Wednesday, December 17, 2014

SHINE 2014 Winter Concert

Thank you to everyone who attended our 2014 winter concert SHINE!. It was so much fun to share the music our students have been learning the past few months.
Here are some pictures from the concert that Mrs. Wheeler kindly took. More can be found here on the DBS facebook page. Have a wonderful winter break and a happy New Year!! Our next concert is on May 21st, 2015 at 6:30 PM featuring the 4/5 chorus, 5 band, and 4th grade ukuleles.


"Let it Go" Soloist


"I Have a Little Dreidel" on the boomwhackers by 2nd graders

"Santa's Getting Fit for Christmas"

"Baby Bumblebee" by 4th graders on the ukuleles



"Let's Make it Shine"

"Hip Hop Reindeer" by grades K/1

"Let's Make it Shine"

4th graders on ukuleles

"Let's Make it Shine"

"The Sounds of Santa's Workshop" by grades K/1


"Santa's Getting Fit for Christmas"

The 3rd graders playing "Carol of the Bells" on the bells and xylophones

"Hip Hop Reindeer" by grades K/1

"Let's Make it Shine"

"Hot Cup of Cocoa" by grades 2/3

"A Nice, Nice Christmas"

"Let it Go" by the 4/5 chorus

"Hot Cup of Cocoa" by grades 2/3

"Here Comes the Snow" by 4/5 chorus

"Let's Make it Shine"

"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by 4th graders on the ukuleles

"A Nice, Nice Christmas"

"Hot Cup of Cocoa" by grades 2/3

"I Have a Little Dreidel" by grade 2 on the boomwhackers

"Hip Hop Reindeer" by grades K/1

5th grade band

"Santa's Getting Fit for Christmas"

"Hip Hop Reindeer" by grades K/1


3S gets their jingle on

Mrs. Shattie's 3rd grade class got their "jingle on" today with Jingle Bells themed activities and some silly dances! What a fun class the week before winter break.

We started the class with this jingle bells circle dance (I can't remember where I got the dance idea from...)


Next we reviewed how to clap and count rhythms in stick notation. Then we applied this practice to a "Jingle Bells Flashcards" video. 

Students divided into two teams and we had a little friendly competition to see which color could play their rhythms more accurately. When the rhythm was outlined in red the rhythm sticks played, and when it was outlined in green the jingle bells played. Here's a video of their playing! 


We ended the class by filling in some mystery Christmas carols and doing two silly dance videos.





Dance 1: The Santa Dance

Dance 2: Crazy Christmas: Just Dance

Happy Holidays! See you in the New Year.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

3rd grade "Mister Troll" activity

This week 3rd graders learned the song "Mister Troll" from One, Two, Three, Echo Me. Half the class plays various parts on instruments, and half the class waits for "Mister Troll" to say a color. If the students waiting are wearing that color they get to cross the troll's bridge. Once everyone has crossed the bridge the two groups switch and now those that were playing the instruments get to try and cross the troll's bridge.

4th grade Spooky Uke

This week 4th graders learned a new ukulele chord: A minor! Minor chords are perfect for spooky sounding music in October. In this video students play the A minor chord to the song "Spooky Ukee" by MusicK8. They use the rhythm: strum, strum, strum, stomp.

Pre-K spooky voices

This week Pre-K will explore some October related activities. In the video below students use their spooky voices to make different sounds for the poem "On a dark and stormy night" from The Book of Pitch Exploration by Feierabend.

Monday, October 27, 2014

Little Old Lady Sound Story

Last week grades K/1 performed a sound story to the book "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything". During sound stories certain words in the story have instruments that go along with it. Here's what instruments we played for what words:

Found here



Here's a clip from that!

Friday, October 17, 2014

Winter Concert Song Links

The DBS Winter Concert will be on Thursday, December 4th, 2014 at 6:30 PM. To help prepare students I am listing links to song clips and videos below that can be used to practice at home. I will send lyric packets home the last week of October.

Grades K-5 Songs:
“Let’s Make it Shine” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePkSI2MkmRE
“Santa’s Getting Fit for Christmas” choreography video (some moves slightly modified):
“A Nice, Nice Christmas” sound clip:

Grades K/1:
“Sounds of Santa’s Workshop” choreography video (some moves have been simplified for our concert):
“Hip Hop Reindeer”:

Grade 2:
“I have a Little Dreidel” song clip:
Grades 2/3:
“Hot Cup of Cocoa”:

4/5 Chorus:
“Let it Go”:


Thursday, October 2, 2014

Rotation stations for grades 2/3

This week in music class grade 2 and 3 are doing rotation stations. Grade 2 has a boomwhackers theme and grade 3 has a mallets/barred instruments theme. Students work in small groups of 2-3 students and rotate from station to station, with about 5 minutes at each of the 7 stations.
Here are some pictures from this week:

Making rhythms and clapping them out!

Guessing what the "Mystery Piece" is that he played on his bell set.

Clapping rhythms they composed.

Picking three note names and improvising with them on the barred instruments. Improvising means to make music up on the spot.

Using stick notation to create rhythms, then clapping them out.

Using the boomwhackers to play the "mystery piece" and then guess what the name of it is (Ideas and multiple pages used from here)

Using the boomwhackers to figure out the correct notes to play a song such as "Hot Cross Buns" and coloring in what color boomwhackers are in what order.

Using colored cards to compose a piece for the boomwhackers (found here)





Improvising with 3 notes on the xylophone.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

September fun in music!

Below is a summary of what each grade has been doing the past month, with a few tidbits from lessons.
Kindergarten has been learning about echoes, sounds they can make, and using the 4 voices: Speaking, singing, whispering, and yelling. This week they will learn about loud and soft.
"Play what I play after me" is a song where students hear a rhythm on a drum and then must play it on their egg shaker if their egg color is called. (song from SoundShapes Playbook)
"I Bought me a Cat" is an American folk song. Students were assigned an animal to listen for in the song. They played their animal's instrument when it was their turn in the song.

Slide found here





Grade 1 has been learning about the 4 voices: Speaking, singing, whispering, and yelling. They have also been learning more in depth about loud and soft and have been using the Italian musical terms: Forte (loud) and piano (soft).
"This is my speaking voice" chant is lead by a student for the class to echo, that goes through all 4 voices (From One, Two, Three, Echo Me).


"Good King Leopold" uses a student as the king. The class ask if they may cross his kingdom. Then the king says they may ask again but in a different voice. (The yelling voices are a bit too strong in this video, and I teach students that our "yelling" voices are not really yelling since that can hurt our voices, but the kids got excited!) Once the king says "Yes!" students must jump up and run in place (across his kingdom) until the king gestures them to sit down (Idea from One, Two, Three, Echo Me).


Grade 2 has been working on a boomwhacker unit and has been using a new and exciting curriculum called "Boomwhacker Beatz". 2nd graders will play boomwhackers in the Winter Concert on December 4th.
"Wait to eat the doughnut" activity from "Boomwhacker Beatz".

"Baa baa black sheep for the boomwhackers":

Source: NHCS Blog




Grade 3 has been working on the barred instruments such as the xylophone and glockenspiel. 3rd graders will play the barred instruments in the Winter Concert on December 4th.
"Which way is up?" This piece helps students remember which way is "up" on the barred instruments, and which way is "down". (From Mallet Madness Strikes Again)




"The Grand Old Duke of York" practices playing a chord, going up and down the barred instruments, and rolling on one note. (From Mallet Madness)

"Beetle Bop" uses a book along with the barred instruments. After each page is sung to the class students say "Beetle beetle Bop" while playing a descending 5-note scale on their instruments. (From Mallet Madness Strikes Again)




Grade 4 is off to a wonderful start on the ukuleles. They have already learned 3 chords! Chord C, C7, and F.
"I Can Play the Ukulele" is the first song students learned on the ukulele. It uses the C chord. Students not only were able to learn this chord and use it in the song, but they are all holding the ukulele correctly which takes a lot as a beginner!

"Troubadour" uses two chords: C and C7.


Grade 5 started off the year by learning the "Cup Song". The past two weeks they started their "Composer Spotlight" studies with the famous German composer Ludwig Van Beethoven. Beethoven was deaf for the last 10 years of his life, which is when many of his famous compositions were written. The next composer is French composer Camille-Saint-Saens who wrote the beloved children's work: Carnival of the Animals. He also wrote the October-appropriate Danse Macabre.

A popular video from the class called "Beethoven's Wig". This video adds words to Beethoven's 5th symphony.  





First two weeks of school

Lots has been happening in music class!
Here are some videos from the first 2 weeks of school where we played "get to know you" games. Many of these games focused on names and keeping a steady beat. Also warming up those singing voices for the school year!!
4th grade "Concentration" game: See if you can pass the names along without getting off the beat!
2nd grade "Up the Ladder" song where students are able to perform moves during the "A" section, while I play a beat on the drum. Then names are said by students and repeated by the class in the "B" section. (Found the idea here)

Friday, September 12, 2014

Lion King: Arts Enrichment K-4

Credit- Raymondsanti

Students in grades K-4 began the Lion King unit this Monday during Arts Enrichment time. Arts Enrichment is an extra music/art time a week taught by the Art teacher Mrs. Divis and the music teacher Ms. Moon.


The Lion King on Broadway Trailer


For the next two Mondays students will be learning a fun dance to "The Circle of Life" and making African necklaces. Students will wear the necklaces while showcasing "The Circle of Life" dance at an upcoming school assembly.

Photo by: Swiss.frog


After those two weeks students will explore The Lion King theme more through various art projects and music activities. Some of the music activity videos are shown below:

Hakuna Matata:


The Lion Sleeps Tonight Music Video



Lion Sleeps Tonight- Just Dance 2 Video

 I made two different arrangements of Lion Sleeps Tonight (and found the ukulele online) for grades 2-4, to align with what instruments they are learning in general music class. Grade 2 will learn the song on boomwhackers, grade 3 on the barred instruments, and grade 4 on the ukulele. I will also give a brief description of some common African instruments and add appropriate percussion parts (likely only one or two per grade of the percussion parts listed below).

Below is a video from a 2nd grade class of students playing the boomwhacker part and some African instruments.



Here is a 3rd grade class practicing the mallet accompaniment to "Lions Sleeps Tonight".








Although the Lion King takes place in Kenya, the theme of the unit opens up the wonderful opportunity to explore musical activities from all parts of Africa. Obwisana is a folk song from Ghana. Students will play a rock passing game while singing the song. 

The words of the song mean "The rock has crushed my hand, grandma." I found this description in a book I have: 
"A child singing this song is repeatedly receiving a message of security and comfort, even in the context of a phrase and game which tells of injury. The injured child can take comfort in the fact that he or she can turn to "Nana" for sympathy and assistance- the ever-present circle of relatives supports Ghanaian children and adults during times of misfortune and celebration both."


Che Che Koolay is also a folk song from Ghana. The words have been said by some to be nonsense words. But the movements to the song lean toward this translation: 

Hands on your head
Hands on your shoulders
Hands on your waist
Hands on your knees
Hands on your ankles
Hands on your ankles
Hands on your ankles, hey! 

Notation found here

Students will learn a dance similar to the popular American song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" to Che Che Koolay.