CALLING ALL DOLVIN STUDENTS!!!!

Quaver has two BIG offers for you! Please make sure you sign up before the New Year.  And of course message me if you cannot remember your username or password.  (Make sure you leave your homeroom teacher from last year in your message).


Enter these Quaver codes and earn 100 Quaver Notes each!  We LOVE Quaver!  Boom2014 and Holiday2014.


Happy Holidays!
Megan Endicott

Student Performances!

What have we been up to????

We are so excited to share with you student performances!  Here is a brief overview of what we have been up to in the music room followed by a Padlet of Dolvin student performances of bringing stories to life through music in 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade.  We will have videos for 3rd and K next month.  Please consider leaving a message for our students on the Padlet wall of their video. Simply click on the pencil under the picture of the video and type. Be sure to leave your name so we know who left the message. Also, the posts will be approved before they post, so don't be alarmed if your message doesn't appear right away.

All students have finally begun study for our second unit, melody and pitch!

Kindergarten:

We have begun learning about our new unit, melody! Included in our unit is differentiating between voices of men, women, and children. To focus on these differences we acted out the opera of "Hansel and Gretel". The kids had a great time! Don't be surprised if they start begging to go to the opera! Students were excited to experiement with high and low sounds through movement, instrument play, and vocals.  We took the story of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" and add instrumental improvisation on the barred instruments, or Orff instruments.  Each time the little Billy Goat Gruff spoke, the glockenspiels played their high notes, followed by the soprano xylophones and metallophones for the second Billy Goat Gruff, then the alto xylophones and metallophones for the third and largest Billy Goat Gruff. The bass xylophones and metallophones had a blast playing each time the Troll spoke.  Kindergartners were able to make the connection between smaller instruments making higher sounds while larger instruments made lower sounds.

First Grade:

First graders have begun learning the words for their upcoming musical, "Lemonade". You may hear them singing at home! They are sooooo excited.  In addition, we have been playing with low and high pitch and the term melodic direction by adding instrument sounds to the story "Mortimer".  As members of Mortimer's family travel up and down the stairs, we too travel up (higher) and down (lower) the barred instruments.  As winter approaches, we also spent some time talking about the Fall and what happens to the leaves and added music and melodic direction with the barred instruments and scarves and the story "Leaf Man".

Check out our performances from last month's "The Vanishing Pumpkin".  Please consider leaving our classes a personal message! Simply click on the pencil under the video you wish to comment on and leave some encouraging words for our students.  All posts will be moderated; therefore, you may not see the post right away.

Created with Padlet

Second Grade:

After finishing up our performances of "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything", second grade students have been also playing with melodic direction and the story of "Mortimer" on the instruments.  This week we are introducing reading pitch syllables on the staff using Shelley Tomich's "Pitch Hill" and a little help from the Sound of Music to instill the reason why we learn pitch syllables.  Through Quaver's graphics and play along side tracks, students were reading and singing sol and mi as a quick review in no time!

Check out our performances from last month's "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything".  Please consider leaving our classes a personal message! Simply click on the pencil under the video you wish to comment on and leave some encouraging words for our students.  All posts will be moderated; therefore, you may not see the post right away.

Created with Padlet

Third Grade:

Students have been playing with melodic direction with the story of "Little Bunny Foo Foo" and melodic play on the barred instruments.  Then we have been focusing on identify and truly defining the terms pitch and melody with the song "Rocky Mountain". Students added an Orff arrangement and a partner folk dance.  Be looking for the videos soon!  We also played with parachutes to demonstrate melodic direction and to serve as a quick diagnostic assessment tool.

Fourth Grade:

To kick off our unit, we focused on tonality with major and minor modes.  Taking what we knew about minor, the fourth graders actually chose their own instrumentation to bring the story of "Where the Wild Things Are" to life.  This week we plan on focusing in on melody and pitch with a quick review as to melodic direction and introduction to solfege.

Check out our performances from last month's "Where the Wild Things Are".  Please consider leaving our classes a personal message! Simply click on the pencil under the video you wish to comment on and leave some encouraging words for our students.  All posts will be moderated; therefore, you may not see the post right away.

Created with Padlet

Fifth Grade:
We have been playing with bringing the story of "Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance" to life by layering in ostinatos to a backbeat underneath student rappers.  Each class created an 8 beat melody that was to be added to our production.  The class voted on the ostinato that they wanted to represent their classroom.  They really impressed me with their enthusiasm and ability.  This week we have switched gears and are diving in full force with our melody unit. Students will take a diagnostic assessment and experiment with melodic direction on the barred instruments with the song "We Willie Winkie".  Their favorite parts are the glissando and the gong!  

We would like to take a second to recognize and thank our inspiration for the Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance lesson and Orff activities at www.bethsmusicnotes.blogspot.com and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5RQ0hl4E-0&list=FL_ft9jSWg7TBbhJ2GQtlyFg&index=8 

Check out our performances from last month's "Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance".  Please consider leaving our classes a personal message! Simply click on the pencil under the video you wish to comment on and leave some encouraging words for our students.  All posts will be moderated; therefore, you may not see the post right away.

Created with Padlet

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Break and look forward to picking up where we left off when we return!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chorus Auditions for our Winter Performance - DUE THIS WEDNESDAY.

November 10th, 2014

Chorus Signups for Jingle Bell Jukebox are here!!!! Please remember that you will need to submit a video of your audition through Edmodo by this Wednesday.  If you need anything please e-mail me at endicott@fultonschools.org.  I look forward to watching audition videos this week! Remember, dancers will NOT need to submit a video. Thank you!

Wrapping up Rhythm

Kindergarten – This week we took a trip to Japan with our Frog Song. Students practiced their quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest rhythms using guiros and rhythm sticks. We also discovered that frogs say different things in Japanese! Students have also started to write their own rhythms. It has been very exciting to see their growth!

(Thank you www.bethsmusicnotes.blogspot.com for the resources!)

First Grade – As we wrap up our first unit, we have been practicing writing our rhythms in class. Students are doing a very impressive job composing their own rhythms! We have also been reviewing our quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest rhythms with our song Stinky Pirates. Yo ho! To top it all off, students have been showing off their rhythmic ability through rhythmic dictation activities as well as basic composition by adding rhythm to words through creating a new character to our story, “Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?” from earlier in the unit.  We look forward to enjoying a little seasonal fun by bringing the story, “The Vanishing Pumpkin” to life in class.  “Off we go in search of a pumpkin we’ve been saving….”

Second grade has been putting their rhythm knowledge to use with the story of The Little Old Lady Who Wasn’t Afraid of Anything. Using quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes, and whole notes, we worked on adding rhythms to the different characters in the book. Others helped to add accompaniment to our song. To top it off we are bringing the story to life with instrument timbre, song, and acting!  Be looking for a post of class performance.

(Thank you www.bethsmusicnotes.blogspot.com for the resources!) 

Third Grade – We’ve been putting our rhythms to good use with a hearty round of rhythm tic tac toe – girls vs. boys, of course! We also have been showing what we know with rhythm pizzas. As a class, we made a rhythm tree of how our rhythms are divided. Students got to decorate their rhythm pizzas with any toppings they wanted! Some students got really creative and came up with rhythm pies, rhythm cookies, and rhythm pumpkins! In addition, we have been enjoying further study of 16^th notes with Quaver’s 16^th note song.  Yes, we finally got to do some “drumming” with rhythm sticks!

4^th Grade – This week we used our knowledge of eighth notes, quarter notes, sixteenth notes, quarter rests, dotted rhythms, and syncopation to compose our own body percussion piece. Students got to choose whether to clap, snap, pat, or stamp a rhythm. They also got to decide in what order they would perform each rhythm. We are looking forward to some exciting performances next week!

 5^th Grade – Fifth graders have enjoyed making connections to jazz music and music they hear on the radio today with a new rhythm, syncopation.  With the help of Ella Fitzgerald and the story book, “A Tisket, A Tasket”, students were able to discover the uneven, jazzy feel of syncopation and understand the history behind the music.  They even made connections that syncopation can be heard in rap / hip-hop music today!  Pulling all of our rhythms together, students have been working on creating an ostinato for our story, “Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance.”  We look forward to pulling together the pieces for a final performance within the next few weeks.  Be on the lookout for videos coming your way!

Welcome Fall!

We have had a great time this week continuing our Unit 1 lessons: Music is a Language.

In kindergarten, we brought the story "The Very Busy Spider" to life by adding rhythms as well as including improvisation on unpitched instruments to add some sound color to our story.  Other students helped build a giant class spider web throughout the story and caught our "pesty" fly at the end.  Students demonstrated their ability to read, sing, and play quarter notes and 8th notes in music.  They also discovered how to tranlate the rhythm of language into musical notation.  We are looking forward to adding the quarter rest this week!





Our first graders continued to study rhythms and added a new symbol; the quarter rest!  We focused on the quarter rest with an exciting song and soccer game to the song, "I Love Soccer"!  They also got to preview form by identifying the sections of the song.  As an added bonus, first grade musicians were able to shake their "rah-rah" on the rests on the A section, while others passed a soccer ball back and forth on the B section.

Second graders are continuing work on our upcoming musical.  We began rehearsals Friday.  I just know that parents will be thrilled with the sound coming from these very talented musicians.  I look forward to what rehearsals bring this week.  Be checking for constant updates as we may include a live stream of our show for parents and family members unable to attend Thursday night's performance.  Glass Productions will also be attending the performance and offering a high quality DVD for purchase at the event.  It is definitely a wonderful keepsake.  In addition to the performance, students have been working on reviewing quarter notes, 8th notes, and quarter rests.  We will be studying a new note, half notes in the upcoming weeks.

Third grade students have dove headfirst (litterally!) into 16th notes with an exciting song and game of "Chicken on the Fencepost".  We divided our students into three groups to focus in on phrase structure and music rhythms.  While "Chicken on the Fencepost" is considered a play party, we chose to pass on the dance this year and add an exciting game.  The game is similiar to a chase or race, but through a maze of students.  Two concentric circles  move during the song, and on the last phrase selected students drop hands and opens up a path for our racers.  Two students race through the windows to be the first to grab the chicken in the middle of the groups.  We also are learning about play parties and 16th notes with song, "Tideo".

 

Fourth grade students have had a blast reviewing more rhythms including 8th notes, quarter notes, half notes, whole notes, dotted half notes, whole rests, half rests, and quarter rests through two part rhythmic accompaniments with song, "Soldier, Soldier". Perhaps the more interesting part is the lyrics!  Oh the drama!  But they have certainly enjoyed the challenge of putting together these rhythmic accompaniments with their new song.  To conclude the activity, we discussed variations, and had students compare and contrast "Lazy John" to "Soldier, Soldier".

Fifth grade students focused on dotted rhythms this week with "Ama Lama" and Quaver's "Hey Mister Beat Boy".  They were able to compare and contrast the differences between the uneven feel of dotted rhythms with the straight even sounds of beamed 8th notes and quarter notes with the "Sore Foot March" by marching around the room demonstrating the two separate feelings.  In addition students were offered the formula for the duration of dotted notes.  They participated in pairing various dotted rhythms through dictation and ended with adding 3 part rhythmic accompaniment to Ama Lama as well as a quick rhythmic dictation activity.  We are looking forward to learning about syncopation next week with Ella Fitzgerald's, "A Tisket, A Tasket" and "Lil' Liza Jane" (Thank you www.bethsmusicnotes.blogspot.com).  We hope this will prepare us for creating a rhythmic accompaniment for our story, "Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted To Dance".

 



Last Week in Music....

We have had some fun developing lessons from last week through this week in class.  Our focus this 9 weeks is Music is a Language: Rhythm, Beat, and Meter.  We hope to end our unit with compositions!




Kindergarten:  This week we performed steady beat, with acting, and singing with the book, "Rumble in the Jungle".  The kindergarteners had a wonderful time making the connection between music and literature.  We discussed how music can enhance literature.  (Lesson from Mallet Madness)







First Grade:  First graders have also been studying steady beat and added acting and singing with the book, "Baby Bear".  We turned the book into a call and response, sol la mi, production.  It also served the purpose of allowing us to preview how well students sing sol la and mi to prepare us for our next unit, melody!






2nd Grade:  Our second grade students are working diligently to prepare for our upcoming second grade musical "Spaced Out".  Students completed auditions for special roles and have begun learning their stage dance movements.  Mark your calendars! The show is October 2nd.  In addition to our musical, students have been learning about music rhythms: quarter note and 8th notes.





3rd Grade:  In third grade, students have taken their knowledge of creating rhythms with "Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day!"  Last week, we reviewed rhythms with 3rd grade students, and discussed how to transfer the rhythm of the words to musical notation.  This week, students created sentence about their day and added the musical notation following the specific rules for meter in 2. (Lesson from Mallet Madness)



4th Grade:  Again, our focus this unit has been on beat, rhythm, and meter.  We have spent several weeks working on meter.  This week we added to our lesson from last week and reviewed rhythms with the silly song "Fooba Wooba John".  (Thank you www.bethsmusicnotes.blogspot.com! The kids LOVE it!) This week students added instrumental texture by playing four parts on unpitched percussion to "Fooba Wooba John".  We concluded the activity by writing new silly lyrics to Fooba Wooba.



5th Grade:  In fifth grade, our students have been playing with meter extensively.  We started by listening to several examples and bounced tennis balls in various patterns (meter of 2: bounce catch; meter of 3: bounce-catch-tap in hand; and meter of 4: bounce-catch-tap-tap).  (Quaver's Marvelous World of Music) We then had students move around the room to music and when the music stopped, students had to quickly and quietly get into groups that matched the meter.  (Wonderful idea from John Feireband) This week, we added peacock feathers to Tanz, by Carl Orff and looked at how mixed meter looks in music as well as feels.  This was a valuable lesson to see how music can change meters, unlike music they hear in their everyday lives.  (A wonderful resource from Darva Campbell).  We concluded our day with rhythm hoop improvisational play and how we can enhance literature by "rapping" and adding instrumental interludes to the story, "Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance".  ~ Get the book here. (Wonderful ideas from www.bethsmusicnotes.blogspot.com)  Or goal is to add new rhythms each week and create their own instrumental interludes and perform.  See our motivation here!

What's Happening in the Music Room!

Our first week back we had a blast "showing" our students the do's and don'ts in the music room through a video special report.


 


To start the year, students in K-5 participated in various welcome back to school songs and an improvisational activity involving the Boomwhackers.



In addition, music students were asked what does music mean to you. check out some of the incredible answers students created below.

Created with Padlet

We are currently in the middle of our first unit, Music is a Language.  Our primary focus is on beat, meter, and rhythm.  Our students are having a blast incorporating children's literature and music during class.  More pictures and videos on their way!

Welcome back!

Welcome back to school!  We are so excited to start this new year.  This summer Mrs. Evans earned her Orff Level 1 certification.  With both Mrs. Endicott and Mrs. Evans Orff Level 1 certified, you will be seeing a lot of new and exciting activities in the music room this year.  We hope to infuse our new lessons with technology to create a real world music classroom in which students are moving, playing, creating, singing, composing, collaborating, and sharing, among many other great opportunities.  Our first music unit is Music is a Language. Students will be learning about steady beat, meter, and rhythms.  We will be including more music notation identification and writing this year, so be looking for a packet of student work at the conclusion of our 9 week unit.

A few important announcements to note... We have already begun learning music for our second grade performance of "Spaced Out".  This exciting musical parallels the second grade unit on space and is sure to please the audience! Students have been signing up for special roles in music class and may have brought home a script to practice. Auditions begin next week on your child's music day.  Please click on the Spaced Out tab above for more details.  Our performance will be October 2nd in the Dolvin Elementary Cafeteria.  Please e-mail us if you have any questions.  We are excited to share concert etiquette information for the students and parents in the next following weeks.

There have also been several questions regarding this year's 4th and 5th grade chorus.  Letters will be sent home this week with details.  This year, chorus will be moved from Mondays to Thursdays due to Mrs. Evans' schedule from 2:30 - 3:30.  We will hold our first rehearsal Thursday, September 11th.  All paperwork should be submitted no later than September 10th. You are welcome to complete your form online by clicking here.  Again, please direct any questions to the music department at endicott@fultonschools.org or evansac@fultonschools.org.

For constant updates, we encourage you to follow our blog, Twitter @EndicottSpot, and Instagram @dolvinmusic.  You can click the links on the right column of the main page.  

We look forward to another great year! Be checking regularly as we hope to post student work soon!

Thank you!

Fine Arts Night - Chorus

Event Information:
Our performance will be Thursday night, May 1st, at 6:00 PM in the cafeteria.  Dress for the concert will be costumes based on roles or choice.  We will send home paperwork with specifics after the final audition.  Please plan on meeting us in the cafeteria in full costume at 5:30 PM so we may begin warming up and working on trouble spots.  

We may hold a morning performance for the student body.  Please check back for updates.  Students will need to wear their costumes to school for the performance.

One more exciting announcement!  We will be streaming the performance live the night of the show for parents or family members unable to attend.  Scroll to the bottom of the page and RSVP now to have a reminder sent to you directly.  www.ustream.tv/channel/dolvin-elementary-musicals

Chorus Auditions:
Chorus auditions are currently underway.  Click below to sign up for auditions.  This year, we will be collecting videos of auditions via flash drive, CDRs, YouTube links, or through Edmodo.  Lyrics and music will be found online through our Edmodo group.  Students wishing to audition must sing along with the instrumental accompaniment track.  Dance groups will need to audition with their complete dance group along with the vocal track. Please let us know as soon as possible if your child cannot submit a video so we may set up an appointment to audition at 7:15 AM prior to the school bell.

Chorus Audition Sign ups
Disney Spectacular Lyrics: Click here and on Edmodo
Disney Spectacular MP3s:  Click here and Edmodo (coming soon!)
E-mail to set-up an audition time at school.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for constant updates.



Tweets about "#DolvinMusic"

4th Grade Instrument Projects!

Dear 4^th grade students and parents,

 

In effort to collaborate with the 4^th grade science curriculum on sound, the music department is asking each student to construct an instrument at home that will change pitch.  We have discussed extensively in music class how tension, length, and thickness all factor into changes in pitch.  Additionally, we have spent time discussing possibilities for homemade instruments.  Please refer to the rubric below for requirements to complete this project.  The due date is listed below for your records.  Since we only see your child once a week, it is imperative that projects are turned in on time.  Each child will also need to submit a typed paragraph explaining why they chose to create that particular instrument, how it was made, and how it changes pitch in relation to tension, thickness, or length.  Students may choose to bring in their instrument OR create a video of found sounds that change pitch in the environment.  Students will need to be careful when selecting found sounds as they will need to describe how the pitch changes.  It may be easiest to select environmental sounds that are made with similar materials.  (Example: metal pipes on a playground)  Students may use the bottom of this form as an outline for their paragraphs.  For additional ideas on creating an instrument, please go to the following website at www.nyphilkids.org/lab/main.phtml?

 

1.      What did you find interesting about this instrument? Or why did you select this instrument to create for your project? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

2.      What materials did you use to create your instrument? How did you create your instrument? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

3.      How does your instrument work? How does it change pitch in relation to science? (tension, length, thickness, volume) __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

4.      Construct your instrument and bring it to class to demonstrate OR make a video of your demonstration with either your homemade instrument or a found sound that changes pitch.

Due Dates!

Monday February 3rd - Bell , Felton

Tuesday February 4th - Gilmore, Mentzer

Thursday February 6th - Townsend

Friday February 7th - Dunn

Designing and Making An Instrument : Instrument Creation
Teacher Name: M Endicott
Student Name:     ________________________________________
CATEGORY	4 - Above Standards	3 - Meets Standards	2 - Approaches Standard	1- Below Standard	Total
Construction Materials	Appropriate materials were selected and creatively modified in ways that made them even better for the purpose.	Appropriate materials were selected.	Most of the construction materials were appropriate, but 1-2 were not.	Construction materials were not appropriate for the purpose.	/4
Appearance	Instrument is decorated creatively within the assigned theme.	Instrument is decorated attractively.	Instrument is decorated, but sort of messy looking.	Instrument is not decorated OR is very messy.	/4
Quality of Construction	The instrument shows considerable attention to construction. It is sturdy, neat and will stand up to repeated playing over a period of time.	The instrument shows considerable attention to construction. It is reasonably sturdy and neat and will stand up to being played more than once.	The instrument is neatly constructed but is fragile and will probably not stand up to being played more than once.	Pieces are missing or falling off. Seems \"slapped together\" in a hurry.	/4
Quality of Sound	Instrument offers a wide dynamic (volume) and/or tonal contrast (pitch).	Instrument offers some dynamic (volume) and/or tonal contrast (pitch).	Instrument offers little variety in sound.	Instrument offers no variety in sound.	/4
Time And Effort	Much time and effort went into planning, design, and construction.	Time and effort went into planning, design, and construction. Student could have put in more time and effort at home.	Student clearly did some work at home.	Student put in no additional effort.	/4
Demonstration	Presenter speaks loudly and clearly. Instrument is visible to class and its use demonstrated. The instrument is named and the process for making it is described clearly.	Instrument is shown to class and its use demonstrated. The instrument is named and the process for making it is described clearly. It was hard to hear the presenter.	Instrument is shown to class and its use demonstrated. The instrument is named and the presenter describes a few of the steps of making it.	Instrument is shown to class and is named. The student cannot describe the process used to make it OR cannot demonstrate it.	/4
Paragraph	Student typed paragraph and included all needed information. (description of instrument construction, reason for choosing that instrument, and how the instrument changes pitch in relation to science.)	Student typed paragraph and included most of the needed information.	Student did not include the correct information and / or did not type the paragraph.	Student did not complete the typed paragraph.	/4
Knowledge Gained	Student can accurately answer 5 questions posed by teacher or peer related to the research, the instrument itself or the process of building it.	Student can accurately answer 3-4 questions posed by teacher or peer related to the research, the instrument itself or the process of building it.	Student can accurately answer 1-2 questions posed by teacher or peer related to the research, the instrument itself or the process of building it.	Student cannot accurately answer questions.	/4
				Score	/ 32
Date Created: Feb 16, 2013 08:41 am (CST)

Second Semester Chorus

Attention Chorus Members!  Second semester chorus will begin in February.  Letters will be sent home within the next few weeks.  All chorus students participating in second semester chorus will need to return a chorus form.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Thank you!
Megan Endicott