Movement Activity to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” Created by Jim Tinter [email protected] Keep movement activities fun, simple, and playful. Be mindful of your facial expressions and try to maintain eye contact. Practice doing this in private (use a mirror) before attempting it with students. Remember to learn it in reverse (mirror) mode if you will be facing students. Stand in a circle or in rows with students facing you. Change these suggestions to suit your comfort level and the needs of your students. Avoid telling students what to do but rather, show them. Repeat each beat motion for at least 8 beats but try to repeat each motion for 16 beats, or “two sets of eight” (a four measure phrase) so that students have plenty of time to figure out what you are doing. The idea is to foster beatfulness and expression, not to trick anyone. Remember to include vocal sounds too. Intro — Put the beat somewhere in your body (move shoulders, bob head, etc.). V1 — Beat motions. Keep them simple: move elbow, pat legs (together or alternate), brush lint off of sleeve or hair, tap fist into palm, etc. V2 — Similar to V1 but increase complexity (alternate from one side of body to other, combine pat/clap, clap/ snap). Bridge — “people always told me...” Sweep rh (right hand) gracefully out to side and up over head and back down (look at hand) for 2 measures; then lh; back to rh; then for last 2 measures, sweep both hands from knee level up and over head accentuating the crescendo. Chorus — “Billie Jean, is not my lover…” Step right to left (right/close/left/close); clap on beats 2 & 4. After “I am the one” shake hands in front to show the guitar strum (dum, chicka dum, chicka dum, etc.). Back to step/clap. V3 — Show new synth background pad. Both hands slowly across body from r to l showing melodic shape. End by circling both hands around back toward waist. Step r/close/l/close. Snap on close this time. For triplet (“remember to always think twice”), both hands pointing index finger up over head and show beats while moving and lowering hands diagonally across body. “Don’t think twice” panned L (point out to L), “Don’t think twice” panned R center (point to R). Must be listening in stereo to experience this. V4 — As V3 but move hands from l to r this time. Bridge — “People always told me,” as previous bridge. Chorus — As previous chorus. A new synth part and violin descending line are added (show with one hand descending across body). Guitar solo — Air guitar motion. Both hands in air for the two “whoo’s” which only occur at the beginning. Chorus — as before. This should be enough to get you started. Enjoy! Remember what Carl Orff said, “If it’s not joyful, don’t do it!” This song is 4 minutes 54 seconds long. I try to keep most movement to 2—3 minutes, especially when introducing a new piece. .