STUDENT LEARNING

I would like to welcome you all the Music blog for this school year. This is where you will find all the updates of the student learning, understandings and other exciting happenings in the music program. For notices, homework and permission forms please remember to check the updates and notices section. I will be updating the student learning portion of the blog every couple of weeks.

Below is the link to the Alberta Program of Studies for Music. All of our singing games, instrument arrangements, performances, compositions etc connect to the different areas of the program of studies.

https://education.alberta.ca/media/482116/elemusic.pdf

Online Music Learning Using MusicPlay

MusicPlay is just one of many resources that I use in the music classroom. I use it mostly for music literacy (reading, writing, composing) as well as for some recorder songs. The people at music play have created some wonderful lessons and activities for you to use if you wish. Some of the activities align wonderfully with the music literacy skills we have been developing. To access this use the log in information below. Please remember this is just a small portion of resources we use in the music room but is a great way to keep our music skills up.

Username: SNOW
Password: 2020

If you have any questions please feel free to message me at any time or send me a video of an activity you have done, song you have sung or instrument you are playing.

Composer Study: Aaron Copland an American composer from the 1900’s.

· He was born in Brooklyn, New York November 14^th 1900 and died December 2, 1990.

· Aaron Copland wrote many kinds of music. He wrote music for the orchestra, piano, and voice. He wrote music for plays, movies, and ballet. Copland also was a conductor, pianist, speaker, teacher, and writer.

· He used parts of many old American folksongs in his work such as “Goodbye Old Paint”, have your child sing it for you.

· We have listened to his compositions Hoedown from the ballet Rodeo, Billy the Kid, El Salon Mexico, Appalachian Spring (Simple Gifts) as well as Fanfare for the Common man.

Learning Update

February 24th

Grade One:

Writing/Reading so-mi-la melodies: We have been working on recognizing and writing so-mi-la melodies.

- If ‘so’ live on a line’s ‘mi’ live on the lines below

- If ‘so’ lives on a space, ‘mi’ lives on the space below

- ‘so’ and ‘la’ are best friends so ‘la’ is always one above ‘so’

Singing: We are singing Starlight Starbright to work on mi-la relationship and singing alone. I sing “What do you wish for?”. Then one student responds in a singing voice “I wish for _____!” They must sing to make their wish come true.

Steady Beat: We are play Icka Backa Game to practice keeping a steady beat. We keep the beat on our laps and with rhythm sticks.
Continuing Writing/Reading Rest: We are continuing working on writing 4 beat rhythms with rest and recognizing patterns by reading and listening to them.

Grade Two:

Music from Nunavut: We are exploring music from the north. Connecting what we are learning of Inuit traditions and life into music class. We will be listening, learn and play many different songs from the north.
Reading/Writing ‘re’ melodies: We have been working on recognizing and writing do-re-mi melodies. We are progressing in to writing do-re-mi-so melodies.
Canon Singing: Students have learned Oh How Lovely that has turned into two part/ three part canon. This song also explores the rhythm toom (dotted half note).

Grade 3:

The recorders have arrived and the grade 3’s are so excited!! They have been asking about them since the first day of school J. We will begin focusing on the following concepts the upcoming few weeks.

· Rhythm: reviewing our syncopated rhythms. Tam-ti is a dotted quarter note and an eighth note. Using a tie to connect a ta and a ti. Syncopa – three sounds spread unevenly over 2 beats.

· Naming all the parts of the recorder – mouth piece, head joint, body, foot joint, thumb hole.

· Learning the Music Alphabet (absolutes) – ABCDEFGABCDEFG… and which line or space each letter lives. It is not like our solfege that can live anywhere on the staff depending on where ‘do’ lives. Each space and line ALWAYS has the same absolute alphabet name. For example B lives on line 3 and is our first note we are learning on the recorder.

· Practicing proper recorder playing technique – this is very important as it is key to making sure we sound our very best when playing.

o Using gentle air – as if you were blowing a bubble. Thinking of keeping our Kleenex floating in the air.

o Making sure to cover the holes with flat fingers

o Left hand on top, right hand on bottom (T-Rex fingers)

o “EGBDF those are the lines of the treble clef” “FACE – face in the space”

Grade 4:

The grade 4’s are super excited to be playing their recorders. We will be reviewing concepts from grade 3 before moving onto new notes and concepts.

· Rhythms: Reviewing new rhythms ti-tika, tika-ti, tim-ka, ka-tim – we used a tie (which we know ties two shorter notes together to create a longer sound) to join tika = ti

· Music Alphabet (absolutes) – ABCDEFGABCDEFG… and which line or space each letter lives. It is not like our solfege that can live anywhere on the staff depending on where ‘do’ lives. Each absolute has an assigned line/space. For example B lives on line 3.

· Practicing and playing our BAG songs – making sure we are using gentle air.

· Practicing proper recorder playing technique – this is very important as it is key to making sure we sound our very best when playing.

o Using gentle air – as if you were blowing a bubble

o Making sure to cover the holes with flat fingers

o Left hand on top, right hand on bottom

o “EGBDF those are the lines of the treble clef” “FACE – face in the space”

Learning Update
February 3 - 21

Grade 1:

· Solfege: continuing with reading and writing melodic patterns using mi, so and la.

· Continuing reading and writing 4 beat rhythm phrases using our three known rhythms. TA is one sound for one beat (also known as a quarter note) and Ti-ti is two sounds over one beat Rest our silent beat.

· Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Field trip

· Instrument Families: identifying the four instruments families, how to play different instruments.

Grade 2:

· Continuing Rhythm: exploring the rhythm “toom” 1 long sound over 3 beats. By reading and playing it.

· African Drumming: Learning more patterns on the djembe to make our drum story. Sometime playing in unison or split.

· Singing: Learning song from different parts of West Africa. Such as Tue Tue, Che Che Koolay, Obwisana and Funga Alfia.

· African Instruments: Learning about different types of African instruments. What they sounds like and made of.

-Shekere

-Agogo Bells

-Marimba

· Canon Singing: Start recognizing and singing in canon. Canon is when a group of singers sing the same song but start at different times.

· Pass Game: practicing keeping a steady beat while singing with Obwisana a passing game.

Grade 3 and 4:

· African Drumming:

o practicing known patterns

o learning new patterns using Goon, Doon, Goh and Doh

o identifying high and low sounds

o Creating Drum stories: what are the components of a drum story, what would make a drum story exciting to listen to. Creating a class drum story in preparation for small group drum story compositions.

· African Folk Song:

o Listening to a variety of songs from different countries in Africa

o Comparing different versions of the same song

Grade 1’s go to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

The grade 1’s took a trip down to the Jack Singer Concert Hall to hear the CPO perform the story "The Hockey Sweater" and the music of Aaron Copland. We spent a little bit of music class each day for the last couple of weeks learning about:

The instrument families – brass, percussion, woodwinds, strings
How music creates feelings, setting and mood
Proper audience etiquette for the orchestra
Listening to the music of Aaron Copland and learning to identify themes within a larger piece of music such as a symphony
How you can tell a story using movement and music (ballet). Aaron Coplands music Appalachian Spring was written for a Martha Graham ballet
We saw how the Alberta School of Ballet added movement to Appalachian Spring

It was a great trip and it was wonderful to see them all so excited about all the different instruments. Their eyes lit up when they would hear all the music that we had been listening to at school being played live.

Learning Update

January 17th - 31st

Now that we are back the Grade 2, 3 and 4 students have begun learning about African music, instruments and playing our wonderful djembe drums. The grade 1’s will be drumming in a few weeks. This is a list of all the skills and knowledge we have been focusing on. With each grade the skills, rhythms and patterns become more complex. We know that:

· Djembe drums come from West Africa

· There are two parts to the drum – head and body. The skin is usually made of goat skin (ours are synthetic) and the body is made from wood. The African people believe the tree has great significance and symbolism. Ask your son or daughter what the tree represents.

· Our drum body has three holes at the bottom, which allow for the drum to breathe without us having to tip the drum. Drums need to breath just like humans.

· There are three sounds – base, tone, slap…we will be focusing on the base and tone.

· Base sounds “Goon” “Doon” - letter A a

· Tone – “goh” “doh”- letter B b

· Using the secret code as our red and green light to stop and start a drum pattern

· Creating our own drum patterns to start making a drum story next week.

· Breaking into two groups and playing two patterns at one time.

· Things to remember for proper playing technique.

o Using proper hand position for base and tone – fingers glued, thumb up, making sure to move from the elbow not the shoulder, bounce our hands off the drum head

o Practicing keep a steady beat as a group

Grade 4

· 16^th note rhythms: using a tie to create new rhythms using our 16^th notes. New rhythms Ti-tika, tika-ti, timka and katim. Timka and katim are syncopated rhythms that we find a lot of in our songs from Africa.

· Reviewing Extended Pentatonic Scale: The five note scale that consists of the notes do, re, mi, so, la as well has high do, low la, low so. We use our sub script and super script to show the notes below do and notes an octave above do.

· Reviewing Music Alphabet (absolutes) – ABCDEFGABCDEFG… and which line or space each letter lives. It is not like our solfege that can live anywhere on the staff depending on where ‘do’ lives. Each absolute has an assigned line/space

· Drumming

Grade 3:

· Extended Pentatonic Scale: The five note scale that consists of the notes do, re, mi, so, la as well has high do, low la, low so. We use our sub script and super script to show the notes below do and notes an octave above do.

· Hand staff – practicing reading/writing our music alphabet on our hand staff, which imitates the 5 line treble staff.

· Learning the Music Alphabet (absolutes) – ABCDEFGABCDEFG… and which line or space each letter lives. It is not like our solfege that can live anywhere on the staff depending on where ‘do’ lives. Each absolute has an assigned line/space.

· Rhythm: we are starting to learn syncopated rhythms. Tam-ti is a dotted quarter note and an eighth note. Using a tie to connect a ta and a ti. And the other rhythm “toom” which is a one long sound over three beats. Have your child clap and write these new rhythm for you.

· Drumming

Grade 2:

· Time signature – is the organization of beats in a measure. The time signature is a symbol at the start of a song that tells us how many beats are in a measure. We have sung songs that have 2, 3 and 4 beats in a measure.

· New solfege note – in singing some of our songs we discovered a new note ‘re’. This note completes our pentatonic scale. We learned that this note lives in between mi and do. If do is in a space then re lives on the line above and if do is on a line then re lives in the space above.

· Pentatonic Scale: The five note scale that consists of the notes do, re, mi, so, la.

· New Rhythm: The new rhythm – “toom” which is 1 long sound over 3 beats. We used a tie to connect 3 ta’s or 1 too and a ta together to create ‘toom’.

· Drumming

Grade 1:

· Solfege: We learned a new soflege note ‘la’ – we discovered that this note is not a copy cat, it lives right above so. If so lives in a space then la lives on the line above, if so lives on the line then la lives in the space above. Many of our singing games include our new note ‘la’. Ask your child to show you the hand sign for our new note.

· New Rhythm – REST a silent beat. We show a rest by writing a ‘Z’.

· Reading and writing 4 beat rhythm phrases using our three known rhythms. TA is one sound for one beat (also known as a quarter note) and Ti-ti is two sounds over one beat Rest our silent beat.

· Canon singing – a canon is when a group of singers sings the same song but starts at different times.

December 16^th – 19^th

All of the classes did such an amazing job on the Christmas concert. I was so proud of them all. They blended their sound, sang in harmony, paid attention to dynamics and tempos and did all of their actions. It was such a rewarding week. For the last week of school before Christmas we moved into our study of the Nutcracker by Peter Tchaikovsky. We incorporated singing and movement into this study and what a better way to do that then by having “Gymsic” (gym and music combined). During our Nutcracker Gymsic time we:

· Listen to a read aloud of the story by the New York Ballet based on George Balachine’s version.
· Identified the different characters from the battle scene (Nutcracker, Mouse King) and played a tag game where we moved around the room using locomotor skills such as marching, skipping, dancing, twirling.
· Identified the form of the Trepak – ABABCAB. Form is how compositions are organized into smaller sections of same, similar and different. We then took the form of the Trepak and added movement with our bodies which we then transferred to the parachute. It was very important that we all listened to the music so we knew when to move our hands, feet etc. Team work was very important.

December 2^nd - 13^th

We have been busy preparing for our big Christmas Show over the past few weeks and boy oh boy are the students sounding amazing!! The actors and singers have been working so hard. We have been working on blending our sound, projecting our singing voices and really listening to the music to make sure we hear our cues. During our practice time we have been analyzing our Christmas music to identify rhythms, solfege, tempos and so much more. Our sight reading and singing is really developing.

Learning Update
November 21st, 2019

We have started preparing for our big Christmas Show “Lights! Camera! Christmas!” During our practice time we have been analyzing our Christmas music to identify rhythms, solfege, tempos and so much more. Below are some of the concepts we have been focusing on during our Christmas concert preparation.

Grade 1:

· Tempo – the speed of the music. We use Italian terms to describe the tempo of the music. Presto – when the music goes fast Largo - when the music goes slow Andante – when the music goes at a medium walking tempo.

· Solfege/Melody: Reviewing the two pitches that we learned and moving them from the 2 line staff to the 5 line treble staff. “So” is our high sound and “Mi” is our low sound.

· Composer Study: We have been studying the composer Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809). He was known as the “Father of the Symphony” and he has a connection to our September composer of the month. Ask your child what the connection is.

Grade 2:

· Tempo – the speed of the music. We use Italian terms to describe the tempo of the music. Identifying tempo an expression markings in our Christmas music.

· Reviewing the Tie – a symbol that ties two short sounds to make one long sound.

· Read, writing and clapping 4 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti. too and rest.

· Reading melodies from our Christmas songs using do, mi, sol and la. Remembering that so mi and do are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and la lives in the space above.

Grade 3:

· Solfege: New note “low so” and the symbol “subscript” which notates any note that lives below do.

· Tempo – the speed of the music. We use Italian terms to describe the tempo of the music. Identifying tempo an expression markings in our Christmas music.

· Key Signature - In musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp, flat, and rarely, natural symbols placed together on the staff. Key signatures are generally written immediately after the clef at the beginning of a piece of music.

· Reading melodies from our Christmas songs using low so, do, re, mi, sol and la. Remembering that so mi and do are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and la lives in the space above.

· Rhythm Review: Using a tie to connect a ta and a ti. Syncopa (ti-ta-ti) three sounds spread unevenly over 2 beats.

Grade 3’s go to the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

The grade 3’s took a trip down to the Jack Singer Concert Hall to hear the CPO perform. We spent a little bit of music class each day for the last couple of weeks learning about:

· The instrument families – brass, percussion, woodwind, strings

· Joseph Haydn the composer – He was the father of the symphony and a bit of a prankster.

· How music creates feelings, setting and mood

· Proper audience etiquette for the orchestra

· Different types of compositions – Fugue, Symphony, Concerto, Solo

Grade 4:

· Pentatonic Scale: The extended pentatonic five note scale that consists of the notes low so, low la, do, re, mi, so, la and high do. Reading and identifying all of our notes within our Christmas songs.

· Rhythm review: tika tika (16^th note), which is 4 sounds evenly over 1 beat. This is the grade 4’s favourite rhythm pattern.

· New Rhythm: Tim-ka (dotted sixteenth). This rhythm happens a lot in our Christmas concert songs.

Learning Updates

October 30th, 2019

Grade 1:

The grade one students have been learning new rhythm patterns and melodic patterns using our new notes. I can’t wait to start tapping into their creativity and having them compose their own songs with known rhythms and pitches. We continue to work matching pitch and finding our independent singing voices. In the past few weeks the grade 1’s have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Hoppo – continues to be a regular visitor (by popular demand) in the music room and loves helping match pitch and find their head singing voice.

· Reviewing - Beat is always steady

· Reviewing - Rhythm is “the way the words go”

· Rhythm: Reading and writing 4 beat rhythm phrases using our three known rhythms. TA is one sound for one beat (also known as a quarter note) and Ti-ti is two sounds over one beat.

· Solfege/Melody: Reviewing the two pitches that we learned and moving them from the 2 line staff to the 5 line treble staff. “So” is our high sound and “Mi” is our low sound.

· Composer Study: Johann Sebastian Bach. We continued our composer study of JS Bach and listened to more of his compositions. Some of the pieces we listened to were Badinerie, Air and Tocatta and Fugue.

· Singing Halloween songs. Playing instruments to accompany our singing and playing singing games.

Grade 2:

The grade 2 students continue to wow me with their rhythmic and melodic sight reading abilities. We continue to work on matching pitch and making sure we are singing together and working together as an ensemble. We always want to make sure we are producing our own best singing. The grade 2’s are quite the performersJ The last few weeks the grade 2’s have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Reviewing the Tie – a symbol that ties two short sounds to make one long sound.

· NEW NOTE: we discovered that some of our songs had a note that lived below ‘mi’ and that it was also a copy cat note. Our new note is called ‘do’. It is a copy cat note so if mi lives in a space do lives in the space below and if mi lives on a line then do lives in the space below.

· Minor vs. Major – we noticed that a lot of our Halloween songs sounded different than our other singing games. They sounded more spooky, eerie, sad, scary, dark. We labeled that sound as “minor” and the songs that had a more cheerful, bright, happy sound as “major”.

· Read, writing and clapping 4 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti. too and rest.

· Reading and writing melodies using do, mi, sol and la. Remembering that so mi and do are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and la lives in the space above.

· Singing Halloween songs. Playing instruments to accompany our singing and playing singing games.

· Composer Study: J.S. Bach. Continuing with our composer study. He is a composer that was born almost 350 years ago in Germany. Some of the pieces we listened to were Badinerie, Air and Tocatta and Fugue.

Grade 3:

The grade 3’s continue to wow me with their musicality. So much confidence, enthusiasm and creativity! The last few weeks we have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Reviewing our new note “high do” and the symbol “superscript” which notates any note that lives above high do.

· Pentatonic Scale: reading and writing melodic patterns using the pentatonic scale (do,re, mi, so, la, do’)

· Rhythm: our new syncopated rhythms are quite tricky so we have spent lots of time writing, reading and clapping them. These will take some practice and lots of our new songs coming up include these rhythms so we want to make sure that we are experts.

· Read, writing and clapping 4 and 8 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, too, toom and rest.

· Rhythm: Using a tie to connect a ta and a ti. Syncopa (ti-ta-ti) three sounds spread unevenly over 2 beats.

· Read, writing and clapping 4 and 8 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, too, toom and rest.

· Reviewing: Low la and Low so – extending the pentatonic scale to include Low la and low so. Using a sub script which identifies notes that live below do.

· Singing Halloween songs. Playing instruments to accompany our singing and playing singing games.

Grade 4:

The grade 4’s spent the last few weeks focusing on their work around the Remembrance Day service and their hard work is sure paying off. They are going to do an amazing job next week at the Remembrance Day Service. We also focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Remembrance Day Service preparation – One Tin Soldier, Can You Imagine, Flanders Fields.

· Solfege: reviewing “low la” and the symbol “subscript” which notates any note that lives below do.

· Pentatonic Scale: The five note scale that consists of the notes do, re, mi, so, la. Reviewing how to read, write and sing the extended pentatonic low so, low la, high do.

· Rhythm: new rhythm tika tika (16^th note), which is 4 sounds evenly over 1 beat. This is the grade 4’s favourite rhythm pattern.

Learning Updates

October 11th, 2019

Grade 1:

The grade one students are developing their music literacy skills at lightning speed. They will be rhythm masters and composers in no time. We continue to work matching pitch and finding our independent singing voices. Over the past few weeks the grade 1’s focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Hoppo is a regular visitor in music and continues to come and sing to the students and encourage them to use their independent singing voice.

· Reinforcing - Beat is always steady we feel/show the beat in our feet or on our lap.

· Reinforcing - Rhythm is “the way the words go” and we show the rhythm using our hands.

· Rhythm : Two rhythm syllables. TA is one sound for one beat (also known as a quarter note) and Ti-ti is two sounds over one beat. Have your child clap the 4 beat rhythm pattern of Rain Rain and Snail Snail.

· Exploring High and Low sounds – this is in preparation or learning our solfege ‘so’ and ‘mi’.

· Learning the instrument families – we have started with the wood family and shaker using the wood blocks, egg shakers and tic toc blocks to keep the beat.

· Animal sounds to explore our head voice and chest voice.

· Moving our body to the music – hopping, skipping, marching, tip toe, run etc.

· Composer Study: Ludwig Van Beethoven and moving into learning about Johann Sebastian Bach.

Grade 2:

The grade 2 students continue to blow me away with their musicality. We continue to work on matching pitch and making sure we are singing together and working together as an ensemble. We always want to make sure we are producing our own best singing. They are so enthusiastic and sing beautifully. The last few weeks we have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Continuing to derive beat and rhythm of known songs.

· Solfege: new note “do” is another copy cat note of so and mi. If mi is in a space then do lives in the space below. If so is on a line then do lives on the line two below so.

· Tie – a symbol that ties two short sounds to make one long sound.

· New Rhythm: “Too” – using a tie to join two ‘tas’ to make one long sound labelled “too”. One long sound over 2 beats.

· Read, writing and clapping 4 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, too and rest.

· Reading and writing melodies using sol, la and mi. Remembering that so and mi are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and la lives in the space above.

· Composer Study: Ludwig Van Beethoven and moving into learning about Johann Sebastian Bach.

Gr. 3

The grade 3’s are such fantastic musicians and are going to do amazing things with their music literacy skills. So much enthusiasm and creativity! The last few weeks we have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Pentatonic Scale: The five note scale that consists of the notes do, re, mi, so, la and high do.

· Rhythm: preparing to learn syncopated rhythms. Tam-ti is a dotted quarter note and an eighth note. Using a tie to connect a ta and a ti. Syncopa three sounds spread unevenly over 2 beats.

· Read, writing and clapping 4 and 8 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, too, toom and rest.

· Low la and Low so – extending the pentatonic scale to include Low la and low so. Using a sub script which identifies notes that live below do.

· Reading and writing melodies using do, re, mi, so, la and high do. Remembering that so mi and do are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and do lives on the line below me. La and re are not copycats. If so is in a space then la lives on the line above and re lives in between mi and do.

· Canon Singing – canonic singing. Singing the same song but starting at different times. We have started singing in 2 part canon

· Composer Study: Ludwig Van Beethoven and moving into learning about Johann Sebastian Bach.

Grade 4

The grade 4’s have begun preparing for their Remembrance Day Assembly, which will be November 8^th. More details will come closer to the date. Senior Choir and Handchime Choir have started rehearsals and they are fantastic. The last few weeks we have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Solfege: reading notes of songs we have been singing in class. Identifying all the solfege that we know from the pentatonic scale. S, l, d, r, m, s, l and high do.

· Extended Pentatonic Scale: The five note scale that consists of the notes so, la do, re, mi, so, la and high do.

· Rhythm: Read, writing and clapping 4 and 8 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, too toom, tam and rest. Preparing to learn the new rhythm “tikatika” next week.

· Absolute Note Reading: Reviewing the music alphabet on the treble staff (absolutes) ABCDEFG.

· Note reading and following notes on a score – introduced the handchimes and students played Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” on the handchimes. This allowed them to read absolute notes as well as read individual parts.

· Canon – we continue to sing songs in Canon, now working towards 3 part canons.

· Composer Study: Ludwig Van Beethoven and moving into learning about Johann Sebastian Bach.

Learning Update
September 19th, 2019

Grade 1

Our grade one students are becoming quite the beat masters and have started internalizing the beat to many of the songs we sing. They are quickly able to stomp or patsch the beat and easily count the number of beats in phrases from known songs. We continue to reinforce that beat can go fast, slow or medium but it is always steady and that rhythm is not steady and is the way words go (the long and short sounds on each beat). In the past few weeks the grade 1’s have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

The 5 different ways we can use our voice: whisper, shout, talk, sing and silent.

· Using vocalizes to explore the high and low ranges of our voice, which help prepare us to use our ‘head singing’ voice.

· Moving our body to the music – hopping, skipping, marching, tip toe, run etc.

· Using lots of different nursery rhymes and finger plays to practice feeling and internalizing the beat. We have not labeled it as beat yet. We want the students to have a real good feeling for it first.

· Independent signing using our friend Hoppo. He loves to hear our singing voices.

· Beat is always steady we feel/show the beat in our feet or on our lap.

· Rhythm is “the way the words go” and we show the rhythm using our hands. We have sung known songs and alternated between playing the beat and the rhythm using non pitched percussion instruments.

· Cooperative singing games

· Identifying high and low sounds in preparation for our new solfege learning.

· Composer Study: Ludwig Van Beethoven.

Grade 2

The grade 2’s are such an enthusiastic and musical bunch. We have spent the first two weeks reviewing concepts that they learned in grade 1 to make sure it is all fresh in our minds before we introduce new concepts. We have really enjoyed our first two weeks together. The first few weeks we have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Beat vs Rhythm – reminding ourselves that beat is steady and keeps the music tempo and rhythm is the way the words go. We have been deriving rhythms of the songs we sing for our games.

· Reviewing ta = 1 sound for 1 beat, ti-ti = 2 sounds for 1 beat, rest = silent beat.

· Read, writing and clapping 4 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti and rest.

· Reading and writing melodies using sol, la and mi. Remembering that so and mi are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and la lives in the space above.

Grade 3

The grade 3’s have retained so much of their learning from last year, which is fantastic and I can’t wait to continue to build on those understandings. This year in grade 3 we will start applying our music literacy to instruments besides just the percussion. Later this year we will move into playing the recorder. I have had many students asking me when they get to start recorder, which won’t be until after Christmas. Senior choir is also starting which the grade 3 and 4 students are invited to join. We rehearse every Tuesday at lunch. The first few weeks we have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Read, writing and clapping 4 and 8 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, too, toom and rest.

· Reading and writing melodies using the pentatonic scale do, re, mi, so and la. Remembering that so mi and do are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and do lives on the line below me. La and re are not copycats. If so is in a space then la lives on the line above and re lives in between mi and do.

· Composer Study: Ludwig Van Beethoven

· Singing songs to prepare to extend the pentatonic scale

· Learning circle dances – Great Big House in New Orleans.

Grade 4

The grade 4’s are a bunch of strong musicians who are just chomping at the bit to learn how to read all the notes and rhythms. The first few weeks we have been reviewing learning from last year so we can easily build on it and add more concepts soon. We are going to continue working with recorders and will introduce the handchimes into the mix right away. Senior choir is also starting which the grade 3 and 4 students are invited to join it rehearses every Tuesday at lunch. The first few weeks we have focused on the songs, skills and concepts below:

· Read, writing and clapping 4 and 8 beat rhythm patterns using ta, ti-ti, too, toom, tam and rest.

·Time Signature – songs are organized into strong and weak beats. The number of beats in a measure is the time signature of the song.

· Reading and writing melodies using the pentatonic scale: do, re, mi, so and la. Remembering that so mi and do are copy cats. If so lives on a line then mi lives on the line below and do lives on the line below me. La and re are not copycats. If so is in a space then la lives on the line above and re lives in between mi and do.

· Canon – singing the same song but starting at different times.

· Composer Study: Ludwig Van Beethoven

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Auburn Bay Music Makers

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