Bubble Gum, Peas Porridge and Cereal

Kindergarten students began the week with the best word in the world - their own name.  To the accompaniment of a drum track, each student choose a percussion instrument on which to perform their name. It was a chance to practice playing the rhythm of language as well as to listen to other musicians. Then, after all this hard work we celebrated by singing our Sticky Bubble Gum song. In this silly game, students dance, keep the beat, and figure out how to stick themselves to others in more and more complicated ways. And to top it all off, our pretend gum is always delicious!




Grade One students began learning a greeting song called Hello Everybody. While playing this game our young musicians experience the true purpose of making music, which is to communicate to another person. Even though we have just begun to learn the piece, students are no longer looking at the teacher. Rather they are singing to a partner, shaking hands, and learning how to solve movement challenges on their own. 




Grade Two students reinforced the melodic pitches of so and mi by composing simple melodies and then adding silly, nonsensical lyrics. We then used these same notes to transcribe the traditional song Peas Porridge Hot. Unfortunately, the last note of the song didn't seem to be either a so or a mi. The students noticed it was even lower than the other notes and discovered it was a new pitch called "do". Now they have even more options to play with when composing!




Grade Three students have continued to develop their ability to perform music in two parts. We began with three flavors of cereal - Cheerios, Rice Crispies and Sugar Corn Pops. Students began by checking if they were moving and speaking at the same time as others on their team. Then they began to reach their ears farther to listen for the words spoken by the other team. If all goes well, each musician can hear how their own music fits in with the other piece of music, just like the pieces of a puzzle! Students also took some time to analyze another sample of music, Beethoven's Fur Elise. Click on the link below to listen while reading some of the student's comments.

Click HERE to listen to 
"Fur Elise".

“It feels in my  heart . . . romantic because it is piano and largo. I imagine two people dancing on a soft beach.”

“It makes me feel scared. . . I imagine a boy lost his family and be all alone.”

“It feels calm . . . I imagine petals from flowers flying in the air.”

“It feels peaceful . . . I imagine sleeping on a floating cushion of air.”

Jingle Taps, Puppies and Djembes

The Jingle Tap

In this week's music class, Kindergarten student began to "play the way the words sound", representing each syllable by playing a sound on an instrument. First, each person chose an instrument to represent their name, playing along with a fancy drum track.  Then we played 123, Tap With Me on a new instrument called a "jingle tap."  Some classes also began our leaf project, which was inspired by their investigation into "evidence of fall" in their home rooms.  

Singing Pupp

The highlight of Grade One music was definitely our friends, the Singing Puppies.  Each student used our puppy puppets to improvise a melodic response to a question asked by the Singing Beaver.  It was lovely to hear how many of our students are able to differentiate between their singing and speaking voices so early in the year!  Students also performed the popular Popcorn Song on non-pitched percussion this week, representing the rhythm of each phrase with a different instrument. This project was also our first formal experience with musical form, in which some phrases are unique and others are prepeated. In games such as these, students begin to develop an awareness of how their individual sounds fit into the music of their team, and how each team plays a part of the whole piece.  

Djembe

Grade Two students finally performed the story of Liza Briggs, in which each class accompanied its own song with a rhythmic pattern on the djembes.  Students also began reviewing "so" and "mi" pitches by composing short melodies with nonsensical lyrics. It was great to hear laughter mixed with such lovely singing!


Grade Three students listened to a piece from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite called Trepak. They discussed both how the music made them feel and what musical tricks the composer used to inspire that feeling. After students used this musical terminology to justify their choice of mood, they imagined an image that matched the music.  The best part was when they had the opportunity to share their responses with each other, noticing and celebrating the fact that each person has their unique response to the same piece of music. 

Click HERE to listen to Trepak.

Ducks, High & Low, and Warriors

This week, KINDERGARTEN students returned to our imaginary farm to visit the ducks this week. They experimented with several ways to use drum to accompany our duck song, and then each student chose their own technique to play along with the final verse!  

high, high, high, low

Now that our GRADE ONE community knows how to sing "high and low" notes, students have now begun to learn how to record these sounds with written symbols. Using a single line staff and oval shaped notes, each class composed short melodies and figured out how to play them on the xylophone. Students also learned our "Popcorn Song", a musical snack that gives them an opportunity to practice "playing the way the words sound".  By performing the rhythm of text, students build the foundation for formal rhythmic notation later in the year.

Click HERE to keep the beat with
"Warriors"

Meanwhile, GRADE TWO and THREE students were keeping the beat to a song from the Celtic tradition called "Warrior". Students enjoyed the challenge of both maintaining a steady pulse and ensuring that their beat aligns with the beat of the music they are listening to - especially as the tempo and energy  build through the piece! Ask your student(s) to teach you our movement patterns, and challenge yourself to keep the beat by clicking on the link to the left!