Weekly Review 4/24 - 4/28

Before we get to the Weekly Review, I'd like to welcome Mrs. Cline to the Memorial Music family!  Mrs. Niu had her gorgeous baby girl, Alysa, a few weeks ago so Mrs. Cline will be teaching music with me for the rest of the year.

This week, the first graders reinforced the steady beat with a fun song and game called "Sally Go 'Round the Sun."  The students walked around the room to the beat while singing, and there was a fun vibraslap part for the Music Superhero to play which signaled when the students must stop and freeze. The classes also learned about audiation.   Audiation is when you can hear music in your head, almost as if you turned on a radio in your brain!  They practiced audiating with a cute song called "Little Peter Rabbit" - complete with hand motions!

The second grade students have been preparing for their Memorial Day performance.  We worked a lot on "Grand Old Flag," adding in "We Want to Cheer," which is the partner song that goes along with it.  The students discovered that it is a bit tricky to stay confident on your part when you are also hearing a different part at the same time!  We also worked on our class song ("Yankee Doodle Boy" and "This Land is Your Land"), then learned a fun circle game called "Hop, Old Chipmunk."  We will finish playing the game next week!

The third graders are doing a wonderful job with their recorder music!  One of the songs for their June concert is called, "Rock Boom BAG!" - and next week we will be adding Boomwhackers!  It's sure to be a lot of fun! :)   In their centers, we played Haydn Seek, Musical Jenga, and learned more about the Star Spangled Banner in Composer Corner.

The fourth and fifth graders are so excited about their spring concert next week!  The performance will be Wednesday May 3rd, at 9:00 a.m. for teachers/students, and 7:00 p.m. for parents.  We hope to see you there!

Weekly Review 4/3-4/7

This week in music, the first grade students continued learning about the Carnival of the Animals, a piece composed by Camille Saint-Saëns.  They followed a listening map for one movement of the piece, "Fossils."  The listening map showed the different instruments and themes which can be heard, including the xylophones, piano and clarinet.  To conclude the unit, the students watched a video of an orchestra performing the Carnival of the Animals in a zoo - it was so funny!

The second graders finished writing lyrics to their class song (which they composed last week), then performed in small groups!  Their lyrics were so creative, and we cannot wait to share them with you!  We will be posting them sometime next week.  The students have also continued to work on music for the Memorial Day Assembly.   They started to learn a second part (or partner song) to go along with "Grand Old Flag."  They will be learning more music next week!

The third graders learned a new note on the recorder this week, F#.  The F# has a tricky fingering, and can be found in the blue belt song, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."  The students are continuing to work towards their Recorder Karate Belts, and we are so proud of their progress!  Please remind your child to practice at home, or you can ask them to perform for you!  The third graders also started a new song for their concert, "Rock Boom BAG!"

The fourth and fifth graders have officially entered "concert mode" - which means that we are rehearsing for their performance in every class instead of only once per week.  After the spring concert, we will do extra general music classes to make up for this time.  That will mean more games and instruments in May! :)  From now until the concert, students should be working towards memorizing their lyrics, and practicing their band/orchestra instruments.  We have posted chorus lyrics and recordings HERE, and orchestra students can practice along with the recordings found HERE.  Below is a concert information sheet, which went home earlier this week:

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The music department at Memorial presents:

Elements of Music

Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017

7:00 p.m.

Your child has been working very hard towards this concert and we hope you and your family can be there to support them. Feel free to email or call us if you have any questions.

• Day/Evening Concert Attire:  

Students will wear the white t-shirts that they decorated with a musical symbol along with any solid colored bottoms.

• Call Times:

• Band students will report to the music room at 6:40pm.
• String students will report to the lesson room at 6:40pm.
• Chorus students who do not play an instrument will report to the kindergarten wing at 6:50pm.

• Please note: ALL 4th and 5th graders must attend the Spring Concert. The students have been working so hard since January to prepare for this performance, and we need all of their wonderful voices and instrumental skills in our ensembles!  (Please contact us in advance if you have a conflict with attendance)

* We look forward to seeing you there! *

Sincerely,

Mr. Napierkowski, Mrs. Niu, and Mrs. Rzasa

Weekly Review 3/27-3/31

The first grade students discussed the instruments of the orchestra and talked about the song, Carnival of the Animals. This hilarious musical suite which consists of fourteen movements is composed by a French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns.  Each movement is about a different animal (except for the little joke) and features different instruments of the orchestra. The animals are having a carnival and everyone is invited to participate, even our own students! After discussing each part, the students had a lot of fun moving around to the music of the various animals. Next week we will watch a movie about the Carnival of the Animals. 

The second graders worked on a class composition.  They will be learning to read music notation next year, so this week we gave them a brief introduction to the staff.  Then, we reviewed rhythmic values and the musical alphabet - there are only 7 letters!   To compose, students took turns with selecting a rhythm (quarter note, eighth note pair, or quarter rest), then choosing a pitch (A, B, C, D, E, F or G).  Students continued until each class had their own song!  During their second music class, students got to pick their partners and added lyrics.  They wrote words to accompany the tune, making sure to match up the correct number of syllables to each rhythm. Next week, they will be performing them.

We are so proud of our third grade students who are making great progress in learning the recorder. The students played Musical Jenga and Old Maid during their centers day.  In their second music class, we reviewed "Lucy Locket" (the green belt song), and learned "Old MacDonald."  Our new note, D, can be a little tricky! The students had to make sure they were covering the holes all the way! We also learned a new song for the recorder concert, "Rock Boom BAG." Here is a picture of one of our students diligently practicing their recorder at home:

Our fourth and fifth grade students designed their own t-shirts for the spring concert. Each student got to pick out a musical element to paint on the front side of the shirt and decorated the back of their shirt with their name, nick name, and their favorite number. Here is a sneak peak at some of their creativity:

In chorus, we finished learning "The Galop" and 5th grade's featured song, "I Have a Shadow. "
All lyrics are now on the blog so please start memorizing your songs! 2017 Spring Concert Lyrics.

As we approach April, we hope this will be the last few days of snow! Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!