Even More Homemade Instruments!

Click HERE to enjoy music made with
materials available in your own house.

Students in Ms. Rutland's class shared even more instruments this week!  They found materials around their homes that made interesting sounds, and then adapted them to make music.  

Watch the video to the right to hear university students making music in exactly the same way!

Then check out the instruments made by our very own Grade Three students below . . .

One Line Staff Practice

If you would like to practice singing So and Mi with a one-line staff, click on the videos below!

Click HERE to practice this melody.

Happy Singing!

Click HERE to practice this melody.

Click HERE to practice this melody.

Click HERE to practice this melody.

Click HERE to practice this melody.

Click HERE to practice this melody.

Music is for Everyone!

The text below is an excerpt from the article, Stop Obsessing Over Talent posted by S. M. Demorest.  Read the full article HERE. 

Shows like "American Idol" have promoted the notion that singing is a rare ability reserved for the talented few, and that those without such talent entertain us only by being ridiculed and weeded out. 

This “talent mindset” of music runs counter to what psychologist Carol Dweck calls the “growth mindset” that is considered critical for learning: Students who view their success as a result of hard work will persevere through challenges, while students who believe their success lies with some innate ability – like “talent” – are more likely to give up.

These self-perceptions of a lack of musical talent can then become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Research shows that adults who dropped out of music as children may lose their singing skills through lack of use and opportunity. 

Kids who love music but do not think of themselves as musical could miss out on many of the social and cognitive benefits of music participation, on the experience of feeling connected to others through song. These benefits have nothing to do with talent.

Let's spread the word that singing is for everyone!  Sing at home, in the car and on the streets - our voices in all their wondrous diversity will enrich our own lives and make our community a more beautiful place to live!

Student Led Conferences

 Student led conferences are fast approaching, and it is always exciting to watch and listen to students show what they know and how they think!  There will be a music station set up for each of the grade groups in which students (and their families) can sing or play or move to share their recent learning activities:

Kindergarten:    Musical Snowflakes
                               Exploring relative pitch (high and low) with xylophones and movement

Grade One:      Apple Tree Game

                              Singing and maintaining a steady beat by passing "apples"

                          Building Rhythms

                              Composing rhythmic phrases with Ta, Ti Ti, and Rest

Grade Two:     Peas Porridge

                               Representing our music through notation, using

                               time signature, bar lines, beat, rhythm, melody, phrase and form
                        Arctic Poem
                                Improvising a melody for the text written by the class

Grade Three:   Xylophone Melodies
                               Composing a melody with So, Mi and Do 
                               Sing it, play it, show it with hand signs
                        Zoo Project
                               Sing while accompanying yourself with a xylophone pattern
                               Play 2-3 patterns composed by the class - at the same time!

Come prepared to sing, move and play - and most importantly - to make music together!

Building Instruments

Click HERE to watch Stomp!

Click HERE to learn about the
Paraguay Recycle Orchestra.

When we think of musical instruments, we often imagine a xylophone or a trumpet or a violin that we might buy in a music store.  But people have been making music long before there were stores, building instruments from materials in their environment.  

That innovative tradition continues today!  "Stomp" is a percussion group that uses the body and ordinary objects to create the rhythms of dance and music.  In another part of the world, students in Paraguay make instruments from materials salvaged from the landfill.

Shaker

 Over the past week, a few students have brought in their very own hand-crafted instruments to share with their classmates.  First, a Grade Two student from Ms. Hansen's class brought in a shaker, and played a bit of a percussion solo (accompanied by Mrs. Mann on the drums).

Thumb Piano

Then a Grade Three student from Ms. Rutland's class brought in a thumb piano he had made with popsicle sticks.  He showed us how to play high and low sounds, and then played a little tune.





Today, we had two more instruments from Grade Two students - a pair of rain sticks.  We noticed that the instrument made from a pipe sounded much different from the one made of cardboard.

. . . and a bigger rain stick!

A rain stick . . .

So be creative, and build something that makes YOUR heart sing!  Share it with a friend, or bring it to school.  But most importantly, enjoy the music and have fun!

Kindergartens Keep the BEAT!

Click HERE to watch the video.

Kindergarten students are learning how to keep the beat. The beat is the steady pulse in music - that quiet force that inspires you to tap your toe to the radio. Like your heart beat, sometimes it’s a fast beat (when we are exercising), and sometimes it’s a slow beat (when we are resting), but it is always, always steady.
This week, we chose different places to keep the beat on our bodies while we listened to the classic song, "The Ants Go Marching One by One". Listen to the video to the right, and try keeping the beat in a new place for each verse. If you'd like some help, I've included some of the students' suggestions below!

Keep the beat on your knees!

Keep the beat by tapping your feet!

Keep the beat on your head -
Be gentle!

Keep the beat by clapping
your hands!

Rhythmic Notation in Grade One

Our first rhythmic phrase
with Chickens and Eggs.

Students in Grade One have been exploring words with one and two sounds on a beat.  We started with the images of a chicken and an egg.  We put the word "chicken" in our hands and clapped the way the word sounded - it had two sounds (or syllables).  After testing the word "egg", we found that it had one sound.  Then we used these two images to create rhythmic phrases as a class, in small groups and as individuals, clapping, speaking and performing on small percussion instruments.

By this time, the Grade One classes were studying animals and their adaptations to their environment.  So students began to compose with their own animal rhythms, arranging creatures with one or two sounds on a beat into a short phrase and recording their ideas with words, pictures and rhythmic notation.  Each group performed their composition on their choice of percussion instrument and then demonstrated how their animal might move, alternating with a song which encouraged us to listen to the animals all around us.

Ti Ti has two sounds
on a beat.

Ta has one sound
on a beat.

After weeks of exploring, sorting, testing, composing and performing, we finally got around to officially naming these two rhythms that we have been working with.  One sound on a beat is the "ta" and two sounds on the beat is the "ti ti".  By speaking, reading and writing the vocabulary used by musicians around the globe, we can share our ideas efficiently and further develop our fluency in the language of music!

When all the pieces come together . . .

Students in Grade Two have been studying the old song, Peas Porridge Hot - inside and out!

First, we learned the melody by reading our solfege hand signs, so mi and do.  Then we layered on the words of the song and started to consider just how rotten and stinky porridge would become after sitting in the pot for nine days.  After that, small groups created a body percussion response, performing the rhythmic language of a poem with their own combination of claps, snaps, pats and stomps in alternation with the song.

Then we started to write.  Step by step, students recorded the musical notation of this song in their notebooks.  We used our hand signs to notate the melody, and our partner clapping pattern helped us label the beat.  A time signature and bar lines helped us to organise the beats in groups of four, and we learned to finish off the piece with a double bar line.  Next we clapped the syllables of the words to find out how many sounds were on each beat, and attached rhythmic notation to the melody.  Finally, we labeled the phrases, and analysed the form of the music.  

Whew!  What big work!  But when we were finished, each student had written the entire song in their notebook.  By digging deeply into this little piece, we discovered that the musical elements of beat, melody, rhythm, and form that we have worked so hard to learn can come together to build the music that we sing and play everyday!