Weekly Review 2/24 - 2/28

Good afternoon!  Here is what we did in music this week:

The first grade students reviewed their solfege and rhythm syllables, and learned a new song called "Lucy Locket."  Once they knew the whole song, we played the fun Lucy Locket game!  One child ("Lucy") hid the pocket in the classroom for "Kitty Fisher" to find.  The rest of the class helped Kitty by varying their dynamics- singing louder as s/he was closer to the pocket, and more quietly if s/he was farther away.  They also started their unit on "Peter and the Wolf!"

The second graders have started their instrument family unit this week, starting with the percussion family. Last year, in first grade, the students learned about all of the hand percussion and melodic percussion instruments we have in the classroom.  This year, we are building upon it to include orchestral percussion instruments such as the snare drum, bass drum, gong, and crash cymbals!  We also started to learn about the brass family!

The third graders had a very exciting visitor this week.  You'll have to click on THIS link to find out who it was! (You'll also get to watch some videos!)  Almost all of the third grade students have passed the white belt- Mrs. Niu and I are so proud of them!  Some students are still working on the yellow belt song ("Merrily We Roll Along"), and others are up to the orange ("Gently Sleep")!  

The fourth graders had a very fun Garage Band lesson this week.  We used the iPads to compose music using loops and the digital instruments included on the app.  We will continue this lesson next week, and allow the students to share their creations with each other!  I cannot wait to hear each composition.

The fifth grade students have started a new composing unit as well.  We read "Where the Wild Things Are" to the classes, and we discussed how adding music would make the story more interesting.  What kind of music would work for each part of the story?  Which instruments would be most appropriate to get the perfect sound?  Next week, they will experiment in small groups and compose a short piece to ago along with their assigned part of the story.

In chorus, we continued our "Songs of the Sea" - we are almost ready to start learning the last song!!  We are all looking forward to the Spring concert. Please mark your calendars for May 15th! :)

Amazing Accordion!

"Papa Restivo," the grandfather of two of our third grade students visited Memorial today!  He is an amazing accordion player who shared his talent with us!

We learned a lot about the accordion, including the function of its different parts.  The melody is played with the right hand, while the left hand plays a bass and chord accompaniment.  Air is forced through the bellows of the instrument as the performer squeezes it, which helps to produce the sound.

It's no wonder why it is sometimes referred to as a "squeeze box!"

 dancing along with the Hokey Pokey!

We have a few videos of today's performance to share....scroll down to the last one to hear an accordion and recorder ensemble. Enjoy! :)

Violin Assignment

Assignment for next week:  D scale, page 14

The violin students are continuing to work on mastering the notes on the D and A strings.   In order to play written music, students must be able to read and process the notes on the page, then play them on the instrument.  If your child is having trouble with this, please remind them to speak (or even better, sing) the notes first with the proper rhythm.  Once s/he can identify the pitches, they can then try to play the song on their instrument at a slow tempo....increasing speed only when they are comfortable!

I'm so proud of the work your children are doing, and I hope to post more videos next week during our monthly PERFORMANCE LESSON!! :)