Weekly Review 3/25 - 3/28

This has been another short week, but that didn't stop the action in music!  Here's what we were up to:

The first graders continued the violin, mastering all open strings (G, D, A, and E).  We played them in order, then challenged the students with different patterns.  We also read a great book, "Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin."  This book uses the instruments of the orchestra to teach the special music words used for different sized ensembles:
One musician - solo
Two musicians - duet
Three musicians - trio
Four musicians - quartet
Five musicians - quintet
Six musicians - sextet
Seven musicians - septet
Eight musicians - octet
Nine musicians - nonet
Ten or more musicians in a small ensemble - chamber group

The second grade students once again performed the bass line for "Bluebird, Bluebird" on the violin while half of the class sang.  They were so excited to start learning the fingered notes on the violin.  By placing the first finger of the left hand on the D string (covering the tape closest the the scroll), the resulting note is E.  They learned that there is more than one E on the instrument, including the fingered E we just played, as well as the open E string!  After that, we played F# (spoken as "F Sharp") by adding the second finger.  Using F#, E, and D, we played Hot Cross Buns!! It was a lot of fun.

The third grade students enjoyed their musical centers again this week, and next week we will be switching our "Classical Snap" for a different music game.  As a reminder, the centers are: Composers Corner, Book Nook, Music Games, Rhythm Games, Practicing, and Testing.  The students reviewed the low notes E and D.  These ones are tricky because the holes need to be covered all the way: leaks make squeaks!  Please help your child with this at home if their instrument sounds squeaky.  Thank you!

The fourth and fifth grade students learned how to play "Hot Cross Buns" on the violin, and next week the fifth graders will play with the bow!  Bowing is more challenging than pizzicato, and it will be fun to experiment with the different sound that it makes!

In chorus this week, the students finished the song "Turn the World Around."  It has a great upbeat tempo and a cool clapping part!  The syncopated rhythm is a bit tricky, but the students are starting to get the hang of it.  We also worked on the Three Elements song.  It is extra important to listen to each other and to the piano for this song.  It is a joy to have Mrs. Parry accompanying us once again, and to have her join us for rehearsals. Thanks Mrs. Parry!

Note to all chorus students:  CHORUS LYRICS ARE ON THE BLOG! :)
Please click HERE to view them, and to practice at home!   All music needs to be memorized by the time we get back from April Vacation.

We hope you have a wonderful long weekend!

Weekly Review 3/18-3/22

Even though we had a snow day this week, that did not stop us from having fun in music!

Our first grade students continued the Irish theme by learning a song called, "If You Ever See a Leprechaun."  While singing the song, students passed around 2 shamrocks on a steady beat. Whoever ended up with the shamrocks after the song ended got to play either the bongo drum on the words "1,2,3," or got to play a glissando on the glockenspiel, after the word "pot."  First graders were really excited to finally play pizzicato on the open strings G and D. Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument with your finger.

Second graders were able to guess the bass line for one of their favorite songs: "Bluebird, Bluebird"
The students had a lot of fun singing the song and also playing the bass line on violin. They had to play the open strings- G, D, and A. The second graders are becoming very proficient in playing the open springs. I think it may be time to learn the fingered notes next week!

In third grade, the students reviewed the low note E and practiced playing on the recorder, "Lucy Locket." We also played the "Lucy Locket" game to go along with the green belt song. Many of the students played this game in first grade but wanted to play it again since it went along with the song. It was a lot of fun! We also learned the low note D. Since the note G and the low note D are very similar, we played the two notes with our eyes closed so that we could feel exactly which holes we were covering with our fingers.

Fourth grade and fifth grade students continued playing pizzicato on the violin on the open strings- G, D, A, and E. We played various 4 beat combinations using the open string notes.  Some of the students played 4 beat patterns on the violin and the rest of the class echoed their pattern.

In chorus, the fourth grade students sang "Turn the World Around" and "Cool Under Fire" with our piano accompanists. For both songs, we focused on dynamics and rhythm. The fifth graders finished "Singin' In the Rain" and added sound affects to "The Wind" song. We can't wait to add dance movements soon!

Have a wonderful weekend!

5th Grade Violin Photos

The fifth grade student have remembered SO much from last year!  Today we flew through the open strings (G, D, A, E), and will be playing songs like "Hot Cross Buns" next week.