The full Chronicles can be downloaded HERE.
News
from the Music Room 12/11/15
We
are very lucky to have an excellent student teacher, Mr. M, who quickly became
popular with the students. He has been teaching many lessons lately and brought
in his trombone to show to every class. He shared many interesting facts about
the instrument and played it for us. We started most classes with movement
patterns to music from American, Chinese and Egyptian musical recordings. These
movements often correspond to musical note durations and allow us to solicit
creative motions from the children.
Students
in 5th and 6th grades learned a two part rhythm pattern from a Southern
African tradition. The title of the piece, “Tatenda,” means “Thank you” in the
Shona language. After playing these challenging patterns on the percussion
instruments, we added a three part xylophone accompaniment and some students
improvised on top of this music, using the metallophones. I invited Mr. Shea to
hear it, who loved the entertainment.
The
same classes are learning the Russian “Troika,” a fast tempo dance with tricky
partner changes.
Students
in 6th grade also learned a song in the unusual 5/4 meter and performed
it with xylophone accompaniment, while 5th grade students got to make up
their own rhythm patterns.
4th
grade classes
continued their study of different time signatures singing the Arabic song
“Caravan” in 2/2 meter and enjoyed reciting the “50 states that rhyme” rap to a
hip-hop beat. The rap lists the states in alphabetical order. The same classes
performed the lovely “Erev Shel Shoshanim,” a slow Jewish dance at the last
assembly. Performing interactive patterns using Lummi sticks, or activities
with smooth stones, that are passed around the circle are popular in these
classes. These activities follow the beat of songs and some go with the
elimination of players, one by one on the last beat.
Students
in 3rd grade continued their study of scales singing the English round,
“Come Follow” and playing various scales on the xylophones. Children sang “My
Violin,” a song built on the major scale. They discovered that the melody comes
from Beethoven’s Violin concerto and raised their hand each time this theme
appeared in the music. These classes just started a big unit on the instruments
of the orchestra. Mr. M, who is presenting these lessons, is using short
excerpts on youtube, to show the origin, sound and the role of these
instruments and their families in the orchestra.
2nd
grade classes
are now able to sing simple two part rounds such as “My Paddle,” a song from
northern Native American tradition and “Scotland’s Burning.” They were able to
notate the first one, and perform an action pattern to the second one with
partner changes. They also learned a friendly handshake pattern to accompany
their singing of the French song, “Bonjour mes Amis.” The latter one reinforces
the knowledge of right and left hand and cooperation with new partners at every
turn. Students danced the Canadian “Les Salutes” and created motions to the
beat in the African- American children’s game “Down in the Valley.”
Students
in Kindergarten and 1st grade practice the steady beat in many different
ways. They play a variety of percussion instruments, or they follow and create
motions with their bodies as well as different sized rhythm sticks. The use of
the single note bells allow the children to hear, play, recognize and
discriminate between high and low pitches.
By
1st grade, children are able to play patterns that correspond to specific
beats in a song. First grade students used the big and small drums to accompany
the Japanese song, “Okina Taiko” and played the sound described in the song at
the appropriate times. They also practice identifying the notes of the pentatonic
scale in songs such as “Who’s That Tapping at the Window” and “Solomon Cy Walks
way High” and play the bells and percussion instrument patterns that go along
with certain notes.
Favorite
games in Kindergarten and 1st grades include, “Someone is the Leader,”
“This is what I can Do,” “Let’s Climb up the Apple Tree,” “Two in the Boat,”
“Circle ‘Round the Zero,” “Grandma, Grandma Sick in Bed” and “The
Merry-go-Round.”
I
enjoy working with your children.
Agnes
Zsigmondi
