This week, all of the grades have started to really dig into learning their concert songs. This will be our focus until the concerts on December 6th (kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade) and December 13th (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade). For more information about the concerts and to see the lyrics and recordings, visit the concerts tab on this site.
5th Grade Fifth graders warmed up by practicing moving between their chest voice (lower voice) and head voice (higher voice), both of which are needed to sing all of our concert songs. They worked on the lyrics of "A Caroling We Go" and decided which class would sing which verse. Then, we listened to the traditional New Year's song "Auld Lang Syne." The fifth graders learned about how they will be singing this song as a 2-part partner song, practiced singing each part, then decided which part they would like to sing for the performance. We just had a little time to sing through "Sleigh Ride," which many of the students are already familiar with and really enjoy! 4th Grade Fourth graders also warmed up by learning about and practicing moving between their chest (lower) and head (higher) singing voices. Then we did an overview of all three of the concert songs. We began working on "Deck the Halls and Decorate," which is a 2-part partner song. We sang through each of the two song, one of which is the traditional "Deck the Halls," and students chose which part they would like to work on for the concert. We listened to a recording of Bing Crosby singing "That Christmas Feeling" and the students discussed what they liked and didn't like about it. As a result of those discussions, we decided that our version of the song will go faster, and they did a great job singing through it at that faster tempo! We talked about how this song will begin with an intro sung by a small group of students, which will be determined in their next class. Finally, we sang through "A Merry, Merry Christmas to You," which includes singing "Merry Christmas" in several different languages! 3rd Grade In third grade, we began by learning a little bit about the vocal cords and how they work as we sing higher and lower. Then we did a little work on each of the three concert songs. "Celebration Song" is about winter holidays celebrated around the world, including Christmas, Hanukah, and thanks to one of the third grade classes, we've added a verse about New Year's. This song includes some call-and-response spoken parts that will involve small groups of student volunteers. I was happy to see that so many students were interested in doing a small group part! Then we worked on "Santa Claus is Riding' the Trail," which is a nice Christmas song written in a cowboy song style. The students did really well learning the lyrics! We had just enough time to sing through their last song, "Holly Jolly Christmas." I can already tell that we'll have a very energetic third grade performance! 2nd Grade Second graders also began class this week by learning about body parts that are involved in singing. We reviewed the diaphragm and its role in breathing and learned about the vocal cords and how they change length and tension to change the pitch of our singing voices. We started working on "A Wonderful Christmas," which is a very catchy and lilting song. Then we worked on "Thirty-two Feet and Eight Little Tails." This one has a lot of lyrics to learn, but the students have already started making great progress. Finally, we listened to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Me" and discussed the meaning and perspective of the lyrics. This one is sung from the interesting perspective of the star on top of a Christmas tree. 1st Grade First graders began class by learning about their vocal cords and practicing singing in their high and low voices. After warming up, we watched a clip of the movie "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" to hear the song "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle." We worked on the lyrics of this song and practiced singing through some sections of it. Then we moved on to "A Marshmallow World." We listened to a recording of Dean Martin singing the song, then discussed what the metaphors in the lyrics and how they describe a snowy scene. We worked on the lyrics of the first two verses. Finally, we worked on a song that many of the students already knew parts of, "Here Comes Santa Claus." Kindergarten The kindergartners focused on learning the lyrics of their three songs. We began with "Jingle Bells," which they have a lot of fun singing! We especially worked on the "Dashing through the snow" part of the song which they were less familiar with. Then we worked on "We Are Santa's Elves." To help with memorizing the words, we visualized what was happening in this first-person song, imagining that we were Santa's elves. Finally, we worked on "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." They've nearly learned the words to this song already!
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