What story does this music tell?

Kindergarten students started the week with the song, You Walk Around, and they decided it would be appropriate to sing it while – you guessed it! – walking around!  But then things grew more complicated.  Responding to pictures of a car, a table, a bath tub and a bed, students generated new (and sometimes surprising!) lyrics and movement patterns for the song. One students asked ”Is it really ok to sleep at school?”

Click HERE to listen to
"Air on a G String"

Click HERE to listen to
"Trepak"

Grade One students were excited to begin using their music notebooks this week. After listening to P. Tchaikovsky’s Trepak from the Nutcracker Suite and J.S. Bach’s Air on a G String, each student considered how this music made them feel. How interesting to notice that different people might have different feelings!  Then we analyzed the music, describing the dynamics (how loud is it?) and the tempo (how fast is it?).  Finally, students imagined an image that matched the music and recorded it in their notebooks in pictures and words.

Grade Two students continued using notation to compose and perform short melodies for their peers. As they explored various combinations of so, mi, and do students encouraged to consider whether they preferred big leaps in their music or step-wise motion.  Perhaps it was more interesting to have some repetition followed by a big leap? After a bit more experimentation, students will create, record and perform their final melody.

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"Also Sprach Zarathustra"

I was so proud of our Grade Three students as they performed “Peaceful River” for our Remembrance Assembly on Thursday! Be sure to come and listen to a video of the performance during Student Led Conferences on November 21 and 22. After the big emotions of this performance, it seemed only fitting to follow up with a big piece of music.  So students listened to R. Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra, and discussed how the composer created the emotional effect of the music. Click on the link to the left to listen as you read some of our students’ responses.

It feels proud because it starts [with] a crescendo. I imagine a tree growing branches slowly.”

I imagine a T. Rex. roaring off the end of a cliff.

I imagine the sun rising up to the sky!!!

I imagine a super hero flying!

This song makes me feel relaxed and then shocked because first it was piano, then it was forte . . . I imagine someone relaxing then getting chased by a wild animal. Then the guy escapes but the animal finds him, so he runs farther and the animal can’t find him.