Music Share Week June 2-5th

MUSIC SHARE WEEK!

Photo credit: OpenClips

June 2-5, 2015

Dates and times will vary depending on when you have music class.

Music Share is an opportunity for students to share something musical with their peers during music class. They may bring in an instrument from home and store it in the music room for the day if needed, or use any of the classroom instruments we have. They can share anything musical (even a poem, skit, or dance routine!) that they have thought through and planned. Usually we have enough time for each child to share one or two things.

The purpose of having a performance day is to give children an opportunity to perform in front of a small, friendly, known group and learn the etiquette of doing so; to provide a platform for sharing musical ideas and interests; and to give the rest of the class practice at being respectful audience members. Most important, performing is completely voluntary and meant to occur in a casual, stress-free environment.

Here are some ideas for your music share. Be creative! J :

Sing a song

Do a dance

Recite a poem

Show an instrument from home

Play an instrument from school

Create your own instrument

Make up a dance with friends and perform

Do a skit with friends

Share your favorite song on youtube (Links can be emailed to me or I can look them up in advance)

Tell about your favorite musical, play, or singer/songwriter

Share a memory of music class

Choose an activity we have done in music to repeat

And much more!

If you have questions feel free to call the school or email me at moons@hartfordschools.net

Have fun!

"La Bastringue" Canadian Folk Dance Grade 2

2nd graders finished up their Canadian studies in music by performing a Canadian Folk Dance called "La Bastringue." I simplified and adapted the original folk dance moves a bit, but the overall idea is the same!

2G/G performing "La Bastingue."

2S performing "La Bastingue"

Peter and the Wolf Video Presentation

Here is the video I put together for "Peter and the Wolf" that showcases all the wonderful work of grades K-4. The art teacher and I were lucky enough to receive a grant for visiting artist Linda Whelihan to make "Peter and the Wolf" themed puppets with students during the Arts Enrichment time. We had a lot of fun making the puppets and acting out scenes from the story.

Here is a link to the video that I used the background track from.

Shoo Fly Dance Grade 2

2nd graders learned a fun dance to the song "Shoo Fly" after figuring out the piece's form. Form is the way a piece of music is organized. Students learned words such as "intro," "interlude," "coda," and "fermata."

Below are the dance moves for the piece. I originally got the idea here and changed a few things.

2S doing the "Shoo Fly Dance"

Dr. Seuss Week: Horton Hears a Who

To celebrate "Read Across America" day our school decided to "Seussify" the school on Friday and have Dr. Seuss related activities. Each classroom also chose a book that they studied the week leading up to Dr. Seuss day. Music and Art's book was "Horton Hears a Who".

We started the week making a whole school mural lead by the wonderful school art teacher Mrs. Divis. The mural used each student's painted pink hands to represent the clovers in the clover field where Vlad Vladikoff drops the Whoville clover. Then Horton must search through millions of clovers until he finds his Whos again. On our mural he has just found them!

A slideshow of the mural-making process.

2nd and 3rd graders learned a dance I created to 'Slavonic Dances Op. 46, No. 8' by Antonin Dvořák. Students pretended to be Whos in Whoville and had to let Horton and the Jungle of Nool animals know that they were there. During the loud parts of the song students walked around the circle shouting "WE ARE HERE!" and playing egg shakers and sleigh bells. (We talked about how we want to use our "inside/fake shouting" voices so we don't hurt our vocal chords.) During the soft parts of the piece we silently took 3 steps in, twisted 3 times, then 3 steps out and twisted 3 times.

3S "We Are Here!" Dance

2S "We Are Here" Dance (after this video is when I decided to talk about not harming our vocal chords by actually shouting... at least Horton would have heard us! :-)  )

Kindergarten and first graders did their own version of a "We are Here" activity to music from the "Horton Hears a Who" movie. Students chanted "WE ARE HERE!" during the sung parts of the song, and pretended to play different instruments during the instrumental part. This was a 'follow the leader' dance/activity.

1R follow the leader "We are Here" activity.

Music we used for the K/1 activity.

Here are some pictures from my classroom for Dr. Seuss day.

My composer spotlight was transformed into an "Instruments of Whoville" display. Look at all those funky instruments they play so Horton and the other animals can hear them!

Our new composer spotlight is Ludwig Van "Who"thoven instead of Beethoven.

The beautiful clover field mural in the music/art hallway.

Ms. Moon as a Who and Mrs. West as The Grinch!

You can view more photos from the whole school here and the photo booth here.

2nd graders learn the ukulele!

2nd graders were so excited to learn a little ukulele this past week! They have been reading the book "My First Orchestra Book", and just finished learning about the String Family. Although the ukulele is not a part of the Symphony Orchestra, it does have strings. And what better way to wrap up the strings than with some actual string playing?! Students will learn A LOT more about the ukulele in 4th grade, where students play ukulele most of the school year during music!

Nutcracker Activities

Grades K-2 and Grade 5 participated in Nutcracker activities in the month of January (there was just not enough time in December with snow days and the concert!)

Grades K-2 moved to the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" with scarves and fairy wings (from the Dollar Store). When the music began, students with fairy wings started dancing in the middle of the tile circle. They could then tap awake the sleeping fairy children around the circle. Once tapped the fairy children woke up and danced with their scarves.

Here's a clip of the Sugar Plum Fairy ballet dance we saw in class:

One of student's favorite Nutcracker activities was a parachute routine to the "Trepak" Russian Dance. I got the wonderful routine from here.

Grade 5B

Grade KS, where it's a little more difficult to keep a quiet voice in such a fun situation! :-)

Here is a visual I made of the parachute routine. This lesson is a great way to teach students about form: The structure/layout of a piece of music.

5th graders took the "Trepak" Russian Dance to the next level by learning and performing a fast paced cup routine.

Found on Pinterest Here

Grade 5B

Here's a clip of the Trepak Russian Dance we watched in class:

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.

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)

I'm a Little Monkey Ostinato

Below is a video of an ostinato I wrote, called "I'm a Little Monkey." Students learn that an ostinato is a rhythmic part that repeats over and over again. They learned all 3 parts to the ostinato and then combined them for a great performance!

Mallet Madness this month for K-3

Grades K-3 will experience "Mallet Madness" this month in music class! Mallet Madness is made up of 2 giant lines of both barred instruments and drums that students rotate through while singing a fun chant. This way students get to experience all of the instruments used. They will learn how to hold the mallets, improvise, follow a line of music, and make musical accompaniment to story books.

K-1 will also learn songs using smaller bell sets that have notes numbered 1-8 for easier playing. They will learn some of the beloved songs that every kid should know, such as hot cross buns!

January Lesson Preview: Grades 2/3

Below is what grades 2/3 will be doing in music the month of January:

Students will start off with a SmartBoard game called "Candy Rhythms." Students must drag the named candy into the correct bag that has the same rhythm. Students will use quarter notes and eighth notes in this game.

Students will then start a unit on the 4 families of the symphony orchestra, and their corresponding instruments. The interactive online game called "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," will be a tool in helping students learn about the orchestra, along with various listening and visual non-internet activities.

After this unit is completed students will learn about a Conductor of the orchestra and how to conduct simple patterns. They will also touch on dynamics (volume) of music, and tempo (speed) of music. 

Photo by MITO SettembreMusica

Music Class Video Catch Up

Here are some videos from the last couple months of music students may enjoy seeing again.

Bach's Toccata and Fugue Listening Map K-4:

Witch's Brew K/1:

Carol of the Bells: Boy's Choir All grades:

Carol of the Bells: Boomwhackers All grades:

Carol of the Bells: For 12 Cellos: The Piano Guys: All grades

Carol of the Bells: Destiny's Child: All grades

Carol of the Bells: Pentatonix: All grades

Students loved the Pentatonix A Capella group and may enjoy watching other videos by them on Youtube, such as The Little Drummer Boy.

Grade 2/3 Frog Calls

Below are some recordings we made in 2nd and 3rd grade music the past couple weeks. First we learned about frogs and frog calls. Then we created our own frog calls (I found this idea online but do not remember where. If anyone knows feel free to comment!):

Leopard frog: rub a balloon w/a wet finger (This one was left out from some recordings since it didn't sound "real" enough)

Cricket frog: click two marbles together

Chorus frog: run a stick over guiro instruments

Green frog: snap a rubber band over plastic box opening

Next we learned about Haiku poems and students practiced speaking and clapping a haiku poem I had written about frogs, showing the normal 5-7-5 syllable lines:

"The sun has risen.

Chirps and croaks are in the air.

I listen and smile."

Finally, instead of clapping the syllables, students improvised on barred instruments, such as the xylophone, while saying the haiku poem out loud. They could only play one note per syllable. This was combined with the frog call recording to create the final product you hear below. The last recording (class 2G/N) is only of the frog call, which is interesting to listen to as well.

Enjoy!

Sandi Moon

Week 3 Links

Here are some links, by grade, of what we did in music class this week. I'm sure your children would love to teach the songs to you or share the videos we watched! :-)

Grades K/1: BEARS
Black bear info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaRGgipzehU
Grizzly bear info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7h_DriTS_4
We're Going on a Bear Hunt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzIcu6tbEko
Grumpy Grizzly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay6-47FEAR8
Gummy Bear Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jpqO-3UU_U

Grades 2/3: FROGS
Frogs info: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMFxQsaT274

Frog in the Millpond song from Silver Burdett Making Music Gd 2:

Grade 4: Ukuleles
Langley Ukulele Ensemble playing "I Feel Fine" by the Beatles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-hpv__cgo
Langley Ukulele Ensemble playing "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYHYnF1js0Y

Grade 5: Boomwhackers
One Minute Boomwhacker Introduction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Haf9IzInpM
Call Me Maybe on Boomwhackers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qxPie5_cEU
Lady Gaga's Pokerface by 5th grade students: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd2UQoJ_9-0

Students worked in groups to play and figure out what their mystery piece was (Found on this post), then play it for the class and have them guess. Can you figure out what these mystery pieces are?

I had a blast this week! More fun still to come! :-)