This month in the music room....
All students have learned about our new vocabulary word TIMBRE. Timbre is the special sound an instrument or voice makes. With an exciting song from the Plank Road Music K-8 series, "Did You Hear That Sound", students have been playing instruments from crash cymbals to boomwhackers to demonstrate matching action words to instrument timbres.
Grade Level Concepts This Month
Kindergarten and first grade classes have been continuing their study of steady beat verses rhythm. We have also begun to work on distinguishing between high and low pitches in music with exciting songs about pumpkins.
Second grade students are continuing their work on their musical "Spaced Out"; learning about space through music. We did have time for a quick break and discussion on famous composer Edvard Grieg and how he composed music to add atmosphere to a story. Ask your children to tell you about the story of "In the Hall of the Mountain King!"
Third grade students have been working on a very complex concept of playing multiple contrasting parts during a piece of music. Test your child's knowledge on ostinatos and partner songs! They will surprise you with their brillance!
Fourth grade students have been working the use of dynamics (volume changes) to make music more interesting. This topic peaked their interest and transformed our discussion to other musical changes to add interest and excitement to music. See how many your child can list: dynamics, \register, tonality (major / minor), timbre)
Fifth grade students have been discussing beat division in music through the use of time signatures with an unlikely instrument source... balloons!!!! They are excited to FINALLY learn what the bottom number means in a time signature. Ask your child to teach you about time signatures. Soon, they will even be able to tell you the time signature of a song on the radio through listening!
SOMETHING SPECIAL IN THE MUSIC ROOM:
We have been working on incorporating instrument timbres, movement, song, and acting into well known children literature. Be on the look out for videos of students finding creative ways to enhance literature through music and movement!
Kindergarten: Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider
First Grade: Arold Lobel's Frog and Toad All Year "The Surprise"
Second Grade: Linda Williams's The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything
Third Grade: Tony Johnston's The Vanishing Pumpkin
Fourth Grade / Fifth Grade: Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are
Check out Ms. Hemmann's kindergarteners playing, singing, and moving to "Autumn Leaves" (anonymous) from our McGraw Hill, Share the Music - Kindergarten Series.
