Music This Week

This week in music:

Kindergarten- The Kindergarten students will continue work on maintaining a steady beat. They will also move stylistically to depict loud and soft sounds. My favorite activity this week involves them drawing during music and freezing when the music stops, then resuming their drawing as the music begins. Spend some time this week with your child this week being silent and listening to the sounds all around.

First Grade- First graders are continuing work responding to the sung question: "Sing Me your Name". I'm already amazed at the wonderful voices of our first graders! We are learning the tune to the rhyme, "Do you Know the Muffin Man?" and using a chart showing muffins that represent the steady beat of the song. We are using two puppets named Fang and Twang to demonstrate an echo quality of a song called "Fang and Twang". The children seem to enjoy moving the puppets' mouths at the appropriate time for the echoes.

Second Grade- Second graders have learned a singing game: "Draw a Bucket of Water". We've all had so much fun laughing and singing while playing the game! Another main activity of the week is the speech activity with instruments "2, 4, 6, 8". The children are learning the rhyme and the ostinato (a short repeated pattern), and then transferring them to the xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels.

Third, Fourth, Fifth Grades- Generally these students learn the same concepts at different difficulty levels. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, these students have learned the dance, "La Raspa" this week. We've expanded our work with body percussion: stamp, pat, clap, and snap to the creation stage. Students have created a rhythmic ostinato (short repeated pattern) to accompany various rhymes. In addition, students are learning a song, "Remember Me" which includes a melody and ostinato. The students divide into two groups to sing the song in two part harmony. They are doing well as they learn to maintain their part while another is sung simultaneously.

Be sure to ask your children to share their music experiences this week!