Last night I rehearsed with my African-style marimba band, YAAMBA. We will be playing at Mercer Island Farmers' Market on Sunday, September 9th, from noon until I think about four o'clock. The music is energetic, and it's fun to watch us play, and we play even better when people DANCE. So I'd be thrilled if you'd bring your little dancers by for a spell!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
A Wonderful New Year! with Recorders!
I'm so happy to see everyone again, and to meet new students! I spent most of the summer planning a wonderful new year for my kindergarten through fourth grade music classes and for all my recorder players!
If your child is in third grade or older, s/he will have a chance to order a recorder very soon. It's possible to participate in the recorder program (which happens during the school day) and play in the spring concert without buying a recorder; but I have never seen it happen. The students really need a Baroque-fingered soprano in order to practice at home, so they can hear themselves play. It's not a big commitment of practice time; once they learn the basics, practicing fifteen minutes a week will probably put them among the best players.
For more information, look to the right, below the "Blog Archive" box, and choose the "Recorder Program" page.
If your child is in third grade or older, s/he will have a chance to order a recorder very soon. It's possible to participate in the recorder program (which happens during the school day) and play in the spring concert without buying a recorder; but I have never seen it happen. The students really need a Baroque-fingered soprano in order to practice at home, so they can hear themselves play. It's not a big commitment of practice time; once they learn the basics, practicing fifteen minutes a week will probably put them among the best players.
For more information, look to the right, below the "Blog Archive" box, and choose the "Recorder Program" page.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Lessons Days coming up!
The days seem to speed by more and more quickly at this time of year. Maybe it's my age . . .
Kindergarten, Second and Third Grades will have their Lessons Day on Wednesday, June 6th.
First and Fourth Grades will have theirs on Thursday, June 7th.
On that day, children who take any kind of music lessons outside of my general music classes will have the opportunity to demonstrate, for their classmates, what their study and practice have so far enabled them to do. They should bring their instrument to school--unless it's piano. (Turns out I have one they can use.) They should also bring a copy of the music they plan to play.
To help kids remember to bring what they need, I will be sending home green "reminder" slips about Lessons Day.
Kindergarten, Second and Third Grades will have their Lessons Day on Wednesday, June 6th.
First and Fourth Grades will have theirs on Thursday, June 7th.
On that day, children who take any kind of music lessons outside of my general music classes will have the opportunity to demonstrate, for their classmates, what their study and practice have so far enabled them to do. They should bring their instrument to school--unless it's piano. (Turns out I have one they can use.) They should also bring a copy of the music they plan to play.
To help kids remember to bring what they need, I will be sending home green "reminder" slips about Lessons Day.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
What's Up in Music Class?
Kindergartners are enjoying a reel from Appalachia and a Telugu song about the moon, which they'll perform after their Parade of Cultures the morning of April 27th.
First-graders continue to develop their skills reading and writing quarter notes and rests, paired eighth notes, and pitches G and E.
Second-graders are singing their hearts out preparing for their Earth Day show!
Third-graders have been working with rhythms. They recently have added syncopation (eighth-quarter-eighth) and beamed sixteenth notes to their repertoire. They also are beginning to study the canon, the definition of which is:
Two or more groups
Do the same thing, but
Start
At different times.
Fourth-graders have been relating elements in visual art to elements in aural art (music). Soon they will create their own music depicting a painting they have chosen.
First-graders continue to develop their skills reading and writing quarter notes and rests, paired eighth notes, and pitches G and E.
Second-graders are singing their hearts out preparing for their Earth Day show!
Third-graders have been working with rhythms. They recently have added syncopation (eighth-quarter-eighth) and beamed sixteenth notes to their repertoire. They also are beginning to study the canon, the definition of which is:
Two or more groups
Do the same thing, but
Start
At different times.
Fourth-graders have been relating elements in visual art to elements in aural art (music). Soon they will create their own music depicting a painting they have chosen.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Opera Especially for Kids
Well, yesterday Open Window kindergartners through fourth-graders saw an abridged version of the opera Hansel and Gretel. From the overture to the curtain call, and through the question-and-answer session afterwards, they were a well-mannered and attentive audience. I was very proud of them! And they really enjoyed the show. They knew most of the arias and duets, they knew why opera is sung so loudly, and they knew what was going to happen--although we were a little disappointed that NOISE, who have to carry their sets from one school to another, didn't have an exploding oven. If ever you and your OWS student are in New York City in December, you can go to the production that The Metropolitan Opera puts on every year, complete with angels, sandman, dew fairy, gingerbread children, and exploding oven!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Lessons Days Rescheduled
For kindergarten and third grades, Lessons Day--see the January 6th post--will be during the regular music period on Wednesday, February 15th.
For fourth grade, Lessons Day will be Thursday, the 16th.
For first grade, it will be after their Penguins show and after Midwinter Break, on Thursday, March 1st.
Second grade will also have it after Midwinter Break, on Wednesday, February 29th.
For fourth grade, Lessons Day will be Thursday, the 16th.
For first grade, it will be after their Penguins show and after Midwinter Break, on Thursday, March 1st.
Second grade will also have it after Midwinter Break, on Wednesday, February 29th.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Multi-Cultural Event, and Lessons Day
Okay, when I said "no make-up date" for Lessons Day I meant in case of a student's forgetting to bring materials s/he needed for performing. As we were snowed out instead, I hope to reschedule Lessons Day.
Meanwhile, the Multi-Cultural Event celebrating South American cultures is coming right up, this Saturday! Entertainment is to begin at about 6 p.m. in the main (largest) room. Around 7 p.m., I will take the stage and ask for any students who want to perform "Flor de Cactus"--the song from Peru I've been teaching in regular music classes--to come forward, and they'll sing it with a recorded accompaniment.
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