Weekly Review 9/8 - 9/11

We had such a fantastic week in music!

The first graders practiced their musical listening skills by playing a fun game of freeze dance.   It's important to react to the music immediately when it stops, and the same for when it starts up again!  They also learned a new song "Welcome Back to School." This song includes clapping and stomping in addition to using an appropriate singing voice.  Once the song was mastered, we played a game by varying the speed (tempo) and volume (dynamics) of the song.  We're looking forward to continuing this activity next week!

The second grade students learned a new song called "Grizzly Bear."  We practiced singing with different dynamics:  the song starts at mezzo forte, switches to piano, and then the surprise at the end comes when we sing the last word forte!  The students then played a fun guessing game while singing the song.  They also started a silly nonsense song called "Ickle Ockle," which we will finish next week.

The third grade students got to work on their instrument skills this week.  They practiced rest position:

and ready/playing position:

Next, they used the rhythm sticks to play a passing game to accompany the song.  Check out their video below!

For their second music lesson of the week, the students learned a folk dance called "Tideo."

This week, the fourth graders played a stick passing game to go along with their song from last week, "Rocky Mountain."  It was a little tricky at first, but then they got the hang of it!  They also played a hand drum accompaniment with the song, as seen below:

The fifth graders also played the drums and a stick passing game.  However, their song was "Sansa Kroma."  Sansa Kroma is a folk song from Ghana.  We discussed a little bit about the culture and music styles in Africa, then enjoyed the game!

The 4th and 5th graders started chorus this week!  First, we got into height order to help everyone find their assigned spots on the risers.  Then, all students learned a fun warm-up called "One Bottle of Pop."  We reviewed the concept of partner songs, then split up the class into 3 groups - one for each song.  When sung together, the three parts create beautiful harmony!  It was a great opportunity for the students to practice listening to one another without losing their own part...an extremely valuable skill for chorus!

We hope you have a relaxing weekend!