Orchestra Update and Assignment

Fourth Graders
4A:  Today the students were SO excited to get a packet of fun end-of-year songs.  They chose to play My House and Shake it Off.  These songs introduce some new notes (like low C), and they have some tricky rhythms!  

Assignment for 4A:

• My House
• Shake it Off
• Don't forget about the method book!  Please review all D string and A string notes, and keep working on your reading skills.

4B:  Today we played through a few pages in the Essential Elements book, to work on our reading skills.  We got up to page 20, reviewing old songs that we played earlier in the year.   Then, they got a packet of fun end-of-year songs, and the lesson group chose to learn Shake it Off.  The students learned the first two lines of the song.

Assignment for 4B:

• Practice the tunes on pages 21 and 22 in the book
• Keep reviewing the notation for all D scale notes
• Practice "Shake it Off" up to letter C

4C:  Group C also really enjoyed the packet. They chose to work on the Star Wars theme song. This one is a bit more difficult due to the low 2s (C natural and G natural), but they ready for the challenge!

Assignment for 4C:

• Low 2 warm-ups
• Practice Star Wars
• Review all D string and A string notes

Fifth Graders
5A and 5B:  Students arrived late to their lesson so we did not have much time to rehearse.  However, they did receive the same packet as the 4th graders, and chose to learn Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Assignment:

• Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Please note:  Thursday we are meeting at recess to take our end-of-year orchestra photos!  Please remember to bring in your instruments.  Thanks! :)

Here are some videos from 2 weeks ago, when the students were learning how to play bass lines to accompany melodies they are familiar with.  The students were asked to figure out the bass lines on their own, and I'm happy to report that they did this quite successfully - most of them getting it perfect on the 1st or 2nd try!