Musical Learning in February

This month, our Kindergarten students went looking for one friend, then two friends, and then three as they sang together.  Once the friends had found each other, they then played the beat (the steady pulse in music) on a shared drum, checking to make sure they were playing at the same time as the others who shared their drum.  We also explored different sounds that we could make with just our voices – what a wonderful cacophony of noises we made!  Students then transferred this diversity to start differentiating between our speaking, whispering, shouting and singing voices.  This turned out to be a very important skill when we met “Teddy Bear”, who loves to do trick but only understands a “Singing Voice”. 

Grade One students celebrated chickens this month. First, they played the poem “What Can a Hen Do?”, in which teams took turns representing the rhythm of the text on the djembe, cymbals, spoons and wood blocks. Then they reinforced their sense of steady beat as they sang a version of the old folk song “Chicken on the Fence Post”. And, as no chicken project is complete without a chicken dance, the students learned to move with their first ostinato (a repeating rhythmic pattern – in chicken language of course!)

The Grade Two students filled the music room with delicious pizza!  Students had their first opportunity to compose in a small group, putting together the ingredients of the perfect pie.  They then used the rhythmic structure of this short composition to improvise a melody on the xylophone.  Between each team’s pizza order, the class sang “Rico’s Pizza Restaurant” accompanied by an ostinato (repeating pattern) on the xylophone.  As we prepared our “food” in this project, students developed that essential musical skill of listening to each other and working as a team, even when performing music in two parts!

This month, the Grade Three classes have each worked on their own miniature project, marching, chanting, singing, as well as playing the melodic chimes, xylophones, tambourines, djembes, spoons and bells.   Each group’s piece tells one element of the traditional Indian story of “Muna and the Grain of Rice”, which are looking forward to sharing at the Grade Three Celebration of Learning.  Look for further information from your child’s homeroom teacher!