Greetings from the music room! This was an exciting week of
singing, moving, and playing instruments! Here are some of the highlights:
Kindergarten students
explored their voices this week by imitating the sound of a slide whistle.
Students did a wonderful job of using the upper range of their voices to truly
imitate the sound! Students also explored their voices by playing a game called
Find Your Partner. In this game, each
student is given a piece of paper with an animal on it. At least one other
student has the same animal. At the beginning of the game, each student makes
the sound of their animal. By listening to the sounds, they must find the person/people
who have the same animal and form a group of like animals. Students loved this
game and asked to play it multiple times! Students also learned a new chant
called Grandma’s Glasses which will
be used to begin working on the difference between high and low sounds.
First grade students
were led to discover that See Saw and
Rain, Rain Go Away begin with the
same rhythm and melody. Students were given the opportunity to write the rhythm
of See Saw on individual white
boards. Students drew a single line and wrote notes above and below the line in
order to show high and low sounds. Students also began learning the song Old Joe Clark. Students moved fluidly
during the first half of the song and patted a slow steady beat during the
second half of the song. Students also explored many different types of
movements with a scarf. Students moved smoothly, roughly, and pretended to dab
paint in the air.
Second grade students
discovered where the new note, re, lives on melody street this week. Students were
led to discover that the melodic pattern that they had been solo singing is the
pattern mi 'new note' do. That means that the new note, re, will be moving into the lot
between mi and do’s houses. Students also learned the hand sign for this new
note and practiced singing melodic patterns with this new hand sign. Students
learned a new song, Poor Old Crow,
and were asked to keep a half note pulse during this song. Students were also
asked to perform a half note pulse while making every second pulse silent. This prepares students to learn about whole notes. Students reviewed the song
and game to Closet Key and practiced
finding the half notes in the song Are
You Sleeping.
Third grade students
practiced reading low la patterns on the staff this week. Students were led to
discover that patterns with a strong low la presence have a “Halloween” or
“spooky” quality to them. Students began learning a new song containing low la,
Captain, Don’t Side Track Your Train. Students
were challenged to find the pattern ‘mi-mi-re-do-la,’ in this song. After a bit
of trial and error, many students were able to find the location of this
pattern. Students also practiced reading rhythms to play a game to the song Black Snake. While students sang the
song a black yarn snake was passed around the class. The student whose hands
were closest to the snake’s head was able to choose a rhythm from the board.
The class could earn up to three points by reading the rhythm. Students enjoyed
trying to achieve a perfect score!
Fourth grade students
prepared to test for their red belt this week. Students reviewed the form of Lightly Row and practiced reading notes
and checking fingerings with partners. On Tuesday, students were give the opportunity
to test for their red belt. On Thursday, students enjoyed receiving their
belts, playing poison pattern (while practicing new note F#), and learning to
play Fight Song on the recorder.
Fifth grade students reviewed vocal techniques ‘conserve your air’ and ‘fountain of air’ this week.
Students learned a new song, Oh, What a
Wondrous Thing, and discussed how they could use these two techniques to
make the song sound its best. Students also watched a video of the One Voice
children’s choir’s audition on America’s
Got Talent. Students were asked to use what they have learned about
posture, breathing, and vocal techniques to create feedback for this choir. Students
did an incredible, thoughtful job answering this question! Students were also
given a brief overview of the history of written music in the Western world.
Students were given the opportunity to listen to and follow along with an
ancient manuscript of a Gregorian Chant.
Mrs. Ellis’s students
focused on preparing to learn quarter rests this week. Students worked together
to decode the rhythm to the song Big
Black Cats. Students discovered that there is a rest at the end of the
first phrase – no sound on the beat! Afterwards, students sang the song The Muffin Man and began practicing
rests using muffins on the interactive white board. Eight muffins were arranged
to represent the steady beat. Students spoke yum to the steady beat, one yum
for each muffin. One by one, students began removing muffins from the white
board. Students were instructed to stay silent in place of the missing muffins.
This proved to be quite challenging for many of the students as this exercise
requires immense focus and hearing the beat internally.
Mrs. Ross’s began
preparing to learn a new note, high do, this week. Students learned the song Li’l Liza Jane and discussed the lyrics
to this song. Students also reviewed melodic notes do re mi sol and la by
reexamining the song Rocky Mountain. Students
were led to discover that they now have all the tools to play this entire song
on the xylophone. Students began transferring their knowledge of this song to
the xylophone.
Mrs. Muller’s students
continued to focus on form this week. Students listened to a piece called Los Mariachis. This time students were
given a blank listening map. The form (rondo) was marked in but the instruments
for each section were left out. Students were instructed to listen to the
recording and then fill in the boxes with the most important instruments in
each section. Once again, students were incredibly successful! Students then
began learning about a form called theme and variations. Students were show a
series of three pictures and asked to name the theme of each picture (high
heels, cookies, cars). Students were then asked to discuss the variations on
these themes (color, size, shape). Students then discussed how composers can
use theme and variations in music. Composers can vary a theme by using
different instruments, dynamics, speed, etc. Lastly, students were asked to
create a picture showing themes and variations. Themes consisted of pizza,
eyes, and vehicles.
