Spring Concert 2015 Pictures

Our Spring Concert "Movies and the Imagination" was a great success. Congratulations 4/5 chorus, 5 band, and 4th grade ukuleles on your performances! Click here to view pictures of the concert on the DBS Facebook page.

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!

Movies and the Imagination

Spring Concert

Grade 5 band, grade 4 ukuleles, and grades 4/5 chorus.

Date:  Thursday, May 21^st, 2015                                                    
Time: 6:30 PM      (Doors open at 6:10 PM)
Place: DBS Gymnasium                                                                          
4/5 Attire for PM Concert Only: Black bottoms and colored top with no writing or pictures.

Procedure

5^th grade chorus members who are not in band and all 4^th graders:

·       Arrive between 6:10 and 6:25 PM.

·       Students will leave belongings with their parents/guardians for safe keeping. 4/5 chorus members will go right to their places on the risers and non-chorus 4^th graders will go to the 4^th grade ukulele seating.

5^th grade band students:

·       Arrive at 6:10 PM.

·       Students will go to the music room to store cases and belongings, place their instruments/music at their band spot, and go to their riser spot if in chorus.

All concert students:

·       We will begin our performance promptly at 6:30 PM. Please note that the doors to the school will not be opened until 6:10 PM.

·       After the performance band will be dismissed first to the music room and meet parents back in the gym, followed by non-band students dismissed to meet parents in the gymnasium.

·       Please remind your child to use the restroom before they arrive or right when they arrive as there will be no time to go once the concert starts.

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.

Save the date! Spring Concert May 21st

SAVE THE DATE!

Our Spring Concert this year will be on
Thursday, May 21^st, at 6:30 PM.

The theme is “Movies and the Imagination.”

The concert will include Grade 4/5 Chorus, Grade 5 Band, 
and all Grade 4 students on the ukuleles.

See you there!

4th Graders Prepare for Ukulele Karate

4th graders have been preparing for Ukulele Karate the past two weeks. They learned how to play notes B, A, and G on the ukulele and practiced rhythm reading.
Here is a clip of one of the songs they learned titled "Puppy Dogs."

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.

Holiday Songs Mad Libs

Sorry, I know this post is a little late! I'm trying to catch up on my posts.
4th and 5th graders got the fun chance to change some of the words to popular holiday songs. Get the mad lib pages from class here and "Let it Snow" mad lib from here.
Here's one song that students could choose:

Get Here

After working in groups to complete their mad lib of choice, students performed their compositions for the class.

"Let it Snow" from 4T

"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" from 4T

"Deck the Halls" from 5B

"Jolly Old St. Nicholas" from 5B

Recorder buying options for grades 3/4

4th graders will be playing recorders for a few weeks. 3rd graders will likely be playing recorders in a couple of months. They will be using the school recorders, but if they would like to purchase their own to practice at home or to bring into/keep at school, here is a great option.

Photo Credit

This recorder is currently $4.99, with free shipping on orders over $35 on Amazon, and is the #1 selling recorder on Amazon. This is a higher quality recorder than you may find in dollar stores, but those are still decent options for at-home practice. At-home practice is not required for students but could be enjoyable for them. Local music stores such as Blue Mountain Guitar in West Lebanon should have recorders in stock as well, but this will be a higher price than Amazon.
Feel free to email me with any questions about this at Moons@hartfordschools.net.

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.

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)

Hungry to Learn Spring Concert Pics!

Our Spring Concert "Hungry to Learn" was a wonderful event! The 4th grade ukulele players plucked their hearts out, the 4/5 chorus danced the night away, and the 5th grade band wowed us with their pieces about garden gnome attacks and superheros flying through the sky! Here are some pictures of the concert:

4/5 Chorus

Grade 5 Band

4th graders on the ukuleles

'Attack of the Garden Gnomes' with gnome hats!

Thank you to everyone in the audience who supported the arts at DBS and to all the wonderful staff that helped make this concert possible. See you next year for some more fun music-making!

4th and 5th graders on ukulele!

4th graders are moving right along with their ukulele karate songs. Here is the first song they learned for their white belt: Hot Cross Buns. They can finger pick the individual notes and sing at the same time!

The 5th graders were able to learn ukulele for 2 weeks. They learned how to play their C, F, and G7 chords. Here is one 5th grade class playing "London Bridge."

5 Little Snowmen iPad Videos

The 3rd and 4th graders made "5 Little Snowmen" videos using the iPad app iMovie. Students were broken into groups of five and each given a role. Some students recorded the poem and took pictures for the video, while others were assigned specific snowmen/scenes to draw. The videos were made in their Arts Enrichment block, led by the art, library, and music teachers.

Here is the "5 Little Snowmen" poem (found here):

"5 Little Snowmen sitting on the ground.
The first one said, "Oh my! Aren't we round."
The second one said, "There are snowflakes in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some winter fun!"
"Wooooooo" went the wind and out came the sun.
And the five little snowmen knew their fun was done."

4th GRADE VIDEOS:

3rd GRADE VIDEOS

January Lessons Preview: Grade 4

Below is what grade 4 will be working on in music for the month of January:

Students will begin the new year by learning more about notes and rests. Then students will learn about half and whole steps, and how they apply on the piano and ukulele.

In the first part of the school year 4th graders learned how to play chords and strum on the ukulele. Now students will begin learning how to finger pick individual notes and melodies on the ukulele. They will achieve this through a new program I am trying called "Ukulele Karate." This uses the same music as "Recorder Karate" made through MusicK8, but I adapted it to be for ukulele instead. Students work more independently in class to practice their songs, while I help individuals and "pass" students into the next song. There are 9 songs and belts total. Every time a student completes a song he/she moves a clothespin with his/her name on it to the next colored belt. I am very excited to start Ukulele Karate!

Photo by Chriskoru

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.

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! :-)