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.