Parade

About:

I use the word 'Call', as in 'Call a Break', or 'Call the Celebration Rhythm'. It means to start or to signal, to conduct.
In western European classical music for the most part the written music tells you when to make certain transition in the music and when to end. The conductor helps by giving signals of precise tempo and exact stopping points. However in much the tradition of folk and world music, stops, starts and changes are called on the fly.

A good parallel of this is, in certain sports like basketball where the leader calls an 'Audible' while live action is taking place.

The name of this signals is a 'Break'. A Break is an important part of many drum and dance traditions. Breaks allow more meaningful leadership as the event is taking place.

Breaks function to mark a beginning, transition or ending.

Breaks can serve to give direction to a group while improvising.

In set written music pieces, the sections lengths and number of repeats is set by the composer. This allows for great complexity yet dictates the form.
With using breaks, a leader can, on the fly, set the number of repeats.
The group can be more attuned to when a dancer finishes an improvised section.
Also the leader can on the spot adjust if a section should end more quickly or be repeated more.

Breaks can be useful in managing 'crowd or group attention'. Typically when a group of students is talking or shuffling, the leader asks everyone to be quiet, waits, gets frustrated then gradually escalates the demand for quiet. By using a Break instead of going for quiet, you move to gets active and move together, then get quiet. You re-synchronize the group.

Purpose of this lesson:

Parade as a joyful celebration.
Give students a chance to move through and inhabit a place.
Give students time to improvise rhythms and movements with out being overly structured.

Prerequisites:

Sometimes this is one of the 1st games we learn. It can be done with voices, claps, shakers, or drums.

Directions:

"Let's have a parade!"
Follow me or another leader
Periodically, stop and play a 'Hold', or a 'Break', or a 'Call and Response' Have a clear place and way to end.

Glitches:

Students wander off the route rather than following the leader of the parade

Extensions:

Add a particular step or dance move

Play specific music parts