5th and 4th Grade: Ukulele We began this class by learning about one of the most well-known ukulele players, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, known as "IZ." He was known as "the voice of Hawaii" for his great contributions to Hawaiian music and how he helped to bring Hawaiian music to the rest of the world. His recording of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is still recognized by most people nearly 30 years after it was recorded. We then worked on the open strings on the ukuleles again. We started off with a game of "Cool Hand Uke," a friendly competition between students to be the first to correctly play the open string named. Then they practiced our four open string exercises. They're getting more and more control in plucking individual strings! 3rd Grade: Melody After practicing note reading with a round of the game Staff Champion, students began learning about intervals, which are the measurements between pitches. In this class, we focused on steps (from one pitch to the very next in a scale), skips (skipping over one pitch), and repeating notes. After some practice with intervals and learning how they work on a piano keyboard, we began seeing all three in action in the song "The Star-Spangled Banner." All of the students recognized our national anthem and many were able to sing along right away. We discussed how the intervals and range make this song unique and challenging among national anthems. The lyrics were written in 1814, so they include many words that we don't use much in normal speech today. We went through the first verse, made sure everyone knew the meaning of every word, and the meaning of the verse as a whole. 2nd Grade: Baroque Period Today's journey to the baroque period focused on the ornaments (fancy musical decorations) used in baroque music and the German composer Handel. Students learned about three of the most common musical ornaments–trill, turn, and appoggiatura. Then, they added their choice of ornaments to a song they all new, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," to create their own baroque-ish version of the song. Most classes agreed that after adding 5-7 ornaments, it got to be too much. A few sound great, but too many makes it hard to even understand what the song is. Students began learning about the early part of the life of Handel, composer of "The Messiah." Handel is a great example of someone who chose to follow his dreams, even though he encountered some obstacles along the way. 1st Grade: Lines and Spaces First graders reviewed all that they have learned about the music staff, how to read notes on it, and the three pitches they've learned so far. We did a short vocal warm-up and assessment using sol and mi, sang "Shiloh," and did some sight-singing (singing music from notation without hearing it first). Then the first graders wrote a collaborative composition using mi, sol, and la. After singing through it, students had lots of opinions about edits we should make! We sang through many edits, just like any other songwriters would, to try to make the best music. Students took a short quiz, then began learning and practicing rhythms that they will use to create an instrumental accompaniment with the song "Shiloh" next time. Kindergarten: Instruments The focus in this rotation's classes was the woodwind family of instruments. We started out singing and playing air instruments (pretending to play) on the song "Air Orchestra." Then students learned about and listened to several individual woodwind instruments, including flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, and bassoon. Bassoon is my main instrument, so I brought in a real bassoon to show them. They were especially impressed by how tall it is (taller than a kindergartner!). Then, we worked on a song called "Woodwind Animals." The song has some blanks in the lyrics that we had to fill in, telling what animal each woodwind instrument in the song sounds like. Students were very creative and thoughtful in choosing the animals that they thought best represented these instruments. Then we sang the new words in the song and acted out the animals!
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5th and 4th Grade: Ukulele In this rotation, we began with a round of Staff Champion, the note-reading game, to keep those skills fresh in mind. Then students learned more about ukuleles, including a review of the parts and basics of how to care for the instruments. Then, it was time to play ukuleles! We began with the basics of how to hold ukuleles–holding the neck in the left hand, keeping the body of the instrument against your own body, where to place the hands, etc. Then they learned the open strings' pitches–GCEA. After doing some practice, we played a game called "Cool Hand Uke." Three students came to the front of the room (one from each of our house teams), and the first to play the open string that I named earned a point for their house. This was especially thrilling because it's the last week of the quarter and two of the houses are neck and neck to win! After a short Plicker quiz to make sure everyone is mastering the basics that they've learned so far, most classes had time to start working on one or two open string songs. 3rd Grade: Melody In this rotation, third graders focused on practicing their note reading skills. We reviewed the Quaver episode that they watched last time, then practiced note reading with Staff Champion. They also practiced naming notes in an actual song to get practice not just reading individual notes, but reading them in context and noticing how one note relates to those around it. 2nd Grade: Baroque Period Second graders reviewed the Quaver episode about the baroque period that they watched last time, then learned about the baroque composer Vivaldi. Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer who is probably most known for his "Four Seasons." He had an interesting life in Venice, teaching at an all-girls orphanage and writing many of his compositions for the girls in the orchestra there. 1st Grade: Lines and Spaces First graders learned about a third pitch today! La is a pitch that is just a step higher than sol. The new pitch was introduced in the song "Shiloh," which first graders listened to and sang along with while showing the high, low, and medium pitches on their bodies by tapping their shoulders, knees, or waist. They learned the hand sign for la and practiced sight-singing some exercises that included the pitches mi, sol, and la. They also wrote a collaborative composition using their three pitches! Kindergarten: Instruments
Kindergartners began learning about the four instrument families–strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. We talked about our own families and how there are certain things that tie our families together and compared that to the things that tie instrument families together. The students learned a little bit about one instrument in each family, including the violin (strings), flute (woodwinds), trumpet (brass), and drum (percussion). We worked on a song called "Air Orchestra" in which they got to pretend to play each of those instruments! 3rd-5th grade classes this week started with a Kindness Mission drawing. The last Kindness Mission was to compliment someone's singing and several students nominated others who they had witnessed doing that. Four nominees were drawn in each class and those students were awarded house points for their kind deeds! 5th and 4th Grade: Ukulele We began class with more note reading review, as this is something that the students will need to be able to do when they are playing ukuleles. We played the note-reading game Staff Champion and the classes tried to beat their previous high scores. They get better every time we practice! Although students didn't play the ukuleles yet, they learned all that they need to know to prepare for playing next time. They learned about ukulele vocabulary, parts, and history. I think we're all excited to get our hands on ukuleles next time! 3rd Grade: Melody Third graders watched the Quaver episode on lines and spaces in this rotation. It covers the reasons to read music, how to do it, and tricks to remember how to read the pitches. Then we practiced! Students worked on the line notes (the phrase "Every Good Boy Does Fine" helps them to remember which note is on which line) and then space notes (which spell FACE from bottom to top). Then we increased the challenge by playing Staff Champion with both line and space notes! Students had to identify whether the note was on a line or in a space, remember the trick, and then figure out what the note was. It was impressive to see how much they improved in just one class period! 2nd Grade: Baroque Period After reviewing the "Musical Periods" song, second graders enjoyed watching a Quaver episode all about the baroque period. They learned about what was happening in the world during this period of history (1600-1750), what the music sounded like, and three baroque composers (Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi). After discussing the episode, students began learning about Vivadi, the Italian composer famous for writing "The Four Seasons." 1st Grade: Lines and Spaces This class started with a new song, "Disco Sensation." This disco-inspired song is a lot of fun to sing and, of course, to dance to! Students learned several new disco moves in this one. Last time, students learned how to read their first two notes on the lines of a staff. Today, our focus was the symbol that comes at the beginning of the staff, the treble clef. This symbol tells us how to read the notes that follow it and that they will be in a higher range. Students learned how to draw treble clefs and practiced on staff paper. They did a great job! After reviewing their two pitches, mi and sol, they learned about mallets, which are "musical hammers" with a round head that are used to play many percussion instruments. All of the students got a set of mallets to use as they created sound effects to accompany a story while practicing holding the mallets correctly and bouncing them while playing. Kindergarten: Meter
Kindergartners continued their unit on meter by learning about music that has beats in patters of three and four. To learn about the meter of three, they learned a song called "Waltzing Wallabies" after hearing the story about its main character, Wally the Waltzing Wallaby. A waltz is a dance in a meter of 3. Then they learned about a meter of four with the song "Five Green and Speckled Frogs," which turned out to be one that many had already learned in preschool! We did a movement activity while singing this song. Students walked around their mats until "jumping into the pool" by jumping onto their mats at the point in the song when one frog jumps off of the log. We then reviewed the three meters that they have learned about and how music in each meter makes us feel like moving. A meter of two is a marching meter, a meter of three makes us feel like swaying or waltzing, and a meter of four is a great walking meter. They took a short quiz on meter and did a great job! 5th-4th Grade: Note Reading Review and Reward Day For a while, fifth and fourth grade will be working on the same unit, so you will see their posts combined here. Both will be starting to learn ukulele's for the first time in music class! To prepare for that, students spent the first half of this class reviewing note reading. This will be a skill they will need as they read music while playing ukulele. During the second half of the class, we had the long awaited reward for Lamb House's quarter one victory! Our house leader, Kyle Lamb, chose karaoke as the reward. The members of the winning house ran the activity. In some classes, they chose the songs that everyone say. In other classes, they chose to make it a karaoke competition that they judged! 3rd Grade: Melody and Reward Day Third graders were introduced to their new unit all about reading music notation on the treble clef staff. Then, they got their reward for Lamb House's quarter one victory, karaoke run by the members of Lamb House! 2nd Grade: Baroque Period Second graders were introduced to their new unit on the baroque period of music history. They listened to an example of baroque music and discussed what it made them think of and feel. Then they started learning the song "Musical Periods." After that, we had the Lamb House reward, karaoke run by the members of Lamb House! 1st Grade: Lines and Spaces First graders began a new unit about reading notes on the lines and spaces of a music staff. This is a really big step in learning music! We began with a vocal warm-up reminding students about how high and low sound and feel when singing. They learned about what a music staff is and how it was created by Guido d'Arezzo in the 11th century. Then they were introduced to their first two pitches, mi and sol, on a two line staff. The students sang along with the song "Go and Stop," which features those two pitches in the chorus. During the chorus, they showed the two pitches in a variety of ways, like standing tall for sol and crouching low for mi and putting their hands on their chairs for sol and on the floor for mi. During the verses, they moved like the vehicles that were described in the lyrics. We practiced reading and singing mi and sol with some short exercises and two full songs that feature those two pitches, "Jumpin' Jacks" and "Goofy Pets." The students especially enjoyed doing the activity with "Goofy Pets" where they got to act out any goofy pet they wanted! Students learned to hear, sing, read, and even do hand signs for these two pitches...all in one class period! I'm very impressed by how quickly they're learning this big new concept! Kindergarten: Meter
Kindergartners began a new unit about meter. Meter is how beats are organized into groups. In this class period, we focused on the meter of 2. First we started with a listening and moving activity. Students marched to a fife and drum march and we tried out some movements in patterns of 2 with a techno song in a meter of 2. Then the students learned "Stinky Pirates," a silly and fun song all about stinky pirates sailing on the seas! They learned the words and were able to sing it quickly, while feeling the meter of two. We added some movements to reinforce the patterns of two and to show the hoisting of the sails on the pirate ship. |
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