Kindergarten students were formally introduced to the difference between high and low this week. After reviewing the chant Two Little Puppets, the puppets were hidden behind Mrs. Aaronson's back and students were asked to guess which puppet was talking. This activity gave students the opportunity to differentiate between high and low voices. Students were then led in a discussion about how they knew which puppet was speaking and led to discover that one puppet has a high voice while the other has a low voice. Students then reviewed the song Higher Than a House and used the words high and low to identify the last note of the song. Students also moved their bodies high and low as the puppets Bella and Bo tried to play the piano! Additionally, students explored the upper and lower ranges of their voice by following a ribbon up and down with their voice.
First grade students learned a new song entitled Acaka Backa. This folk song contains a fun chase game similar to duck, duck, goose. Students enjoyed playing the game and after mastering the song, decoded which notes were sol mi and la. Students also enjoyed playing a 'wind game' that is similar to the game hot/cold. One student hid their eyes while another student hid a blue puff ball somewhere in the music room. The class helped the student who hid his eyes find the puff ball by making low and high 'wind' sounds with their voices. The lower the students' voices, the farther away from the puff ball the student was. The higher the students' voices, the closer to the puff ball the student was. Lastly, students enjoyed learning about musical form by dancing to Cumberland Square. This two-part dance to two-part music allowed students to get their hearts pumping while learning about patterns in music!
Second grade students reviewed new low note do this week. Students reviewed the note's placement on the staff in relation to the other notes that they know. Students practiced singing melodic patterns containing do and practiced writing the pattern do mi sol la on the interactive white board. Students also learned a new song entitled Mouse, Mousie. This song includes a fun cat and mouse chase game in which the student playing the mouse does not who the cat is until the end of the song! This song will be used to help students practice melodic note do. Students began learning a jump rope song entitled Mother, Mother which will also be used to help students practice melodic note do. Lastly, students reviewed half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes through a song entitled Farmer John.
Third grade students were formally introduced to dotted half notes this week. Students were shown how a three-beat note can be written as a half note tied to a quarter note or as a dotted half note. Students then played a game called poison pattern to practice this new note. In the game poison pattern, students echo all patterns clapped by the teacher except for the one designated as the poison pattern. Students also began learning a new song entitled Music Alone Shall Live which will be used to help students practice dotted half notes. Lastly, students sang, read, and identified melodic patterns containing melodic notes low sol, low la, do, re, and mi. Students identified melodies containing steps, skips, and repeats. Students completed their melodic post-assessment this week and have made great progress on their melodic note reading since the beginning of the year!
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| Some of the third grade students thought the dotted half note is was like Batman and Robin. Batman is the main character, the half note, yet to be truly powerful he needs his trusty side kick Robin, the dot. |
Fourth grade students began the week with a recorder day. Students reviewed the song Hop, Skip, Jump and tried playing it at a faster tempo! Students were also given the opportunity to test for their next recorder karate belt. During the rest of the week, students reviewed the differences between bands and orchestras and began learning about jazz. Students were introduced to the instruments of the jazz band and jazz techniques. Students learned about improvisation and scat singing. Students listened to and discussed recordings of the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald, and jazz legend Louis Armstrong.
Fifth grade students continued their music evaluation unit this week. Students were introduced to listening maps and followed instrument/instrument family listening maps for Mussorsky's Promenade and Saint-Saens' Fossils. Students identified qualities of a good listening map and suggested ways to improve the listening map for Fossils. Students were led to discover how the theme of a piece of music can be used when creating a listening map. For example, one listening map for Fossils included dinosaurs. Students also reviewed dynamics terms and examined a listening map for Dvorak's Slavonic Dance which contained many dynamic markings. Slavonic Dance was also used to review form. Students were led to discover how the capital letters marked throughout the map indicate repetition. Students also worked with partners to pair the English and Italian words for dynamics.
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| A pair of fifth grade students correctly matched English and Italian dynamic terms. |
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