March is Music in our Schools Month

To celebrate you are invited to musical "informance." Come and watch a typical music lesson and see how we approach music teaching here at school.  See your child participate in music making in a classroom setting.  Check out the times below.  Look for a note with dates, times and your child's group coming home soon.  Hope to see you there!

Kindergarten   1:25-2:10 p.m.

1st grade   11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

2nd grade  2:20-3:05 p.m.

3rd grade 8:35-9:20 a.m.

Wednesday, March 12, Yellow Group

Thursday, March 13, Blue Group

Friday, March 14, Red Group

5th Grade Take Five Movement Pictures

The 5th graders moved to the jazz piece Take 5 performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet.  Their task was to work with a partner and create a pose (like a statue) to the music that was a response to their partner's work.  For example, one student would strike a pose like the letter X and their partner would take an aspect of the pose, lets say the outstretched arms and invert it, or do it while lying on the floor or create the image parallel to their partner.  This would all take place in a matter of seconds, the music is also in 5/4 meter which is not the typical 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4 feel of most popular American music.  Here are some of the ending poses.

3rd Grade Ensemble Playing

The 3rd graders learned the chant A Wise Old Owl and then we set it to music.  The students in the back with the microphones are either creating a tune together or chanting the words of the poem.  The back row of instrumentalists are playing a steady beat to keep the group together (like the bass drum in a marching band).  The second row of instrumentalists (soprano xylophones with red mallets) are improvising a melody to go with the rhythm of the words.  Watch for students whose mallets are in sync with the microphone singing/chanting students.  Also, the improvisation should use a lot of neighboring tones, the students should look like they are playing with a plan, trying out new ideas, not just randomly hitting bars of the instrument.  The front row of instrumentalists (glockenspiels- metal bars) are playing the color part.  They are playing during the rests or pauses in the chant, the sound should ring and be precisely together with their neighbors to add a "shimmer."  The students rotated through all of four rows, so even though I only captured one on video, everyone got to play each part.  Fun!
  3rd Grade Blue Group    3rd Grade Yellow Group   3rd Grade Red Group (hat day)

5th grade Yellow and Blue groups singing together

The school had an assembly that cut into the 5th graders' MAPE time and the gym was full of equipment so for the last 15 minutes I was able to pull the yellow and blue groups into my room to sing~  Listen for harmony in Red are Strawberries.  The students are learning a choral arrangement for Little Birch Tree and reading from sheet music to help the students be prepared from middle school choir.  Enjoy their pure unchanged voices, the Little Birch Tree has some gorgeous moments! Little Birch Tree & Red are Strawberries + a verse of The Little Birch Tree too pretty to cut

3rd grade yellow group playing Chattanooga Choo Choo

Listen for the melody being played by like instruments, the soprano xylophones, the glockenspiels and the alto xylophones.  Each group has a distinctive timbre (musical color).  Great job 3rd grade!  Chattanooga Choo Choo

3rd grade & the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra

The 3rd grade students are studying the families of instruments in the orchestra to prepare for a visit from a Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra musician.  They are also creating works of art in art class that may be displayed at the State Theater in conjunction with their next concert.  The featured piece of music is Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  Mrs. Werner and I are collaborating: I'm introducing the music in music class, and she's doing artwork with the students in art class.  I found this terrific website that introduces the musical themes, the story, and the overall work of music.  Many students expressed interest in the site- so here it is~  Scheherazade  Enjoy!