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! :)
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