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.