Guest Post: "The Lord Gave Me a Temple" in a Melody Map

I'm excited to feature a guest post today!  Rachel, the Primary music leader in the next ward over, presented this activity at a stake music training, and I asked if she'd share. Enjoy! -Michelle

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Melody maps are a wonderful tool for both junior and senior primary. They help the children visualize the song. Adults read music to learn a song. A melody map is essentially the same idea. Young children incorporate the same skills reading melody maps as if they were reading sheet music. It’s a wonderful preparation for eventual sight singing. The amazing thing about using melody maps is that they can be used in a variety of ways, thus allowing flexibility and versatility when teaching different age groups. Initially I was nervous to teach the junior primary with melody maps. I decided to give it a try. I taught the first part of the song without the melody map, and then taught the second part of the song with the melody map. I noticed that in weeks following as we reviewed the song, the children were more confident in singing the portion of the song that was learned by using the melody map. They had memorized it quickly. Senior primary will catch on to melody maps relatively quickly. To keep them engaged, you may want to mix up the pages and have them place them in the correct order as you sing the song. You can also cut out symbols and images which the children can place on the map when they sing certain words. Preparation Materials: -Large poster board or sheets of easel paper -Thick sharpies or markers – black and other colors -Picture cut-outs or symbols that you desire to use that correspond with words often sung in the song.      Some good pictures to make would be…      Body = faces of children      Temple = small picture of a temple      Spirit = cut out shape of a white body -Magnets to hang the maps on a white board or chalk board

Construct a melody map as shown in the pictures below. I happened to have several small squares of construction paper already cut out, so I used those. You can simply draw the symbols using different colored markers. You can also use different symbols such as triangles, circles, etc. Make sure to have the sheet music in front of you as you are constructing the map so that you can accurately represent where the notes are placed. Spacing is very important. There are four phrases in the song, so I constructed a map to represent each of the four phrases.

"The Lord gave me a temple to live within on earth."

"Once in Heaven I was spirit, but I left my home at birth."

"I'll make my temple brighter. I'll keep my spirit free."

"My body is the temple my Father gave to me."

I used the following symbols for different note values:

Quarter note = yellow square

Eighth note = black square

Half note = blue rectangle

Dotted half note = large red square

Presentation-first week

Place the maps on the white board in random order.

Ask the children to look for the map that best represents what you are singing and raise their hand when they know the answer.

Sing the first phrase of the song a few times until most of the hands go up.

Ask a child to come to the front of the room to choose the correct melody map. Have them hold it in front of the classroom.

Ask the children to sing that phrase with you a few times while pointing to the symbols as you sing.

Repeat this process until all phrases of the song have been sung.

Presentation-second week

Bring out the melody maps again and place them in the correct order on the board.

Hand out various small pictures that you cut out previously to some of the children.

As you sing the song, ask the children to come up one by one and place their picture on the map that corresponds with the word sung. 

Cheers!

Rachel

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Looking for more?  For an example Singing Time that incorporates a melody map, see my post here.

Guest Instruments--a Spiritual Analogy for "If I Listen With My Heart"

Different instruments will capture the kids' attention Does your ward have a few people who can play different instruments? I had a couple guests come into Primary to play their instruments for the children, and we played a guessing game to see if they could identify each one by sound only. Preparation Reach out to a few instrumentalists in your area.  Most musicians are thrilled at the chance to share their talents in Primary!  I arranged for flute, guitar, and glockenspiel (the metal xylophone-like instrument pictured at right).   Give them the sheet music for the song "If I Listen With My Heart," found here.  Ask them to prepare to play the melody of only the last, repeated line, "And if I listen with my heart I hear the Savior's voice."  I also asked my pianist to prepare to play the same line. Introduction Sing the first line of verse 3 of "If I Listen With My Heart":  "I feel the Holy Spirit as He teaches truth and right," and pause. "Boys and girls, did you know that everyone feels the Holy Ghost a little bit differently?"  Explain briefly that although the Spirit teaches the same truth about Jesus, people feel it in different ways. You could give some examples of ways you feel the Holy Ghost.  "That's why we need to listen with our hearts." Sing, "And if I listen with my heart, I hear the Savior's voice." Tell the children that you're going to help them understand how the same message could be shared in different ways.  They will hear different instruments play the same bit of song, but each instrument sounds a little different from the others.  Challenge them to pay close attention the first time through, as you will quiz them afterwards!

Presentation

One at a time, ask the guest musicians to play their line of the song.  In between each one, either cue the children to join with you in singing the same line, or make comments such as, "Could you hear how this time, the music was higher? But it's the same song, isn't it?!"  

Once each instrument has been played, grin and tell the children it's time to see how well they listened.  Ask the children to close their eyes and see if they can hear which instrument is being played.  Silently point to one musician, so he can play his line.  Invite the children to open their eyes, and then take their guesses. You'll be surprised by how well they listen!  Give each musician a time to play for the children again.

As you finish, remind the children that just as they had to listen so carefully to hear the difference in the instruments, they also have to listen carefully with their hearts to hear the Holy Spirit speak to them. I can think of no better skill for us to teach our children.

Happy singing!

Looking for more?     For another thought-based activity, try Nature Daydream, here.