Friday, February 22, 2013

5th graders

5th graders have been learning about the wind instruments of the orchestra- woodwinds and brass.

The main woodwind instruments are: flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon.
Listen to them here (saxophone is left out):
Woodwind family

The main brass instruments are: trumpet, french horn, trombone, baritone/euphonium, and tuba.
Listen to them here (baritone/euphonium is left out):
Brass family

Practice identifying the sounds of these instruments because we have a QUIZ coming up! :)

Friday, February 15, 2013

Valentine!

This week we've been having some fun with Valentine's day, among other things.

This week in...

Kindergarten- we played a game called "Messenger" with an envelope that had each student's name inside it. When each name was drawn, that student could choose an instrument and continue the game by playing the steady beat. We also heard the story of how the flute came to be an instrument in Love Flute.

1st/2nd grade- we sang a Valentine song and each student got to come to the board and move their name into the valentine box. We also hid valentines from our music buddies in our hands so that our buddy would have to guess which hand held the valentine. We played some heart rhythms on rhythm sticks.

3rd/4th grade- we did our second self-assessment of our recorder playing on the song "It's Raining." We played the recorder game "We Are Playing in the Forest." Some classes also got to play a Valentine mixer-dance game called "Heel, Toe, On the Line" with bass bars and boomwhackers playing an ostinato accompaniment.

5th grade- we had tons of fun with the poem "The Queen of Hearts." We practiced saying the poem in different ways: sad, surprised, gossipy, Bat Man, scared, cheer leader, French, British, pirate, thug, etc. In groups, students had to practice saying the poem all the same way and at the same time. We then added instruments to this experience and enjoyed a hilarious performance from each group. We also continued learning about the woodwind family of instruments.

Happy long weekend! PRACTICE! :)

Monday, February 4, 2013

What we've been up to

Greetings!

Last week, all grades enjoyed playing the mallet instruments!

Kindergarten- this was our first experience playing the mallet instruments. Students played along with the song "Rover" and "Stars Shining." We also played Simon Says with the mallet instruments and had fun learning the Quiet Stick Game.

1st/2nd grade- we played the mallet instruments with the chant "Jack and Jill." We played musical Simon Says and also made sounds effects with bodies, voices, and mallet instruments to accompany the story "Louis Goes Walking." We also played the cup game with so la mi and practiced echoing patterns with sining and mallet instruments.

3rd/4th grade- we learned to play several bordun steady beat patterns on the mallet instruments to accompany the song "Son Macarone", which we learned several weeks ago to play a clap passing game. We also learned a new song called "Splishing Splashing" and divided the music into parts: bordun, melody, and color part. This was fun to perform as a class!

5th grade- we learned to play the African melody we learned several weeks ago called "Tue, Tue." We also learned an entirely new melody, "Rain on the Green Grass", and learned to play it on the instruments. These activities were great for ear training and allowed students to develop skills in audiation- hearing a melody inside your head.

We also had a great sing along on Friday morning with students from all grades. :)