Friday, November 19, 2010
Singing Together
All my students, kindergarten through fourth grade (I'll see fifth after January) have been learning and practicing songs for our sing-along assembly. The youngest begin learning "America" and "America, the Beautiful", as well as "This Land is Your Land", "The Earth is Our Mother", and "Over the River". Older grades add "The Star-Spangled Banner", "Hymn for Nations" (to Beethoven's melody for "Ode to Joy"), "Roll On, Columbia" and "Washington, My Home", and later verses of "America" and "America, the Beautiful". In an Open Window tradition, the students and teachers (and some staff) gather in the gym the day before Thanksgiving to sing them all together.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Music Updates
Kindergartners have been playing a reaction game, from the Wagogo people of Tanzania, in which they jump ("matu") into the center of the circle and back again in time with a call and response. And today they practiced standing quietly and respectfully during the national anthem; they did very well!
First-graders are getting better at distinguishing beat from rhythm. They have enjoyed bits of the toccata from J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor and will soon be learning names of some other famous Bachs.
Second-graders have heard the story of how "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written and are beginning to learn to sing it correctly. They enjoyed a recording of the third of Brahms' Hungarian Dances, and they are learning to use half notes.
Third-graders are learning to distinguish major from minor tonality. They're about to do a little improvising on the Orff instruments, and soon will learn to use the dotted half note.
Fourth-graders learned to play the "Hot Cross Buns" melody, a harmony for it, a bass line, and a "color" part on the Orff instruments. We then orchestrated the song by having different instruments play the different lines; for example, we tried glockenspiels on the bass line, with the back row of instruments playing the color part, the remaining metallophones on the melody, and remaining xylophones on the harmony.
First-graders are getting better at distinguishing beat from rhythm. They have enjoyed bits of the toccata from J. S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor and will soon be learning names of some other famous Bachs.
Second-graders have heard the story of how "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written and are beginning to learn to sing it correctly. They enjoyed a recording of the third of Brahms' Hungarian Dances, and they are learning to use half notes.
Third-graders are learning to distinguish major from minor tonality. They're about to do a little improvising on the Orff instruments, and soon will learn to use the dotted half note.
Fourth-graders learned to play the "Hot Cross Buns" melody, a harmony for it, a bass line, and a "color" part on the Orff instruments. We then orchestrated the song by having different instruments play the different lines; for example, we tried glockenspiels on the bass line, with the back row of instruments playing the color part, the remaining metallophones on the melody, and remaining xylophones on the harmony.
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