How to Teach Haiku Poems in Your Music Class
April is National Poetry Month! Do you guys want to hear an interesting fact? I love poetry because it is how I got my start in music. When I was younger, I would write poetry all the time. I still have my binder full of poems from when I was a child!
From poetry, I started writing songs. One day, I realized, “Hmm, I have so many good songs and no one to sing them”. I was always so nervous singing in public but I knew I wanted my church to hear my songs! So I built the courage one day to sing an original song at a church talent show and that’s the short story of how I started singing.
I learned even as a teacher than some scholars may not like to sing, but they like to write songs or poetry. It’s a great way for them to still be involved in music making. Often times, they go through the same realization that I had and find themselves enjoying singing their own work!
I put together this cross-curriculum product that will help you incorporate poetry into the music classroom. It’s a great one to do by yourself or with the literacy teacher! April 17th is Haiku Day. Haikus are short poems that originated in Japan. They consist of three lines with a syllable pattern of 5-7-5. I found this great lesson on Haiku poems that you could share with your scholars before they create their their own haiku poem. Take a look at my sample haiku below:
Music is my life
I listen to it all day
It makes me happy
As you can see, this poem is in the 5-7-5 order. However, when we listen closely we hear rhythms!
Scholars will create their own rhythmic patterns with quarter note equalling one syllable and an eighth note pair equalling 2 syllables. Once they create their 5-7-5 haiku using rhythms they can now put words to it! I also have a few premade 5-7-5 rhythmic patterns. This activity is great for distance learning.
This product comes with flashcards of 5 beat rhythms and 7 beat rhythms. Consider using these when we get back into the classroom. You can use these flashcards to randomly assign scholars a rhythm, put them in groups of 3 and they will create a haiku using the rhythm they have. The possibilities for these haiku cards are endless but that’s just one idea! I’m sure you can even find ways to use these cards for distance learning!
