Mrs. Niu - niu@bpsk12.org Mrs. Rzasa - rzasa@bpsk12.org
For all information regarding the Memorial String Orchestra Program, please click HERE.  

Friday, April 5, 2013

Weekly Review 4/1- 4/5

Spring has sprung in music this week! The younger students played games related to eggs while the older students got a chance to use the bow on the violin!

The first graders helped bring in the spring season by playing a game and singing "Looking for Eggs." The students had so much fun looking for eggs hidden around the music room as they sang the fun, catchy song.   As soon as a student found an egg, they were directed to shake the egg shaker (which represented a Spring egg) to the beat of the song. The students who found the eggs during each round of the game became the ones that would hide the eggs for the rest of the class. We had so much fun singing and playing this game that we played it for two music classes.

Second grade students also played an egg game called, "Spring Delight." Three baskets with three different rhythmic patterns were put into the middle of the circle.  Students passed around a spring basket filled with colorful eggs to the beat of the song.  Whoever has the basket on the last word of the song was the lucky winner who got a chance to open up one of the eggs. Inside each egg were two special things- a fun little sticker and a word that relates to the spring season. The lucky student got to keep the sticker but had to figure out which rhythmic egg basket their "special word" belonged too.  It was so much fun to see which rhythmic basket had the most eggs! Our second grade students also reviewed the notes F#, E and D by playing "Hot Cross Buns." On the A string, we learned the new note B, which is needed to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Next week, these students will master this popular song. Stay tuned!

Two music games were added to our third grade musical centers. A game called "Fiddlesticks, " similar to the popular game "Old Maid." The goal is to avoid being the person left with the "fiddlesticks" card (it has a picture of a violin bow on it).  The other new game consisted of having students name the notes for tonal music patterns. This game enhances sight-reading (note reading) for the students. We also went over the purple belt song, "Old Mac Donald" and reviewed the low notes E and D.

The fourth and fifth grade students reviewed "Hot Cross Buns" and learned how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" using pizzicato. On the A String, students learned the new notes B, C# and D. The students were so excited to learn how to play the bow.




Violin Bow Parts

Although we all agreed that to master the skill of bowing is pretty difficult, the fourth and fifth graders did a great job bowing for their first time. Next week, our fifth grade students will have the opportunity to play the cello and the viola!

In chorus this week, both grades polished up "Turn the World Around" and the "Three Elements" song.  Both of these songs contain tricky rhythmic parts where you really need to look at the conductor to help cue you when to come in. Fifth graders went through the last half of "Singin' in the Rain" and really got into the song especially during the snapping parts. Fourth graders worked on articulation and started adding percussion parts to "Rhythm of the Rain." Chorus songs are coming together! You will be very proud of your child at spring concert!

Mark your calendars.........
 Spring Concert is on Wednesday, May 8th @ 7:00pm!

Note to all chorus students:  CHORUS LYRICS ARE ON THE BLOG! :)
Please click HERE to view them, and to practice at home!   All music needs to be memorized by the time we get back from April Vacation so that we can start adding dances and percussion instruments!

We hope you have a wonderful weekend!

No comments:

Post a Comment