Hey, friends! I’m sharing a music map today for our folk song of the week, I Gave My Love a Cherry. Make sure you’ve downloaded the free song card and let’s get going!
I l-o-v-e music maps for so many reasons. They can so quickly help students identify form and patterns in the music they are singing–even if they have no other music literacy skills. They are an excellent introduction to showing students written music on a page. They are both a tactile and kinesthetic way for students to experience the folk song as they are singing. All in all, they really pack a punch!
Young students can examine this music map and begin to recognize an interesting phenomenon that happens in this song–the first, second, and third lines all look very similar. Hmm, do they sound similar? How similar? Is there anything that might sound different even though they look the same? (I love encouraging a lively discussion with my older students, where they talk around the fact that the first, second, and third phrases are highly related to each other, yet the variant exists in the melodic transposition by a fifth in the second and third phrases. The students may not have the theoretic words for this, but you’ll be amazed at how much they can describe of this phenomenon!)
As an extension, you can additionally begin to have students “fill in” the information they know on the music map. Can they identify any rhythmic patterns and where they happen in the song? Have them write them in. A bit simpler would be to have students write in where different words happen in a song. Maybe they can add in a double barline or a time signature.
Click here to download the music map
happy singing! -Lauren