This week, our student teacher Mr. Lamb returned! He brought his brother Kevin along to teach a lesson on improvisation (making music up on the spot) and the blues. Kevin Lamb recently graduated from the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University with a double major in music and math. He has played both trombone and piano in several classical and jazz ensembles. The brothers began by teaching the students an easy improvisation game that they played as a family when they were kids. One person starts singing or humming a simple melody and the other players come in one by one, adding their own music, but following the tempo (speed) and mood of the leader's music. They taught the game by sending either Mr. Lamb into the hallway while the class determined the mood and tempo. Then that Mr. Lamb came back into the classroom and tried to sing something that went with the leader's music. In each class, students participated by singing as assistant leaders and followers or by using body percussion. Next, the Lambs introduced students to improvisation in the blues. The blues is an American genre of music that began in the deep South in the 1870s. It is influenced by African-American musical traditions, including work songs and spirituals. One of the most well-known forms of the blues is the 12-bar blues. This form uses a consistent pattern of chords and lyrics, making it an easy genre for beginner songwriters. To introduce this genre, the Lambs either performed their own composition, "The Lamb Brothers Blues" or showed a video of "One Shoe Blues" written by Sandra Boynton and Michael Ford and performed by famous blues musician B.B. King. The classes learned that blues songs are usually written about a problem. Each verse uses an AAB form, meaning that the first line is repeated, then there's a third line that rhymes with the first and second. The Lambs guided the students in coming up with a problem that they wanted to sing about. Then the students worked together to come up with lyrics ideas that stated the problem and how it made them feel. They wrote songs about a wide variety of problems including burning a cake, being chased by a giant chicken, the embarrassment of falling in a lake while fishing, being punished for the bad behavior of other kids in the class, and struggling to find friends. After writing the lyrics, Mr. Lamb (student teacher) led the students in singing their composition, accompanied by Kevin Lamb on piano. Students had a lot of fun learning a new game and writing new songs!
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Kindergarten had a special treat when Lindsay and Marwin Abong visited music classes on Thursday! Lindsay and Marwin made a video to help students learn the Tagalog words in their spring concert song, "Maliliit Na Gagamba" (The Itsy Bitsy Spider). It was very exciting for the students to meet them in person today!
Marwin is originally from the island of Cebu in the Philippines and was so kind to share his knowledge of Tagalog (one of FOUR languages that he speaks!) with the kindergartners. Lindsay grew up in Minnesota, but has lived in the Philippines for the past eight years working with Marwin at a children's shelter and school in Cebu. Lucky for us, the recently moved to the United States! Classes began with kindergartners performing "Maliliit Na Gagamba" for their guests, showing how much they had learned with their help! Marwin and Lindsay taught the students about the culture, geography, languages, food, and people of the Philippines. Kindergartners even got to taste a piece of dried mango that came from Cebu, home of the world's best mangos! At the end of class, the students were able to say "Salamat!" (thank you in Cebuano) to their visitors for all they had shared with us! On Friday, house leader Mandy Fassett visited our music classes. The students enjoyed learning about string instruments, improvisation, and how music can communicate emotions and tell stories.
Mandy is a professional multi-instrumental string musician from Minneapolis. She enjoys playing bluegrass, jazz, and other genres of music that are focused on improvisation. She currently performs with several groups in the Twin Cities and around the state. Mandy began each class by showing three instruments that she brought with her–fiddle, mandolin, and cello. She demonstrated on each instrument by performing bluegrass, traditional, Irish, and classical tunes for the students. With each class, she led a collaborative improvisation activity that began with students naming emotions or writing short stories. Students then determined what musical techniques could be used to express those emotions or stories, such as changes in volume, speed, instrument, playing technique, and more. Mandy led the students in improvising with her to create music that expressed their emotions or stories. One of our favorite stories was about a haunted house and a robot hamster. It used scary and scratchy sounds to set the mood of the haunted house, short and robotic sounds to represent the robot hamster, and students making body percussion sounds to help create the action in the story. The students enjoyed this opportunity to make music with Mandy, hear their own creative ideas expressed in music, and learn more about the career of a performing musician. Hello!
My name is Kyle Lamb and I've truly enjoyed working with your children as their student teacher in music! I've been pleasantly surprised with their desire to learn music and thoughtful questions. I will miss them and their Husker spirit as I move on to my first teaching job. For those of you with daughters going into 4th-6th grades, there's an opportunity to continue their music education, make some great friends, and work on leadership skills. For the last three years I've interned with the Cantabile Girls' Choirs, an auditioned choir for girls around Central MN, and I cannot recommend it enough! Cantabile Girls' Choir meets one night a week to rehearse music and sings in several concerts. The girls also have an opportunity to tour throughout Minnesota. Auditions are coming up on the 14th, 15th, 18th and 20th. For information about auditions or to sign up, click the link : www.bit.ly/cantabileauditions Thank you for your time! Kyle Lamb |
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