Weekly Review 11/18-11/22

First grade students are beginning to prepare for their Winter Showcase on Wednesday, December 18th at 1:30pm. Mark your calendars! Students reviewed various rhythm notations- du, du-de, and rest. We played a Turkey Tango game which reinforced rhythm reading.

The second grade students learned a song called, "Five Fat Turkeys." This song reinforced the musical terms- melody and ostinato.  A melody is a "sweet succession of arrangement of sounds" and an ostinato is a repeated musical phrase.  We used Boomwhackers as a percussion accompaniment. 
Students also performed the Tango.

Third grade students learned about verse and refrain form while singing a hilarious song called "The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven"(to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean").  There are 5 verses in this song, and each was assigned to a different group of students. Here are performances from Mrs. Kip and Mrs. Ferullo's class:




Our fourth and fifth grade students are in full concert rehearsal mode now. We took a little break and performed songs on the Boomwhacker. The students had so much fun!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Weekly Review 11/14 - 11/15

Well, this was a short week, wasn't it? That doesn't mean we weren't busy in the music room!

The first grade students continued the fun "Bluebird, Bluebird" game from last week!  Different students had the opportunity to pretend they were bluebirds while the class sang.  We reinforced high voice and low voice during "oh, Johnny aren't you tired?" Next, we read Over the River and Through the Woods, then sang the song.  As an added treat, next week the students will learn some sign language to perform on the words "over," "through," "grandfather," "horse," "sleigh," "white," "snow," "wind," "stings," "bites," and "go."

The second graders played a new-to-them instrument, the Boomwhackers! Boomwhackers are a set of colorful plastic tubes that produce a different pitch when struck.

The longest tube (with the lowest pitch) is C, and then the pitches ascend through the musical diatonic scale up to the smallest tube, high C.  We took turns playing the Boomwhackers, then even played some familiar songs such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!"

The third graders also had some Boomwhacker fun this week! They performed slightly more advanced music than the second graders, and it was so much fun! They even did a few Boomwhacker Playalongs, which are videos that can be found on YouTube. Each one has a different accompaniment, and the students provide the melody on the Boomwhackers when prompted!

The fourth and fifth graders did a wonderful job in their chorus rehearsals. Some even auditioned for spoken and singing solos! We are so proud of how far they have come, and cannot wait for our winter concert next month!

We hope you have a great weekend!

Weekly Review 11/4-11/8

Congratulations to our 4th grade students who sang beautifully at our Veteran's Day Assembly on Thursday.

First grade students learned about high and low sounds. The students learned that they are constantly surrounded by varying pitches. In order to reinforce high and low sounds in music, we played a fun game called, "Bluebird." Students were instructed to stand in a circle, holding hands with their hands up. One student was the bird and would fly in and out of the windows (represented by the students) during the song. On the words, "Oh Johnny aren't you tired," students would put their hand down (closing the windows) and demonstrating that they understood high to low pitch. The goal of the game was to trap the bird inside the house.

Our second grade students performed an obstinate accompaniment to the song Bony Legs. Students played the notes E and B separately, the two notes together, then learned a challenging accompaniment- E-B-E-B. 

Third grade students also practiced their Orff instrument skills by playing an accompaniment to a fall song called, "Pumpkins Are Ripe." This song also reinforced hearing songs in minor, which we learned in the month of October. 

Our fourth grade students were busy practicing for the Veteran's Day Assembly. Now that is it over, we will finish up Black and Gold next week.

Fifth grade students learned about the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint Saens. It is a tone poem for orchestra but in 1874, Saint Saens replaced the vocal line with a solo violin line. We listened to Mrs. Rzasa perform the violin solo part and followed a listening map.

Thank you to all our Veteran's for serving our country! Have a wonderful LONG weekend! See you all on Thursday!

Weekly Review 10/28 - 11/1

We had an amazing week in music!

The first graders learned a song and played a game called "Flap and Fly." Bats are nocturnal mammals, which means they sleep in the daytime and are awake at night. The students decorated bats while listening to music, then played the game! The bats were asleep while the lights were on, then a student (the Sun) turned off the lights so the bats could dance and sing!  When the sun came up, the lights were turned back on and the bats fell asleep.

The second graders had a D.A.R.E presentation with Officer Shepard for their first music class. In their send class this week, they learned a fun song called "Witches' Brew!" The song features a fun refrain with silly dance moves, and they loved singing it over and over during the song! The verses included lyrics with gross "ingredients" to put into the witches' brew!

The third grade students read a story called The 13 Days of Halloween...suspiciously similar to the 12 Days of Christmas - only spooky!  We sang the song in minor tonality, and some students helped us out by holding up posters for each day.  Our favorite parts: 5 cooked worms, and the evil laugh at the end!

The fourth graders continued to rehearse for their Veterans Day Assembly. We hope to see the family and friends of the fourth grade students on Thursday, November 7th at 1:30! They also sang the partner songs "Black and Gold" and "Trick or Treat."  They sounded SO cool when sung at the same time! Then, they played a short ostinato to accompany the songs on the metallophones and xylophones.

The fifth graders completed the fun song, "Halloween Night," which they started last week. Everyone had a chance to play the Orff instruments, the hand percussion instruments, and act out a graveyard scene. They also listened to an interesting piece of music by a composer named Henry Cowell. It is called "The Banshee," and the students tried to guess what instrument/s was/were featured. Ask your child to teach you about this piece...it has a surprising answer!

We hope you had a fantastic weekend!