Weekly Review- 1/27-1/31

In music this week, our first grade students learned their first song on the violin. It is a fun and simple song called, "Mississippi Hot Dog."We also reviewed all the four open strings and many students had the opportunity to play a four beat rhythm on any of the open strings. We also learned a fun movement song called, "A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea." 

Second grade students reviewed the song "Mississippi Hot Dog" from first grade. They also learned "Hot Cross Bun" using the two new notes that they learned- F# and E. These two notes were challenging to play because students had to put their left fingers on the fingerboard while playing pizzicato with their right hand. This took alot of hand coordination.

It was another important week for our third graders.  They had to take their music notation test and pass it in order to receive their recorders next week.  Congratulations to all our students who passed! Mrs. Rzasa and I will offer any extra help and will make sure you pass so that you can get your recorders.  The make-up exam will be given next Monday and Tuesday during recess. We can't wait to give you all your recorders next week! If you have a recorder from an older sibling, make sure you bring it to your first music class next week!

The fourth and fifth grade students played "Hot Cross Buns" on the violins this week. One class started learning "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." We will continue learning this song next week and hopefully we can learn how to bow soon! I know many students are excited to learn how to correctly bow.  In chorus, we learned our grade level featured "pirate" songs. Fifth grade students learned, "Our Principal's a Pirate." It has a fun, catchy melody. Guess who will be our pirate during the spring concert? Fourth grade  students learned an upbeat two part song called, "Pirate For a Day." We also finished learning "I'se the B'y" and continued learning the beautiful song, "Oceanus." We are hoping to learn the dance moves for "I'se the B'y" soon!

Hopefully we will have nice weather this weekend! After all, it's SUPERBOWL Sunday! Have a wonderful weekend and we hope your team wins!

Feb-March Violin Schedule

	FEBRUARY 2014
Classroom Teacher	2/3-2/7	2/10-2/14	2/17-2/21 No School (Feb. Vacation)	2/24-2/28
Kippenberger	MON. 11:00-11:30	MON. 12:40-1:05	no lesson	MON. 8:30-9:00
Ferullo	MON. 12:40-1:05	MON. 8:30-9:00	no lesson	MON. 10:30-11:00
Keating	MON. 8:30-9:00	MON. 10:30-11:00	no lesson	MON. 11:00-11:30
Cyr	FRI. 10:30-11:00	MON. 11:00-11:30	no lesson	MON. 12:40-1:05
	MARCH 2014
Classroom Teacher	3/3-3/7	3/10-3/14	3/17-3/21	3/24-3/28
Kippenberger	MON. 10:30-11:00	MON. 11:00-11:30	MON. 12:40-1:05	MON. 8:30-9:00
Ferullo	MON. 11:00-11:30	MON. 12:40-1:05	MON. 8:30-9:00	MON. 10:30-11:00
Keating	MON. 12:40-1:05	MON. 8:30-9:00	MON. 10:30-11:00	MON. 11:00-11:30
Cyr	MON. 8:30-9:00	FRI. 10:30-11:00	MON. 11:00-11:30	MON. 12:40-1:05

Weekly Review 1/20 - 1/24

This week, the first and second graders continued to learn the four strings on the violin, and they reviewed rest and ready positions.  They really enjoyed having the opportunity to experiment with different rhythms! We also did a fun movement activity to the song "Soldier's Joy."  We discussed the country and folk style of the song, and learned about the fiddle!

This was a big and important week for the third graders.  Next week the students will be taking their music notation test.   To help them prepare, we spent time reviewing the parts of the staff, as well as the  process for reading and writing music notation.  We also took a practice test in class, and study guides were sent home.   Please help your child study if needed!  We are offering extra help today during recess, and are encouraging students to attend.  Luckily, many students had perfect scores on their practice tests and are ready for next week's exam!  

The fourth and fifth grade students played the violin this week!  They remember a lot from last year- how to hold the violin, the names of the strings, as well as the technique for playing pizzicato.  We'll be playing songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" before you know it!  In chorus, they sang through almost half of the gorgeous "Oceanus," as well as the fun and upbeat "I'se the B'y!"  We are excited to start a new song next week! 

A special thank you to Mrs. Wiernicke and Mr. Rabazzi's classes, who helped us show the Burlington Technology team how we use the iPads in music! 

**A note to third grade violin students:  I will be out of town on Monday, January 27th, and therefore lessons will be cancelled :( Your child does not need to bring their violin to school on Monday- but please encourage them to continue practicing!!**

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

Weekly Review 1/13- 1/17

The first graders were super excited to receive their violins this week. For some students, this will be their first instrument. With an exception of a few students, each student was paired up with another student and was assigned to a violin. We learned how to care for the instrument such as how to properly open the violin case, how to carefully take the violin out with two hands, and how to properly put back the violin into it's case. We also reviewed the violin parts from last week. Incase you forgot what some of the parts were, here is a list of the parts to help you. Ask your first grade student if they can name these parts on the violin.

• Scroll
• Pegs
• Peg Box
• Strings
• Nut
• Fingerboard
• Neck
• Body
• Ribs
• Bridge
• Sound Post
• F Holes
• Tailpiece
• Chin Rest
• Button
• Parts of the bow: frog, stick, tip, grip, screw, hair

In second grade, students were very excited to play the violin again and many can't wait to put their fingers down on the fingerboard to learn and play more notes! We reviewed the parts of the violin and bow. We were so happy that many students remembered the various parts of the violin! We reviewed two positions- rest position (also known as guitar position) and playing position

REST POSITION

PLAYING POSITION

Some classes even got the chance to play two open strings- G and D. We will continue to review all the open strings next week.

It was an EXCITING week for our third grade students. We went to Cary Hall in Lexington to listen to the Lexington Symphony perform. For many of our students, it was their first time attending a live symphony performance. The students were so thrilled when one of the orchestra members named  "Jobey" came to our section and personally said hello to the students. Here is more information about the concert Lexington Symphony. We hope many of our third grade were inspired by this live performance. Hopefully many more students will join the band or violin program next year!

The fourth and fifth graders began rehearsing their chorus music for the Spring Concert. We are so excited to announce that the theme for our Spring Concert is, "Sounds of the Sea." We started learning "I'se the B'y" which is a fun, upbeat folk song from Newfoundland.  We concluded the rehearsal with a slow, beautiful song called, "Oceanus." It talks about the sounds and animals of the sea. 

The fourth and fifth graders also used tone chimes to add chord accompaniment to the song, "Auld Lang Syne." It was beautiful and we home to use the tone chimes again!

We hope you have a WONDERFUL LONG weekend! Please stay warm!

Violin Assignment

Assignment for next week:  All of page 12 (pizz. then bow), and bow tube practice

This week, we reviewed the songs on page 11 (pizzicato) and continued to work on our bowing skills.  You may have realized when your child practices that it is extremely challenging to learn how to properly use the bow and how to produce a good tone.  A song that sounds amazing plucked (pizzicato) can sound completely different once the student uses the bow.  Many factors make bowing so difficult in the beginning stages, including:

• It is awkward to hold properly.  Please refer to my post HERE for more information on bow technique
• Pressure.  Too much or too little pressure on the strings will diminish the quality of the sound produced.
• Proper bow speed
• Bow placement on the instrument (on the strings, in between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard)
• Even just the concept of moving both hands in different ways is tricky- the left hand has fingers that move up and down with fine adjustments, the right hand holds the bow and makes large gestures back and forth.

Please encourage your child as they practice! They will soon get over the "hump" and bowing will become natural and easy to them!

Mrs. Cyr's lesson group played a D scale for the first time with the bow today. Please check out their video below! (well, technically this shows their second time :) )

Weekly Review 1/6 - 1/10

Happy New Year!!  Our first week back just flew by...here's what the students did in music:

The first graders sang a sweet song called "I Have a Little Snowman."  It explores movement and pitch in a scale.  As the song continues, the pitch of the song rises, and when the snowman melts the pitch returns back to the starting note (do).  They also started preparations for our exciting Violin Unit!  (click HERE for more information) We read the book "Zin, Zin, Zin, a Violin," then discussed the parts of the instrument and what each one does:

• Scroll
• Pegs
• Peg Box
• Strings
• Nut
• Fingerboard
• Neck
• Body
• Ribs
• Bridge
• Sound Post
• F Holes
• Tailpiece
• Chin Rest
• Button
• Parts of the bow: frog, stick, tip, grip, screw, hair

The second graders also reviewed the parts of the violin, and watched a fun episode of Reading Rainbow.  In the show, the host follows talented elementary school students who perform in a youth orchestra.  They share what it is like to be in a rehearsal, the dedication needed to practice and perform, and how much fun they have being a part of a special group!  They also listened to orchestral music (Haydn's "Surprise Symphony") while moving to the form of the piece.

The third grade students had an exciting visit from a few members of the Lexington Symphony Orchestra to prepare for next week's field trip!  I posted about it earlier in the week...please click HERE to check out the pictures and videos!  The students also discussed the parts of the staff and the process for reading and writing notation.  They played a game called "On Your Marks, Get Set...Notate!" to review the notes on the staff.

The fourth and fifth graders are all working on building chords.  A chord (unlike a pitch or interval) is a group of three or more pitches played at the same time.  There are MANY different chords in the music world, but we focused on chords with three or four notes.  We explored the different tonalities that the chords can possess, and a process for building a chord that will sound good every time!  Once everyone knew how to build a chord, we used the classroom floor staff to learn how to notate and label them.

The fourth and fifth graders also learned a song for the New Year, "Auld Lang Syne" (a Scottish tune that is typically heard right after the ball drops in Times Square!).  Next week, we will be adding a chordal accompaniment to the song using the tone chimes.  It will be a lot of fun!

(tone chimes)

We hope you have a lovely weekend! :)

A Visit from the Lexington Symphony

To prepare for their upcoming field trip (Wednesday, January 15th), the third grade students had an exciting visit from four members of the Lexington Symphony Orchestra.

Students got up close and personal with the violin, viola, flute, and tuba.  (or as we pronounced it, the "TUUUUUUBAAA!").  The performers played beautiful music and taught us about their instruments.   We discussed the four instrument families (string, brass, woodwind, and percussion), and learned a little bit about concert etiquette.

Below are some pictures and video of our fun morning!

Violin Assignment

Today was a performance day!  The first lesson of each month will allow students to share their "best work" - music that they have been practicing at home and are particularly proud of!  It does not have to be the most recent music that we have learned in school...all students work at different paces (especially when learning a new instrument), and I want them to be comfortable performing a song of their choice in front of their peers.

It also gives me the opportunity to give students more individual instruction during the large group lessons.  I love performance day, and today was no exception - the students did a great job!

This week, the assignment is to practice the songs on Page 11. Thanks!

Violin Schedule for Today

Kippenberger: 8:30 - 9:00
Ferullo: 10:30 - 11:00
Keating:  11:00 - 11:30
Cyr: 12:40 - 1:05