had a very nice tempo and beat.

Drums are fun!

Everyone also had a chance to play Follow the Leader. Each child had the chance to be the leader and play a drum beat. Then, everyone else tried to repeat the beat the leader played. This game got very creative and fun as the children came up with some amazingly innovative beats, some fast and some slow. 

B) Storytelling

Rabbi B also showed the kids how drums can be, and are, used to tell stories, especially in Africa. He told the kids the following story and had them add the sound effects with their drums:

Drums can make storytelling fun!

Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who wanted to go to a friends house to play. They asked their mommy to take them and she said, "yes". So, they began walking to their friends house. 

Walking Sound 

Then the wind began to blow,

Rubbing hands on the drum to make Wind Sound

Then it began to rain,

One finger tapping on the drum

Then the rain got harder,

Harder tapping on the drum

Then the rain fell very hand and fast!

Fast and loud drumming

The boy and the girl started to run,

Fast drumming

Then they got to their friend house. They got up to the door and knocked three times

Bang Bang Bang

Nobody answered, so they knocked four times

Bang Bang Bang Bang

Their friend opened the door and they went inside and had a fun time.

The End

C) Craft:

Each kid got to design and create their own paper-plate drum. Once completed, they played a beat as Rabbi B played along on his Guitar. 

Taped Closed Paper-Plate Drums

Instructions:

1. Take 2 paper plates and decorate the outside of each plate

2. Put a handful of raw rice in one of the plates

3. Place the rims of the plates together and tape them shut

4. Drum

or for more advanced crafters:

Pipe Cleaner Sewed Paper-Plate Drums

1. Take 2 paper plates and decorate the outside of each plate

2. Place the rims of the plates together

3. Drill in 8 holes through the circumference of both plates 

4. Sew the plates together using yarn or pipe cleaners

5. Drum

Drumming with Popsicle sticks

Summer Curriculum Week 4

Week 4: Puppets

The kids loved playing with Rabbi B's puppet collection!

Yes, that's right, puppets. During the Nine Days, the period of mourning in commemoration of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, we desist from listening and playing music. But Rabbi B always has a backup plan! This week we learned all about different types of puppets and puppetry styles.

A) Show and Share:

Rabbi B began the week showing off his collection of puppets.

Rod puppets:

Ushin and Figan from Turkey (pictured)
Boris and Olga from Russia
Various wooden spoon puppets

Marionettes:
Rabbi from Prague, Czech Republic

Hand Puppets:
Yuki Shimmelman
Monster
Grover from Sesame Street
Lambchops

... and many more!

B) Craft:

 Our Puppets are all very happy!

Rabbi B helped each and every kid make their very own Spoon-Head puppets. This is a very easy and fun hand/rod puppet.

You will need:
1 Wooden Spoon
1 Square Wash Cloth
1 Pipe Cleaner
2 Googly Eyes
Markers
Coloured string
Hot Glue Gun (Parents only please)

1. Glue the goggly eyes to the face of the spoon
2. Draw facial features to the face of the spoon
3. Glue coloured string on top of spoon for hair. (Glue on bottom of spoon head for a beard)
4. Cut a hole in the centre of the wash cloth. Place the spoon down into the hole until the cloth reaches the bottom of the spoon head.
5. Tie the pipe-cleaner around the top of the cloth to a) hold the cloth in place and b) act as the arms of the puppet
6. Hold the puppet by the end of the spoon and voila, your very own spoon-head puppet!

Rabbi B also created a sock puppet together with the kids. He pulled out a whole bunch of random materials and showed how, with a little imagination, you can design your sock to look like anything.

Walking a paper finger puppet

Another puppet the kids got to create was a paper finger puppet. In this puppet, your hand does not control the head of the puppet but rather the feel/legs. By sticking two fingers in the holes by the feet they become the puppets legs and feet. The kids had fun doing different dance moves and making their puppets walk around.

C) Experimentation:

These two girl puppets made everyone laugh a lot!

With the puppets, the kids got to perform a puppet show. Rabbi B brought in his small puppet theatre for the kids to put on their own short skit. As well, Rabbi B led a story which the kids acted out with their puppets.

D) Mitzvah Mashal (Jewish Lesson):

Rabbi B asked the kids: Are we puppets?
He explained that we all had a Neshama (Jewish soul) that is a part of Hashem. It helps us live and do mitzvahs. Just like a puppet is not alive until someone holds onto it and gives it life, so too we would not be able to do anything without a Neshama.

The kids were a bit conflicted but they came to a decision that we are not really Hashem's puppets because we have a brain and can make our own decisions. Rabbi B agreed and explained that since we can make our won decisions, that means we don't have to do what Hashem tells us to, but we can decide to do what Hashem asks us to do and this makes doing Mitzvahs even more special because it comes from us, nobody is forcing us to do it. This means we can be stronger and much smarter than any puppet!

Summer Curriculum Week 3

Week 3: Bells and Jewish Pride

Desk bells were fun to play!

This week Rabbi B discussed all types of Bell instruments. He taught the kids all about them in the following ways:

A) Show and Share:

Rabbi B brought in Sleigh Bells, Hand Bells, Cowbells, Desk Bells, Chimes, a xylophone/glockenspiel  and glass cups. He showed how bells work when they are stuck and vibrated. The sticking creates a vibration in the bell and the bell gives out a tone or sound. The tone/sound depends on how thick or big the bell is. Thicker bells give off a lower tone and thinned bells give off a higher tone. Rabbi B demonstrated this with different sized keys on a xylophone.

The kids got to play a real xylophone 

Concert chimes make a beautiful sound

Rabbi B also taught the kids about the music scale and how it consists of seven tones or notes. These notes go from A to G and begin back from A. Whatever note you begin with will be what scale you are playing in. So, if you start with a C note, your scale will go C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C.

The Human Xylophone 

The Kids playing 'Hashem is Here' on the Desk Bells 

To demonstrate this, Rabbi B let the kids play on his C scale desk bells. He lined the kids up at each bell and then conducted each kid when to play their bell (this insistently was done by him bopping the player on the head with a foam noodle). When the player was bopped on the head they would ring their bell. Rabbi B made the kids into a living xylophone. It was really fun to see all the kids play songs like 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' and 'Hashem is Here' on the desk bells.

B) Experimentation:

The kids learned how the more air in the cup means 

the more sound vibration can travel which means

the higher the pitch will be. 

Rabbi B brought in glass cups. He filled each cup with a different amount of water and this caused the different cups to make a different sound or note. The more full the cup, the deeper the note because, as Rabbi B explained, the more water int he cup means the less the cup will vibrate and therefore the lower the tone.

C) Craft:

The Bells will tell people we are proud of who we are!

Each kid got to make their own Bell bracelet instrument. They took five bells each and sowed them with a string. Then their counsellor tied the string together to create a bracelet. With these bracelets, everyone clapped and danced to some songs, filling the room with beautiful bell sounds.

D) Mitzvah Mashal (Jewish Lesson):

Rabbi B with his Kohein Gadol puppet (with Bells)

Rabbi B taught the kids that there was a very special person who worked in the Beis Hamikdosh, Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, known as the Kohein Gadol. The Kohein Gadol's job was to serve Hashem. When he would serve, he would wear very special clothes, and one of those special clothes was a beautiful gown that had bells on the bottom. These bells would jingle when the Kohein Gadol walked and served, announcing to all around that he was doing his holy job.

The lesson for us is that we too, when we are doing a good thing like a Mitzvah, should make sure our voices are loud and clear and we are proud to be Jewish. Some examples the kids came up with were: when we say blessings over food, when we pray, answering "Amen" to a blessing we hear, blowing the shofar, etc. When we do Mitzvahs, we should not be embarrassed or shy that people will see or hear us, we should rather be proud and get peoples attention. This will inspire them to do a Mitzvah too.

Summer Curriculum Week 2

Week 2: Wind Instruments and our Voice

Different Lengths make Different Sounds 

This week, Rabbi B brought in a whole new family of instruments: Wind Instruments. He taught the kids all about them in the following ways:

A) Show and Share:

Rabbi B lets the kids touch and feel a real Trombone                   Rabbi B lets the kids slide the Trombone slide as he plays

Rabbi B brought in a penny whistle, recorder, flute, kazoo, duck call, harmonica, ram and kudu shofar and a trombone! He showed how, just like strings, when a wind instrument is long the sound (or pitch) is low and when the instrument is short the sound (or pitch) is high. This was particularly apparent with the two shofars. The ram's horn is much shorter than the kudu horn, and therefore has a much higher sound (or pitch).

Feeling our Vocal Chords Vibrate 

Rabbi B also discussed how there are two things needed to make a sound in a wind instrument: air and vibration. He gave an example with our voice. Rabbi B had the kids feel their necks as they spoke and they could all feel their neck vibrating. He explained how the air from the lungs, the vibration of the vocal chord and the movement of the mouth and tongue all work together to produce the voice which allows us to speak and sing. The kids even got to play their own voices as we sang a song using different vowel sounds.

Rabbi B explained how wind instruments need the same two things to work: wind and vibration. Some make their own vibration, like a flute, while others need a little help. This help can come from something in the instrument itself or from the way we blow into it. The best example was the shofar. A shofar is a wind instrument that needs to be blown a certain way in order to work. You cannot just blow into a shofar, instead you must close your lips in front of the shofar and make an elephant sound by vibrating your lips.

To demonstrate this further, Rabbi B brought in pictures of other types of wind instruments and he played an audio sample of the sounds they make. The kids got to listen and hear how big and/or long instruments sounded deeper and lower than short and/or small ones. Rabbi B also told the kids which instruments made their own vibration and which needed to blown into like a shofar. The kids heard a french horn, bugle, trombone, saxophone, tuba, clarinet, piccolo, bassoon and an oboe! The kids were fascinated to hear the different sounds differently shaped and sized instruments made.

B) Experimentation:

Rabbi B helped all the kids make their own plastic straw flutes. When they blew in them, they made a very funny buzzing sound. As the straw was cut shorter, the sound (or pitch) got higher. Once the straw was very short, it made a very funny squeaky sound. The kids all enjoyed this sound the most.

Rabbi B gave everyone their own Kazoo to decorate

As well, Rabbi B made a kazoo out of a paper towel roll with the kids. He showed how the wax paper made the vibration when it is blown into and this vibration makes a funny kazoo sound. Then, Rabbi B gave each kid their very own Kazoo to decorate and keep. With the kazoos, everyone sang all their favourite Rabbi B songs as Rabbi B played the guitar, it was really funny!

 Playing the Kazoo along with Rabbi B

Kazoos are a lot of fun to play!

C) Mitzvah Mashal (Jewish Lesson):

Rabbi B discussed how Hashem gave us all a body, and our bodies are like instruments that need to be taken care of. One part of our body that is a very important instrument is our voice. The voice can be played nicely and properly or not nicely and improperly. If we speak politely to one another by saying please and thank you, or say nice things to each other like compliments, then we are playing our voice instrument properly and it will sound good.

Summer Curriculum Week 1

Week 1: Strings and Mitzvahs

This week in summer camps across the GTA, Rabbi B taught his students all about String Instruments in the following ways:

A) Show and Share:

Rabbi B brought in an Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar and Amplifier, Ukulele and a Banjo to show different ways String instruments work.
      - Acoustic Guitars and Ukuleles: The sound from the string echoes inside the wooden guitar chamber creating a loud sound
      - Electric Guitar: The sound from the strings is picked up by the magnet battery underneath them, the battery then sends an electric signal down a wire and a speaker/amplifier takes that signal and makes it into sound
      - Banjo: The sound from the string bounces off the drum underneath and the drum echoes the sound inside the chamber. Then the sound comes out of the side holes.

B) Experimentation:

The kids all got a chance to try each type of string instrument themselves.

Rabbi B also demonstrated that when the string is long, the sound (or pitch) is low (L is for low and long) and when the string is short, the sound (or pitch) is high. He demonstrated this by pushing down on the stings on different spots along the neck of the guitar to change the pitch.

Rabbi B then brought in elastic bands for the kids to play with. They discovered that when the rubber band is stretched long or short, the sound (or pitch) changes.

C) Musical Mashal (Jewish Lesson):

Rabbi B asked the kids if there was something else he brought in made with strings. Immediately, the kids recognized the strings on Rabbi B's Tzitzis (stringed prayer shawl). He explained that mitzvahs are like strings, when we do a Mitzvah we get to be tied to Hashem. In addition, when we do a Mitzvah, it is like playing the music of Hashem.

Rabbi B also told the kids that there are more string instruments to discover. Stay tuned for week 5 to see more string instruments, some of them are Secret String Instruments (like a piano ;) )

Rabbi B will see you next week!

Rabbi B Music is for Every Child!!

Rabbi B will be performing all over the GTA this summer at various Jewish summer camps!
At each performance, Rabbi B will be leading a sing along with fun and engaging songs and lots of movement.

Rabbi B also has a music bag full of different types of instruments. These instruments will be used each day as Rabbi B and the kids perform the Rabbi B Band song. The instruments in his bag include: egg shakers, maracas, tambourines, spoon cymbals, crash cymbals, various bells, wooden clappers, sand clappers, African sticks, triangles, guiros, drums, and more.

Rabbi B cannot wait to see you all this summer!!