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9486 in the collection
Teach Me Well vs. Test Me
Two songs, intended for children to sing, reveal very different attitudes about children and what they need.
Donna Metler
Here's an example of how far things have come. Music K-8 is one of the best resources out there for good children's music, with usually at least one song per issue that actively reinforces curriculum content, and wonderful songs dealing with character education. I've used songs about tying shoes and celebrated the hundredth day of school with my little guys, bounced with "Read a Book" with my 4th graders, and many, many songs about Pride, Identity, and dreaming big. We've cried together after a death of a classmate with "We will heal" and welcomed the police into our school and neighborhood with "You are our heroes". If a school or teachers as a group need a song about a topic, they're always ready to write what is needed.
One of my favorites from about a decade ago is "Teach me well"
Which starts, in part
I can learn responsibility and honor,
I can learn to have pride, and dignity,
I can learn to respect myself and others
I can learn if you will teach me
Teachers and Parents and Governments and Schools
Please take me seriously,
Give me tools!
My young heart
Believes what you tell so teach me
Teach me well.
(From "Teach me Well," by Teresa Jennings).
Now, Teresa and John have, in response to teacher requests, written the song that many of them need, especially in the Spring. While they state that it can be used for any testing or evaluation situation, the only people I've heard say that they're using it are those who have to do something related to standardized tests on their lesson plan, or who (even worse) have to put together testing assemblies.
Test Me
by Teresa Jennings/John Riggio
"Test Me" is a song with attitude. It is a song about confidence. The message is to encourage students to be ready for tests, pop quizzes, final exams, and so on, through study, focus, and taking care of themselves. It is written with older students in mind, though the melody is easy to sing. We're hoping even those elusive older boys will feel comfortable joining in. (The range is singable for them, often hitting the B below middle C. So they have no excuses!) Have fun singing it, and make sure your singers have plenty of attitude and sing out with confidence as they do.
If the singability isn't enough, did we mention that the accompaniment tracks are SMOKIN'!? Power hip hop is an appropriate style for this piece, as power chord electric guitars, bass, and drums drive it. We started with a drum loop and added real players to it. At measure 24, we added pizzicato strings and a tom groove to further fill out the sound, then arco strings joined in at the turnaround at measure 32. We also added a soaring double-stop guitar bend in that turnaround, which is way cool. At measure 6 on the D.S., we added a rock organ, then the arco strings returned at measure 32 and played to the end of the piece. We used auxiliary percussion intermittently throughout - tambourine, shaker, and cowbell. Percussion is something your students could add as well - similar or different instruments - but be sure to explain the hip hop triplet feel if they attempt it. Straight eighth notes won't do. Once they hear it, we're sure they'll understand the groove.
The P/A CD is almost always the best way to perform our music, but should you attempt to play this yourself, please note that the chords at measure 6 through 23 (and the coda through 47) are to be played short and separated. We could've changed the note durations to indicate that, but the written part is easier to read without inserting a bunch of rests. Listen to the recording for style.
This song lends itself to any academic subject, so if your school has exams coming up, this works. You could even use it as a plug for literacy, or at a math or science fair, spelling bee, natural history day, or music emphasis day, for that matter. It works for any occasion where a student's knowledge is being tested.
--description from Music K-8 website
— Donna Metler
Music K-8
2008-03-21
http://www.musick8.com/html/current_tune.tpl?cart=12061059161740101&volumeid=V16_4&tunenum=7
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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