Week of October 3

Read on to find out a little bit about what your students learned in music this week!


This week, Kindergarteners in Ms. Tepper's classes learned that they actually have four voices: speaking, singing, whispering, and calling.  They used their voices in different ways and began learning a song about fall.  Students in Ms. Waller's class read a story called So-me and the Spider, which helped them find their singing voices.  They also learned a folk dance called "Seven Jumps."

First graders learned about Australian music this week!  They were excited to see a real didgeridoo being played, and they learned about circular breathing.  Many students decided they really like "Waltzing Matilda," the unofficial national anthem of Australia.

Each second grade class created its own version of "Peas Porridge Hot," using the melody that they already composed for the "A" section, and a poem for the "B" section.  Each class then decided what they wanted the form of their own song to be, and they determined which instruments should play each section.  They discovered that although every class began with the same pieces, they all came up with very different final products.  They were also very excited to learn two new musical symbols this week!  They used the song "This Little Pig" to learn the half note and the half rest.

Third graders added the glockenspiel and metallophone part, the xylophone part, the boomwhacker parts, and the sandblock part together to create a fantastic sounding accompaniment to "Down at the Station."  They worked very hard on this piece and should be proud of themselves.

Fourth graders composed movements to go with "Tom, Tom," and they performed these movements in three concentric circles while other members of their groups were accompanying them on the tubano, temple blocks, and gankogui instrument parts.

Fifth graders continued their "Passport to Music" journey to Colombia this week.  They improved their Spanish in "Cumbia del sol," and learned guiro, cowbell, bongo, and hand drum instrument parts to accompany the song.  They discovered that often times, many simple rhythms can combine to create more complex rhythms, like in this song.

 

Great American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk was born on October 10, 1917.  Celebrate his birthday by reading Chris Raschka's Mysterious Thelonious: http://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Thelonious-Chris-Raschka/dp/0531300579, written to resemble jazz music.  Listen to an audio version here: http://www.archive.org/details/MysteriousThelonious