In my middle school general music classes, we are getting ready to delve into some unfamiliar tonalities.
If your situation is anything like mine, we are still playing catch-up from three very unusual school years, and curriculum and instruction has been quite different. It seems like I am still focusing on solidifying major and minor tonalities, whereas in other years, I would already have introduced Dorian and Mixolydian.
I know another thing: students are stressed. They are burnt out. They need time to just relax and BE.
All of the above gave me the idea to have some built-in brain breaks in the middle of class where students can just BE with music. Hence: Modal Meditations.
I decided to give students around 3 minutes to just sit, put their heads down if they desire, and LISTEN to each unfamiliar tonality with no expectation of learning. Just to sit and listen and be with the music. I think this will be a sufficient introduction, and then move on from there.
See below for the Modal Meditations. Try it out!
