October Music!

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.

Music this week!

This week in music....

Kindergarten and first graders have been learning songs about fall and creating their own movements to depict the story the music tells using scarves.  They have also added instrumental accompaniment on barred instruments.

Second graders have been auditioning in class for Spaced Out as well as playing with partner songs!  Ask them about it; they think it is exciting!

Third graders have been continuing their study on melodic direction through movement, song, and instruments.  Be on the look out for video postings soon of your children making music!

Fouth and fifth grade students have begun their recorder study.  In preparation students have been playing with Music Ace, a computer game on the ActivBoard to review the note names on lines and spaces.  So far Mr. Weigand's 4th grade class is leading with 2,030 points (all notes) and Mrs. Rivera's class with 2,150 (FACE).  Parents, please make sure your child remembers to bring their recorders to class!  This is part of the music participation grade.  Please refer to the recorder letter on the right column of this blog for specifics.  And as always, feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have!

Thank you!

First Weeks of Music at Dolvin

We have had a great first few weeks in music.  Our focus has been finding the steady beat and discussing the difference between steady beat and rhythm.  How many of you have seen your children look around your house for items with a steady beat and without a steady beat, or even found your child testing your knowledge of distinguishing between the steady beat or rhythm in the car to your favorite songs! If you haven't yet, be ready... it's coming! 

What are we doing in class?

• K and 1 have been playing beat and rhythm on drums and tambourines
• 2nd graders have already begun work on their musical, "Spaced Out".  Parents, be on the look out for information about the musical coming your way soon! 
• 3rd graders have been improvising rhythms on instruments. 
• 4th and 5th grade students have been playing chords on boomwhackers and tranferring them to barred instruments. 

Check back to see what we are learning next!

Also, a BIG thank you to Dolvin principle, Laura Zoll, for our brand new instruments! The kids have already begun having fun with these new items!