Finally another music update! I apologize for the lack of posts recently.
This week kindergarten students had a short music class, singing some of their favourite songs including one about a boa constrictor! Grade 1/2 students have been hard at work creating their so mi songs. Our topics range from hockey to sugar gliders and beyond! Students have worked to edit and rehearse their songs, adding in basic dynamics (forte and piano) as well as rhythm. Some have now moved on to the recording phase of the project where they have the chance to perform their songs. We continue to review the French lyrics, instrument parts, and dancing for Ah! Si Mon Moine Voulait Danser. Grade 3/4 students have enjoyed the challenge of learning additional instrumental parts for Lots of Fish in Bonavist' Harbour and completed another listening log for George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. They are excited about their rhythm stick composition project that they are working on as an additional section to Stick By Me. Room 18 students have also enjoyed creating so mi songs and singing and playing instruments for the folk song Ah! Si Mon Moine Voulait Danser. They expanded their Boomwhacker repertoire to include an arrangement of Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King. Students are excited for the upcoming talent show entitled Sibbald on Stage. Ms. Manser will be sending out more details in this coming week's Parent Update and hard copies will be made available to any students are interested in auditioning.
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Kindergarten students had a brief music class this week continuing our work with beat and rhythm. They learned a new singing game Cut the Cake and are improving in their ability to sing in-tune, move to the steady beat, and perform rhythm.
Grade 1/2 students began a composition project writing songs using the pitches 'so' and 'mi' on a simple staff. They made some great progress writing their songs and will work to polish, practice, and perform these in the next few weeks. They also enjoyed listening to The Sorcerer's Apprentice by French composer Paul Dukas and imagining the ending to the story. As we celebrate Canada's 150th anniversary, they continue to work on the French-Canadian folksong Ah Si Mon Moine Voulait Danser, adding in the traditional French lyrics. Grade 3/4 students are brushing up their instrumental skills as they use the Orff instruments to accompany their Canadian folk song, Lots of Fish in Bonavist' Harbour. They also completed a listening log for the piece The Hut of Fowl's Legs from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. We continue to work with rhythm sticks in preparation for a rhythm composition activity. Room 18 students also had a chance to write their own songs using the pitches 'so' and 'mi'. They are growing in their abilities to recognize, read, and write these on the music staff. They began learning the song Canada Is and also enjoyed listening to the The Sorcerer's Apprentice by French composer Paul Dukas and imagining the ending to the story. This week Kindergarten students discovered the difference between beat and rhythm. We learned that "rhythm is the way the words go" and a few students performed the rhythm to one of our songs on the rhythm sticks. We also continue to work on feeling the beat and hearing our singing "inside our heads" to foster musical independence and support in-tune singing.
Grade 1/2 students learned a new French-Canadian folk song Ah! Si Mon Moine Voulait Dancer (with English lyrics!) and performed this with dancing and some instruments. We look forward to learning some of the song in the traditional French. Students also enjoyed learning about Music Monday (a day where we celebrate music making and learning across Canada) and watched this year's Music Monday video as well as some student performances from across the country. Grade 3/4 students started learning a rhythmic chant based on In the Hall of the Mountain King from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suites. Students applied their rhythm knowledge to read this piece and also practiced it with varied tempo and dynamics. We discussed that tempo refers to the speed of the music while dynamics refers to the volume of the music. Students also worked with the rhythm sticks in a passing game Al Citrón and in a partner game Stick by Me. Room 18 students continue to enjoy making music with Boomwhackers and learned a new song Popcorn. They continue to practice reading and performing rhythms through the game Rhythm Train and also started learning the chant to Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King. They enjoyed playing a singing game Biddy, Biddy, Hold On. This week in music, Grade 3/4 students culminated their study of the orchestra with a brief quiz. They also enjoyed playing some new singing games (Biddy Biddy Hold On and Al Citron) and learning a new call-and-response song (Soup, Soup). They applied their knowledge of syncopa (eighth-quarter-eighth) in identifying a mystery song at the board.
Grade 1/2 students continue to solidify their knowledge of so and mi on the music staff. They sight-read the song Rain, Rain, Go Away from the board and used this melody in a story accompanied with the Orff instruments. They also enjoyed playing singing games Button You Must Wander and We Are Dancing in the Forest. Kindergarten students continue to work on identifying and showing the beat of the music through singing games, songs, and movement. They enjoyed playing the singing games Engine, Engine; Shoo Turkey; Jeannie Had a Little Lamb; and In and Out the Dusty Blue Bells. We also enjoyed reading and singing Five Little Ducks. Room 18 students added to their repertoire of boomwhacker songs by playing Joe Avery Blues and Popcorn. They also applied their knowledge of ta (quarter note), titi (eighth notes), and rest in a game called Rhythm Train and in a new piece about a troll in a mountain cave (leading to a study of Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King). We had a great time imagining what the troll might be doing in the mountain cave and where the story would go next. We'll find out next week! This week in music, Kindergarten students grew in their knowledge about the beat of the music. Like the heartbeat in our bodies or the ticking of the clock, they discovered that this pulse keeps the music alive and moving. We also moved to music by performing a simple dance with partners (Diddle Diddle Dumpling, My Son John) and learned a new song called Mr. Rabbit.
In Grade 1/2 classes, students played a game called Messenger which provides opportunities for individuals to perform rhythm patterns on their own. The students are truly growing in their ability to recognize different rhythm patterns and to perform them to a steady beat. We used this knowledge to identify the theme to the Surprise Symphony by Haydn from a mystery rhythm pattern written on the board. These students also discovered the melodic pitch la, a sound higher than so, in a well known song Bounce High, Bounce Low and continue to learn about strong and weak beats and how beats can be grouped in twos. Grade 3/4 students continue their study of the orchestra and its different instrument families as well as the attributes that affect each of their sounds. For example, a longer tube makes a lower sound and a shorter tube makes a higher sound (in woodwind and brass instruments) or the sounds of a plucked string are much different than a bowed string. These students continue to expand their rhythm knowledge by performing rhythm patterns in canon and discovered the syncopated rhythm pattern ti ta ti (or syncopa) in a well-known song Black Snake. Students in Room 18 enjoyed playing the singing game Bounce High, Bounce Low and learned about how we show higher notes and lower notes on the music staff. They continue to enjoy working with the Boomwackers, reviewing the theme from Pirates from the Caribbean and learning a new song Sunny. This week Grade 1/2 students continued to solidify their knowledge of so and mi through a brief listening assessment and began learning how we write these pitches on the music staff. We used a phrase from a well-known song (Apple Tree) to discuss the relationships between the notes as we wrote them on the staff (so and mi are copycats!). We also enjoyed learning about and listening to Haydn's Surprise Symphony (while testing our listening skills with a passing game!). We discussed the term 'composer' and what it means to create music. We continue to solidify our knowledge of ta (quarter note), titi (eighth notes) and rest (quarter rest) through review games and activities.
In Grade 3/4 we also completed some rhythm review, performing rhythm flashcards in canon. We learned that not all beats are the same and that the stronger beats allow us to group notes into sections call measures. We worked to identify a 'mystery song' by reading a rhythm on the board and learned about what else we would need to include to communicate this song to another musician, leading to a discussion about the music staff and pitch (a magnetic staff provided a helpful visual!). We continue to study the orchestra and it's instruments and instrument families through our study of Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. Kindergarten students enjoyed moving and listening to an excerpt from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro (following a story about a magical chef from the series Fun with Composers by Deborah Ziolkoski). They continue to work on developing a steady beat through reciting poetry and moving to the beat in our singing games. Room 18 students enjoyed performing movement with scarves to Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks and using boomwackers to perform the theme from Pirates from the Caribbean. They completed their brief study of the orchestra and discussed favourite instruments and instrument families. This week in music, Grade 1/2 students continued to solidify their learning of ta, titi, and rest (quarter note, eight notes, and quarter rest) rhythms. They played a game called Rhythm Train which assessed both their ability to read and to listen and identify rhythms. We also continued our movement/story activity to Mussorgsky's "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" from Pictures at an Exhibition, finishing with a rhythm matching activity (complete with broken eggshells!).
Grade 3/4 students also shared their rhythm skills by completing a rhythm dictation quiz. They began learning about the orchestra through an interactive game featuring Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. They continue to work on My Paddle as well as several singing games in preparation for new rhythmic and melodic concepts. Kindergarten had a short music class this week due to it being the last day of Sibbald U. We learned that music can tell a story as we sang a picture song together. We also reviewed the musical terms forte and piano (loud and soft) as we played a favourite singing game Grizzly Bear. Grade 1/2 students were busy putting their knowledge of rhythm to use, using ta, titi, and rest to identify a mystery song and to play the game "Poison Rhythm". They also explored movement and lyrical singing in The North Wind Doth Blow while discovering that music can be used to express sadness and hardship as well as feelings of happiness and celebration. We also listened and moved to "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks" from Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition as linked to a story by Deborah Lyn Ziolkoski of Fun With Composers.
Grade 3/4 students began singing the traditional Canadian folksong My Paddle with movement as well as the folksong Black Snake in preparation for new rhythmic concepts. They also worked on compiling their written work from music in their new music Duo-Tang folders. They especially enjoyed learning a cup passing rhythm pattern which we attempted to perform to Zoltán Kodály's "Viennese Musical Clock" from his opera Háry János. The students did well for their first time through this challenging exercise! Kindergarten students learned a new singing game, Charlie Over the Ocean which provided opportunity for solo singing and lyric improvisation. They also performed movement to the song Diddle Diddle Dumpling, preparing to work in partners next class. They continue to work on in-tune singing and pitch matching as well as moving to a steady beat. This week in music, Grade 1/2 students worked with ta (quarter note), titi (eighth notes), and rest (quarter rest) using popsicle sticks. They completed several four beat rhythm dictation patterns and played a game called "Poison Rhythm". They also worked to identify the higher and lower sounds in the song Sea Shells and discovered that the musical names for these higher and lower sounds are "so" and "mi". We also learned the hand signs that correspond with these sounds and watched another So-Mi story to reinforce their learning.
In Grade 3/4 we completed a Listening Log while listening to Brahm's Hungarian Dance No. 1 and discussed the different elements that make up a composition. We also agreed that some of the impressions and visualizations we associate with a particular piece of music are quite individual, while other things we listen for (such as instruments, tempo, and texture) are more absolute. These students are also working on performing body percussion rhythms in canon, as well as singing in canon. Kindergarten students performed Slavonic Dance by Dvorak with instruments, acting out the Fun with Composers barnyard story that we began last week. They continue to work on pitch matching and moving to the beat. This week in music the Grade 1/2 students shared newly-created movement to Highway Number One, a dance we have been performing in class. They were to create a four-beat movement pattern using a pre-determined list of actions and perform/speak this pattern in time to the music. In this activity they demonstrated movement/speech to a steady beat, listening skills, and rhythmic creativity. They also worked on individual in-tune singing through the singing game Kangaroo, explored high and low sounds with movement, and read the book So-me Goes Missing in preparation for learning the so and me melodic pitches.
Grade 3/4 students played a rhythm relay game to review known rhythms and showed off their rhythm clapping and dictation skills as well as great teamwork! They also learned more about the music staff and the treble clef, using their hands as staves while practicing the letter names of the spaces (F-A-C-E). Kindergarten students performed movement to Dvorak's Slavonic Dance No. 1 as inspired by Deborah Ziolkoski's Fun With Composers classical music series. They also learned about the terms for soft and loud in music (piano and forte) and used these dynamics in a singing game, Grizzly Bear. They continue to develop in-tune singing through vocal play and pitch matching and also enjoy opportunities to move to the beat in music. |
AuthorMrs. Bishop teaches music at Andrew Sibbald School. She is passionate about music making and about music literacy. Archives
June 2017
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