Kindergarten:Playing my musical part has responsibilities!

Kindergarten Music-

The music classroom routines have been ones that get the students ready to sing and move. Kindergarten students focus on learning a variety of songs, exploring music through movement, reflecting on music in their own words and exploring ways to organize sound through graphic notation. Musical games with songs like “Bingo was his name”, “Happy and you know it” and “Row row, row, your boat” engage students in group work and responsibility by singing together and knowing the words. Body percussion and classroom instruments are used to expand sound awareness and form of the pieces.  Add on songs like “Bought me a cat” gives students opportunities to work with musical form and to add their own ideas by substituting body percussion, instrumental playing, or word suggestions to create a new version of the song. Introduction to following a sound scape complimented these activities because students could make connections to the visual aspect of sound production. 

Grade 3: Musical Co-operation!

Grade 3 music students have just completed their first unit exploring the central idea that 'musicians co-operate in order to perform well together.'

Each class worked together to compose, learn, rehearse and perform a 4-bar xylophone composition. I look forward to showing parents the compositions at Parent / Teacher Conferences this week!

Grade 5: The Human Drum Kit!

Grade 5 music students have been exploring how rhythm and melody are organized. They researched and discussed the difference between performing in 'unison' and performing in a 'round.'

This is a vocal piece called The Human Drum Kit, which features both! Can you identify when they are performing in unison and when they are performing in a round?

Click on this link-

Grade 5 Human Drum Kit

Grade 2: Noah's Ark Class Performances!

Grade 2 have been exploring how we can use instruments to create sound effects. Each class learned, rehearsed and performed Noah's Ark, using different instruments to tell the story! 

Grade 4: Storytelling through music.

Central idea: 'Music can be used to express non-musical ideas.'
Grade 4 students created a soundscape to reflect the calm before the storm, when the storm hits and when the storm fades away!

Grade 2 Unit 5 Newsletter

Grade 2 Unit 5 Newsletter

“Music has a message” was the central idea in the How we express ourselves in Unit 5. Students continued to develop their music writing skills, singing with solfege terminology and hand signs, and writing 4 beat measures with proper rhythmic notation. Students played the xylophone in a call and response style and practiced feeling the beat and repeated rhythm patterns in Charlie’s ostinato. The song Doe a Dear from the Sound of Music with Julie Andrews introduced the students to a song that though simple at first hearing, allowed the students to sing in an ostinato pattern in a simple 2 part form. The melody uses the C Major scale which the students had been writing on the 5 line and 4 space musical staff.

Kindergarten Unit 5 Newsletter

Kindergarten Unit 5 How we express ourselves, “A Tale to Tell”. Kindergarten students explored “A Tale to tell”  Unit 5 by taking their understanding of “Peter and the Wolf” from the previous unit and applying it through dance to tell a new story. The musical patterns discovered in “Peter and the Wolf”, where each character was described musically by the sound of an instrument and its melody, helped the students develop a more focused level of attentive listening and general musical awareness. Students were introduced to a Gavotte-  baroque dance music, in Bach's Solo Violin Sonata in E Major. They were able to discern the musical patterns. As movements were added, the students took cues from the music, to feel the beat and follow the dance patterns.

It was performed at the Open house on April 10th. (MU5.K.EB) (MU6.B). 

http://youtu.be/2Mr54OXYtQo

In addition students were working on their singing voice and musical understanding by describing how music made them feel (MU 5.K.A) in the song “Puff the Magic Dragon” and the piece “2 Birds and the Raja” (MU2.K.C).