and Temple Yards

TcachingILearning Sequence
Study Guide
Level: Grade 4 to Adult
1. Describe the text, its meaning and its rhyming scheme.
How do the ideas expressed in the poem relate to our own lives? You might consider
things that are familiar and therefore liked or seen in a positive light, and the possibility that
we might be somewhat suspicious of things we do not know well. How does this relate to
our taste in music? Our feelings about people? If the group includes teenage or adult
members, discuss courtship and marriage in various cultures, the idea of romantic love and
"love at first sight" in contrast to the custom of arranged marriages.
2. Listen to the recording:
Conduct the meter.
What is the meter of the song? (Duple.)
What is the form or structure of the song? (Solo and refrain; two verses and refrain
repeat twice)
* What other songs have a similar structure? ("Cd La'," "Old Joe Clark,"
"Oh Susanna")
Describe the accompaniment. (The diin tranh zither is playing a slightly different
melody from the voice-a simultaneous variation.)
Describe the manner of playing and tuning the din tranh.
* Demonstrate the voice and dh
tranh relaaonship by singing while playing
the zither part on the piano or another instrument. This is an example of
heterophonic texture, common to many Vietnamese instrumental pieces.
3. Play and sing the G natural minor scale (below). Note that the tuning of this piece is
not quite "minor", but leaning in that direction:
.., -.
.
G Natural Minor Scale
4. Prepare to sing the song:
Sing exercise #4. The scale and patterns will reinforce the song's mode.
While keeping or conducting the pulse, pronounce the phrases in rhythm.
5. Sing the song:
Sing the refrain of the song together listening carefully to the dh
tranh accompaniment
during the solo sections.