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!

Sharing our Talents

Students often share their music with their peers in our classroom.  Kindergartens have learned to play the sound of snow falling, and to represent high and low sounds with movement.  Grade Ones have written their first rhythms with animal names and are learning how to play them on percussion instruments.  Grade Twos have created their own body percussion chorus for the classic song, "Peas Porridge".  Grade Threes are composing melodies and playing them on the xylophone.

Our Wall of Stars:
a reminder of the wonderful music that has been shared.

Students perform by themselves or in a small group, and their peers learn how to be a supportive and curious audience.  Over and over we practice giving and receiving our musical ideas within our community.

As part of this learning process, I've invited students in Grades One, Two and Three to share a piece that they have learned outside of school.  Students have sung and danced, and played the piano and violin.  It has been exciting for students to share their talents with their classmates, and to learn about how different people make music beyond the classroom walls.   

Each performer is invited to record their piece on a paper star, and I hang these mementoes in our classroom.  It has been wonderful to see the space filled so quickly, and I look forward to adding even more performances to our wall! 

Saxophones at Royal Oak School!

This last week, students in Grade One, Two and Three were lucky to have a visit from Ms. Anderson, a Royal Oak School parent - and a saxophone player!  

She brought both a soprano saxophone and a tenor saxophone to school, and gave our students the chance to hear these instruments with their own ears.  

She played special songs for us (including a tune from Star Wars and the Lion King!), and showed us how the instrument made music.  

She also told us a little bit about how she learned to play, and why she likes to perform with her band.

Here's some of what our students had to say after the presentation:

Soprano Saxophone

Tenor Saxophone

   "You blow in it.  

              Then it makes noise!"

         "They're shiny and loud!"       

"There's lots of buttons.  

      They make the music."

               "She plays really good!"

                        

 "The little one made a high sound, and the big one made a low sound."

  "You can play any song you want on the saxophone - even famous ones."

THANK YOU MS. ANDERSON !

Practice Your Melodies at Home!

Students in Grade Two and Three have expanded their collection melodic notation to include our newest pitch, called "do".  We represent melodic pitches in many ways, including singing with both melodic syllables and the lyrics of our songs, showing the relative pitch with Curwen hand signs, reading and writing notes on a five-line staff, and playing the melodies on the xylophone.

If you would like to practice at home, I've included a few melodies to sing below.  In each example, I sing the melody first, then leave some time for you to sing it again by yourself, and then I repeat the melody so that you and I can sing it together.  The most important thing is to check and make sure that your voice sounds the same as my voice.  You could even ask your family to double check!  If you sound different, just try again and make your voice higher or lower to match the sound of my voice.  

If you have a piano at home, you can write your own melodies on a five line staff and sing with your piano.  (We have been using the pitches D #F and A above middle C.)

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.

A Fantastical Instrument

"Is it real?" 

    asked a Grade 2 student.

"How is it working?" 

     asked a Grade 1 student.

         

"It's like a . . .   Well, it's sort of . . . " 

     started a Grade Three student.

At first glance, students have enjoyed the music and beautiful animation of this video about an imaginary instrument.  But when we dig a bit deeper, this little video can inspire some truly thoughtful discussions.  Click HERE to watch this video and consider joining the conversation by talking about the following questions:

Does this imaginary instrument remind you of real instruments you have studied?  

     How are they the same and how are they different?

How does this instrument make sound?  

     How does it make high and low sounds?

What emotion does this music make you feel?

     What is happening in the music that makes you feel that way?

           Is the music loud or soft, fast or slow, smooth or bouncy?

     Does your emotion change when the music changes?

Imagine this was the background music for a movie.  

    What would be happening in the movie while this music was playing?

This video never tells us what the name of this instrument is.

    What would you call it if you gave it a name?

String Instruments from Around the World

The Cello and the Violin.

Students from Grade One to Three have been exploring stringed instruments from around the world. To begin, we examined a violin, looking at all sides (and inside!) to see how it is put together, experimenting with different ways to make sound, and even smelling the bow to see if it smells like the horse's tail from which it is made! 


From this reference point, we looked at other instruments that use strings to make sound.  First we listened to a video of the cello.  We noticed that it is the same shape as a violin and that it makes a similar sound, but we heard that this bigger instrument sounds lower.  

The huge Contra Bass Bar makes a low sound . . .

... and the tiny Glockspiel
 makes a high sound.

Someone suggested that all large things make low sounds.  But is that always true?  So we tested the pitch of the xylophones, and found that the largest ones did make a lower sound, and the smallest ones did make the higher sound.  How interesting!

CLICK HERE to hear an Erhu.

Then we listened to a video of the "erhu", a hauntingly beautiful two-stringed instrument from China.  It was small, just like the violin, but the musician held it on her lap and not under her chin.  Finally, we listened to a video the Arabian instrument, the "oud".  It reminded us of a guitar, or banjo, or ukelele, but we counted twelve strings on its large, "avocado-shaped" body.  It had such a lively sound that we just couldn't help moving!

CLICK HERE to listen to the Oud.

Every culture around the world has it's own special instruments.  Each one speaks it's own unique language and tells the story of the people who play them so lovingly.  How lucky we are to have representatives from many parts of the world in Royal Oak School, and the opportunity to share our diverse musical heritage!