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.

Photo Credit

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.

Cup Game (Gd 5)

5th graders started learning the cup game this week! It is a rhythmically difficult pattern made on cups that became popular by the song "When I'm Gone" in the movie "Pitch Perfect".

Here are the lyrics to the song (with one word changed for appropriateness): 

When I'm Gone

"I got my ticket for the long way round

Two bottle of pepsi for the way

And I sure would like some sweet company

And I'm leaving tomorrow, what do you say

(CHORUS)

When I'm gone

When I'm gone

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

You're gonna miss me by my hair

You're gonna miss me everywhere, oh

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

When I'm gone

When I'm gone

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

You're gonna miss me by my walk

You're gonna miss me talk, oh

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

I got my ticket for the long way round

The one with the prettiest of views

It's got mountains

It's got rivers

It's got sights to give you shivers

But it sure would be prettier with you

CHORUS (x2)"

Source 

Ready for the 2014-2015 School Year!

My classroom is ready and waiting for students to arrive tomorrow! I have added some extra details, more instruments, music activities, and even more color! We will have so much fun with music in the year to come.

Bulletin board outside my classroom. Shows students note names!

5th grade band students will become a "band rockstar" and receive a guitar to decorate when they earn 100 practice points.

Composer spotlight is where 5th grade students will learn about a new composer every month and do some fun related activities. (Posters found here)

We are so lucky at DBS to have so many ukuleles! Keep your eyes open for a community ukulele class in October through the rec. department.

I added ribbon and colorful labels to all my bins around the story rug!

I now have twice as many boomwhackers as last year! 

Wrapping paper added to my desk and table for some pizzazz! 

Here we go 2014-2015 school year. Let's make some music!

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!

Chorus performs a concert "preview" at the healthy brains assembly!

The chorus gave a "preview" today of their May 21st concert by performing two songs about learning and healthy brains! They performed them at the healthy brains assembly that kicks off screen time turn off week and brain-o-mania night on Friday April 25th from 6-7:30 PM at DBS.

"Hungry to Learn" from MusicK8

"Forever Learning" from MusicK8

Like what you see? Come see our whole concert, "Hungry to Learn", on May 21st at 6:30 PM in the DBS Gym! The concert includes 5th grade band, 4th grade ukuleles, and 4/5 chorus.

5th Grade Learns about Opera

For the past two weeks 5th graders have been learning about opera. To be specific, "La Serva Padrona", the most popular opera of the 18th century, by a composer named Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Students watched a scene of the aria "Stizzoso mio Stizzoso".

Then students learned how to play an accompaniment I wrote to the aria for hand drum, tambourine, and finger cymbals. The notation below might look confusing at first, but students were able to discuss what each part meant that they already understood, and asked questions about the parts they didn't understand.

Here is a clip of one 5th grade class playing this accompaniment.

4/5 Chorus Performs at the VA Hospital

4th and 5th grade chorus members performed at the VA Hospital's celebration of Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural address, on March 31st, 2014. Students performed "The Star Spangled Banner" and "Amazing Grace". They were eager and excited to learn these two songs in addition to the six songs they are already preparing for their concert on May 21st. Great job chorus!