Kindergarten "Musical Elements"

How can a piece of music called “Fireworks” relate to the notion that “musical elements are used to pull and push musical themes”? Kindergarten Music class has been very active in this unit exploring sounds that suggest pulling and pushing. They shared ideas of motion or stillness, long breath or short breath, instrument sound lengths, and  fast or slow speeds. The sound concepts discovered in “Fireworks”  wonderfully illustrate how different sounds can have different meanings . Whether responding by creating music with non- pitched percussion instruments, following a sound scape "Fireworks score" or moving to "Partita No. 3 in E Major for Solo Violin" in a circle and partner dance, students connected to the musical directions: more or less movements, pull the sound and push the sound when playing the instrument. Such activities link to the benchmarks of creating pieces of music using instruments, describe characteristics of music and the various uses, and how to follow a simple graphic score. The focus of the next Unit connects nicely with these activities as students will inquire into “Playing my part in music has responsibilities”. We will be exploring how we can use our musical background knowledge to create accompaniments and feel the beat as we sing.

Grade 2 Unit 3 Newsletter Journeys

Grade 2 Music is focusing on the phrase "Journeys we have made, influence our musical expression" for Unit 3 Music's theme. Students are exploring the different musical roles of a solo voice and an accompanying voice or voices in a musical work. After listening to a variety of different types of music, students were able to discern the difference between main musical lines and secondary or accompanying musical lines in a work. They showed understanding by drawing and writing down their impressions. To further engage students in these concepts, eight sentences or "lyrics" to describe their Holiday journeys were written. Students were encouraged to use their photo journey texts from the homeroom class activity as lyrics as well. Next, a four beat instrumental rhythmic pattern was created to accompany an invented 3 note melody, in order to compose a song with accompaniment! Small group in class performances of the musical Journey compositions allowed students opportunities to reflect and describe in musical terms a performance  (benchmarks MU.2.A.) and to demonstrate an awareness of others as they perform in an instrumental group (bench mark MU1.2 I.)

The Hawaiian instrument, the Ukulele  whose name means "the gift that came here" (" Uku" meaning "gift" and " lele" meaning "to come" in the Hawaiian dialect and was brought to Hawaii by Portuguese explorers) was introduced. Students explore the chordal and accompanying role of the instrument through out the unit.

Grade 4 Newsletter! (Unit 3 / Unit 4)

Grade 4 students are currently concluding Unit 3 in their music studies, which focuses on the central idea, 'Musical elements have different functions & connect together!'

We have been exploring the roles of rhythm, melody, harmony and dynamics within music compositions. Students have had fun with having a go at a range of instruments and we are ending the unit by bringing all 4 musical elements together in a whole-grade xylophone piece.

As a result, grade 4 will have covered the following benchmarks by the end of Unit 3-

MU1.4.H Echo short rhythms and melodic patterns on classroom instruments.

MU1.4.I Perform on instruments, in groups, matching dynamic levels.

MU3.4.A Read quarter, eighth, half and sixteenth notes and rests in traditional rhythmic notation.

MU3.4.B Read simple pitch notation on the treble clef.   

Soon, we will be starting Unit 4, which will focus on the central idea, 'Musicians can be organised into communities for effective performance.' We will explore-

- The organisation of an orchestra- the different instrumental groups & looking at what they are made of and how that influences sound.

- Practical performance- how to organise people into a choir- grade 4 will focus on singing with the aim to perform at an assembly in the near future.

Stay tuned for more blog posts of what your children are learning through CIS PYP Music!!

                                                                                        

Grade 1 "Kye Kye Kule"

Grade 1 Music class has been working on the "Call and Response" form of music by singing the Ghanian Song "Kye Kye Kule"( pronounced Che Che Kule). With this musical model in mind, students are writing their own "Call and "Response" compositions to connect to the Unit 3 question "What makes me, me? What makes you, you?" Students chose 6 things they liked as the call statement and which aligned with the original song's musical form. They chose 2 instruments to provide accompaniment and notated a simple ta ti-ti rhythmic pattern for the instrumental accompaniment part. Following their written compositions, students rehearsed in small groups to prepare for an in-class presentation. The presentations provided an opportunity for students to share their creative compositions as well as to demonstrate several unit benchmarks such as appropriate audience behavior and identifying the use of musical elements from various times and places.