New Page Added

Anyone interested in purchasing the books we use in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th music classes? There is now a link you can click on called Music Class Method Books . It has pictures of the books and where to buy the books. If you have any questions feel free to call or email or come by the music room.

Music Week 6

This week 2nd, 3rd, and 5th grade had a Music Appreciation Lesson on the Brass Quintet. This is in preparation for October 11 field trip. We are going to hear the Metales M5 Brass Quintet. They are a group from Mexico and have toured all over Mexico, the U.S. and the entire world. We played a listening Game where I played the recording of a brass instrument and students had to stand by picture of instrument they thought it was. Students will need a lot more practice. I had a suspicion that many students had not heard the instruments individually. My guess was right. We will work some more on the individual sound. If time remained we worked on our individual instruments as well.

4th grade continued working on piano skills. They are slowly starting to get the hang of it. If students have a keyboard at home, they are strongly encouraged to practice. I will place a seperate page for all the books we are using in class if you wish to go to one of the music stores and buy them.



K-1 had a quiz on Beat-No Beat. I played 3 clips of music. Students had to use the Beat Buddies to help them figure out if there was a beat involved. They bounced their Buddy if they felt like the song had a beat. The Buddy was supposed to stay in their lap if the song had no beat. 2 of the 3 examples had a beat, the last one did not. I graded accordingly.

If any student in any grade feels that they did perform well on a test or quiz, then they may come and retake the quiz any time before school or after school.

Music Week 5

This week in music all of my classes in 3rd-5th watched a powerpoint story called -King Treble Clef. King Treble Clef is story that helps students learn how to read notes on the staff.

3rd grade continued their recorder skills by working on the B,A,G notes, and learning how to play Hot Cross Buns. Our quiz on how to holdthe recorder has been pushed back to next week. 4th Grade continued working on their piano skills. We are constantly reviewing finger numbers and the corrct playing position. Our quiz on Finger Position and Posture has been also pushed backed to next week.5th Grad continued their Ukulele/Guitar Skills-E, F, G notes and we worked on excercise 1 in the book. Our quiz on how to hold the ukulele/guitar has also been pushed back this week. The quizzes were pushed back due to technical difficulties with the gradebook software.

K-1 continued working on Beat-No Beat our objective was to respond to steady beat in a march style song. We used Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges and the Beat Buddies. The Beat Buddies are just stuffed animals we use to help find the beat of songs.Our Vocabulary for this lesson was :march, steady beat, loud, soft.

Here is the process:

1. Encourage students to use Beat Buddies to tap to the beat from Prokofiev's March mvt"The Love for Three Oranges

1. Ask what kind of movement would you do to this music?(March)



2. Have children stand and march in place to the music on the beat

1. Where would you likely hear a march?(concert or parade)



Finally, we did another beat game called Engine Engine No. 9. Here are the lyrics:

Engine, Engine No. 9
Going in down the Chicago Line.
If the train should junk the track
Do you get your money back?

Students learn song by rote, march to the pulse of the song, one student plays temple blocks at various speeds. The player will "get off" the beat, causing train to stumble. The temple block player will play frantically to imitate a crash, ending with loud tap and then silence. train players should "crash" and fall into an interesting shape. the watcherr picks someone with an intersting shape and takes his place in the train. The introduction signals train members to stand up and form the train and get ready to move. Everyone should get a turn if time allows

2nd grade continued working on Down, Down, Baby. We reviewed the moves and then we added instruments. We used the xylophones, glockenspiels, tamborines, bongos, and cowbell to make the different sounds of the body.

Music Week 4

First off we had Labor Day on Monday. On Tuesday we resumed our normal routine. 3rd-5th grade resumed learning their instruments. We also talked about note values of quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes. Students will have a quiz on how to hold their instrument in about 2 weeks.

K-1 continued to learn about beat but we used the song Walk Right In. I had the students find the beat of the song first. Then we walked around the room to the beat. Finally, we came up with different ways to move to the beat. For example, walking like a chicken or robot or pretending to skate.

2nd grade continued studying beat but this time we used the American street game Down, Down Baby. I told students that this is another game that is played in different ways throughout the country. I taught them the moves. I was supposed to teach them how to play some instruments with it but we ran out of time and I have to save if for next week.

Music Week 3

This week we began our music lessons. 3rd grade began learning how to hold and play the recorder. 4th grade began learning how to sit with the proper posture and hand position for piano and how to play it. 5th grade began learning how to hold and play the guitar/ukulele. Students have been encouraged to bring in their own recorders or guitars. It is not mandatory but it certainly does help. If 5th grade students already have a guitar they may bring it in and I will lock it in one of my closets. If 3rd grade students want to buy their own recorder, I will give a list of music stores where you can buy recorders.

K-1 learned about beat. We talked about how beat is the pulse of the music. We talked about how we feel the beat not necessarily hearing the beat. There was a lot of confusion because many students thought that you have to have a drum to have beat. We talked about that a lot this week. We learned and moved to the song Ev'ry Body Says. We also listened to five sounds and had to figure out what they were and if they had a beat. I told students that if you felt that you could clap to it then it most likely had a beat. I also said that about 99.9% of the music we come into daily contact with has a beat. Beats can be fast and they can be slow. Whatever they are they need to stay the same throughout the piece of music. There are exceptions of course.

2nd grade learned about beat through the use of the song Zudio. Zudio is an American street game that is played in many different ways in the country. The words can be different but the premise is the same. We learned the moves for the song with a partner and we learned how to move to different partners to get to know them. We also did a song called Blueberry Pie. They had to move to the steady beat by walking around the room.

Music Week 2

This week music classes began their lessons. 3rd grade began their recorder lessons. They learned how to hold recorders and how to blow into them. Students are encouraged to buy their own but it is not necessary. 4th grade began piano lessons. Students learned the proper posture and hand position. 5th grade began learning ukulele/guitar. They learned how to hold the uke and learned the instrument parts. Students were encouraged to bring in a guitar if they had one. Once again, it is not necessary but you may if you choose to. All classes learned what to touch and what not to touch on their respective instruments. They learned how important it is to take care of the things we have because replacing instruments can be very expesive.

K-1 learned about beat. We learned that beat is the pulse of the music. Beat is something that you feel not necessarily hear. We said that there are instruments that you can play the beat on such as drums but ultimately you have to be able to feel the steady pulse. We also said that beat and rhythm are two different things. They are related but they are separate things. We listened and moved to a song called Ev'ry Body Says and we listened to different sounds and talked about whether those sounds had a beat or not. I added that if you "feel" like you could clap to the sound then it had a beat.

2nd grade learned about beat as well. We used the song Zudio. We listened to a version on the music CDs but I taught the street game version. We also listened and moved to a song called Blueberry Pie. Students had to find and clap along to the steady beat.