December Musician of the Month is...

Ludwig van Beethoven!

Happy 245th Birthday to our Musician of the Month! 

You may notice google paying homage to our composer! Click below to celebrate Beethoven's Birthday!

Beethoven Google Game

I also can not resist sharing this link. Kudos to composer John Williams who wrote the music for this epic movie series. What would Star Wars be without its music?

Star Wars a cappella

What's new in music?

"Skin and Bones"

Featured: Parmenter 5th Grade - Mrs. Lyons/Mrs. McMullen's Class

Every year I try to find new ways to explore the song, "Skin and Bones." In 5th grade, students finally know enough notes  to learn the song on the recorder! We decided to spice it up a little this year by adding a barred instrument accompaniment and some other percussion instruments. Families will get to see a polished version at the upcoming winter concert! Until then, enjoy our behind the scenes practice!

November Celebrity Singers!
I just love the personality in these pictures!

JFK 5th

JFK 3rd

JFK 4th

Parmenter 5th

Reminder! JFK 5th grade concert is Friday, December 11th at 9AM. All other concerts will be in January. Concert dates are posted on this blog on the right side of the page.

November Musician of the Month!
John Philip Sousa
Born: November 6, 1854

December Musician Hints: Born December 17, 1770 in Germany, one of the most influential musicians of his time, began to lose hearing in his 30s. Think "Ode to Joy!"

JFK 5th recorder practice video 2

Here is Quest of the Three Kings as requested! Special thanks to my videographer, Mrs. Hess:)
Happy practicing!

Thank you to Parmenter PCC!

On behalf of the students at Parmenter School, I'd like to say thank you to the Parmenter PCC for supporting and funding the new recess equipment! The color-coded grade level equipment seems to be working well and I witnessed second graders having a blast with it on Monday!

JFK 5th Grade Recorder HW Practice Video

5th Grade Music HW: Practice 5x a week 10 min each time. This should be a fun way to get in that practice time!

*Parmenter 5th graders are moving at a little different pace due to their classes being on Mondays and their concert being in January. Feel free to practice for fun though!:)

October News

"To Stop the Train" round
Featured: Parmenter 5th grade chorus
This chorus loves a good challenge! They decided to do this round in 6 parts dividing each part by row. Can't wait to see what they'll do next!

"Staccato/Legato" audiated
Featured: JFK 4th grade chorus
Students here were asked to audiate the whole first part of their new chorus song and only sing the last note. Sorry! You'll have to wait for the concert to hear this one!

"Old Abram Brown" round
Featured: JFK 5th grade chorus
This was a really spooky new round I tried this year. While we didn't have time to really polish this idea before filming I wanted to show what the 5th graders came up with in performing their round. Elias had the idea to mix up the parts so that everyone had a different part next to them (very advanced for elementary chorus!) and Shaw had the idea to use movement to show the phrasing of the piece. Check it out!

"All Through the Night"

Featured: Franklin and other New England Music Teachers

A couple of Fridays ago, I was fortunate enough to attend a professional development day with other Franklin music staff that focused on fostering the arts. (Although according to Mrs. Trottier, her K class was debating if I had retired:) Here is what happens when a bunch of Elementary Music teachers get together! If you look closely you might be able to see Franklin music teachers: Mr. Barrett, Mr. Gustafson, Mrs. Fuller, and Mr. Sansoni. I helped create the form of this piece and was the videographer of course!

OUR FIRST CELEBRITY SINGERS!

JFK 3rd

JFK 4th

JFK 5th

Parmenter 5th

Q: What's a celebrity singer?
A: A celebrity singer is a student in chorus that demonstrates great effort, leadership, and focus. They also show great singing technique such as good posture, vowel shapes, pitch, breathing, etc. Sometimes I also pick a student whom I feel has shown great improvement. With the help of the educational assistants and celebrity singers from the previous week, I try to chose one boy and one girl per week. Some weeks I can't help myself and pick more!

Q: Where did this idea come from?
A: I wanted to show students that anyone can join and love chorus and become a singer. It's not just for a certain type of person, everyone was born to sing! I began thinking about celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Beyonce, Matt Damon, Theodore Roosevelt, etc. that were all in chorus when they were younger. Sometimes the best singers are the people you would least expect!

Q: What can I do to help?
A: Never tell your child they can't sing! Also be careful about how you joke about your own singing. We're all born with the right equipment to sing. Some of us unfortunately just never learned how to use it!

OCTOBER'S MUSICIAN OF THE MONTH

While Yo-Yo Ma just celebrated his 60th Birthday, here he is at the age of 7 making his musical debut for John F. Kennedy! 

Thank you!

If you are reading this you are following my blog! Yay!:)

It was so nice to meet so many great families the last couple of weeks at Parmenter's curriculum night and fall social and JFK's open house! Thank you for signing up for my blog! Enjoy two little sneak peeks of some of the fun in the music room! 

Pumpkin Patch (Grades K and 1)
Featured: Mr. McCarthy's K class
Students are working on chanting with a steady beat!

Notes of the Treble Clef (Grade 4)
Featured: Mrs. Adams' Class
Students are learning to read the notes on the treble clef staff!

September Musician of the Month!

Happy Birthday to our Musician of the Month, Ray Charles! 

This year each month, we will be celebrating students' birthdays in grades 1-3 along with a birthday of a famous musician born the same month! I try to pick musicians from different cultures and musicians that might broaden students' musical experiences, Last year, I focused on composers. This year, many musicians will be composers but I may have a few that are more known for their performing skills. As always, I will take class time in December and June to showcase our musicians at JFK and Parmenter Schools!

This month I picked Ray Charles because I find him inspiring. Sometimes we want to give up when things get tough. Ray Charles could have given up when he lost his eyesight. I'm sure reading and writing music was not easy. Instead he worked hard and he went on to become a world famous musician! With hard work anything is possible!

Ray Charles ABC's

Speaking of musicians! Here is one of our very own singers at Parmenter singing the National Anthem at Fenway Park Saturday! Wow!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIw33sVkbxQ

Do you have a musician that would be appropriate for grades 1-3 that you think I should showcase? Please leave a comment with the musician and why you think that musician should be picked!

Support the Franklin Music program by bringing this coupon to Froyo World! Wednesday, September 30th

Peter and the Wolf and Concerts

Peter and the Wolf

A special thank you to JFK and Parmenter PCCs! Thanks to them, I was able to bring my Instruments of the Orchestra unit to life! Today Parmenter 3rd graders joined 3rd graders at JFK to watch musicians of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra perform Peter and the Wolf! It was a real treat to see the instruments we learned about up close and personal. The musicians were able to stay and do a repeat performance for grades K-2 as well!

 

Bravo!

I can not begin to explain how proud I was of my students this week. At both Parmenter and JFK, the 3rd and 4th graders had wonderful concerts that showed great enthusiasm and hard work! Yesterday 5th graders performed in their Proud To Be An American Show. It has been such an honor to watch them grow into wonderful musicians. It seems as though they just walked through the doors as Kindergarteners not too long ago! They will be greatly missed and I hope they come back and visit!

 

I was not able to get clips from all performances but I'm including a couple below! If someone has a clip from the JFK 3rd grade concert, please e-mail me! macmurraym@franklin.k12.ma.us Thank you!

 

JFK 4th Grade "Hey Brother"

(Fourth grade student, Ben, playing the drums!)

 

Parmenter 4th Grade "Hey Brother"

 

Parmenter 3rd Grade "Brave"

 

5th Grade practice "Taps"

 

 

End of Year Celebrity Singers and Musicians of the Month!

May and June Celebrity Singers!

Thank you to all the singers that went beyond the call of duty this year! So proud of your hard work!

JFK 5th

JFK 5th

JFK 4th

JFK 3rd

Parmenter 3rd

Parmenter 4th

June, July, and August Musicians of the Month!

The Beatles

I was trying to tell students how this band was more popular than One Direction! I think this video gives you an idea of how popular they were:)

5th Grade JFK Special Guests!

Big thank you again to JFK PCC for bringing Eine Kleine Konsort Recorders to Kennedy School!

JFK 5th grade students worked very hard this spring to learn some very challenging pieces to perform with these special guests! This was really a great culmination of the last two years of recorder playing. Our special guests remarked on how advanced our students were and how well behaved. Check out some highlights below!

"I Feel Good" James Brown

"March" from The Nutcracker

"Ode To Joy" Beethoven

Thank you JFK and Parmenter PCC!

With the help of both JFK and Parmenter PCCs I was able to bring in professional cellist, Mr. Selby, to perform for the 3rd grades! It was a great experience to see the different string instruments demonstrated for us! It also helped bring to life my unit on instrument families of the orchestra and illustrate some 3rd grade concepts in science such as sound and vibrations! I look forward to exploring these families more on June 12th with special guests from the RI Philharmonic Orchestra!

4th grade recorder - Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

A student today requested I make a video for the silver belt song - Take Me Out to the Ballgame. So here it is! Don't forget to scroll down for extra help on green and blue! Happy practicing!

Go Sox!;)

Celebrity Singer and May Musician!

May Musician of the Month!

Stevie Wonder

May 13, 1950

April Celebrity Singers!

3rd JFK

3rd Parmenter

4th Parmenter

4th JFK

*5th JFK will be included in May

JFK and Parmenter 4th Grade Recorder

Hi Everyone!

The blue belt is a tricky one but remember it's smooth sailing to your black belt once you pass this belt!

More songs can be found on the right side of my blog under important links. Once you click on recorder karate dojo click on streaming audio. The username and password are in your packet. The only song not found on this website is "Who Has Seen the Wind." I'm including it below!

You can do it! Mrs. Mac

Peter and the Wolf!

Happy Belated Birthday to our Musician of the Month, Sergei Prokofiev!

April 23, 1891

Looking forward to welcoming the RI Philharmonic June 12th to perform Prokofiev's most famous piece, "Peter and the Wolf!"

This week in 3rd grade at both schools, I will kick start their Instruments of the Orchestra Unit and it will culminate with RI Philharmonic's performance and a special visit by cellist, Brent Selby!

Mrs. Mac is back!

Starting this Monday I'm back and excited to finish up the year with everyone! I can't believe we have only about 6 weeks until our concerts and 9 weeks until the end of the year! Get your recorders and singing voices ready because we have work to do!

Important End of the Year Dates!

Thursday, April 30th 5th grade JFK Proud to Be American Auditions

Monday, May 11th 3rd grade Parmenter Professional String Player Brent Selby to visit

Tuesday, May 12th 3rd grade JFK Professional String Player Brent Selby to visit

Thursday, May 21st 5th Graders will perform with special guest 

http://www.ekkrecorders.com/ (for students only)

Friday, June 5th 9:00 3rd grade chorus concert

Friday, June 5th 9:45 4th grade chorus and recorder concert

Tuesday, June 9th 9:00 3rd grade chorus concert

Tuesday, June 9th 9:45 4th grade chorus and recorder concert

Thursday, June 11th 5th Grade JFK Proud to be an American Show

Friday, June 12th 9:30 RI Philharmonic visits JFK to perform Peter and the Wolf for JFK AND Parmenter 3rd graders

MARCH CELEBRITY SINGERS!

Special thanks to my amazing sub, Ms. McComb! We were so lucky to have her and it was nice knowing they were left in good hands! We wish her the best of luck in her future musical endeavors!

Parmenter 3rd

JFK 4th

Parmenter 4th

JFK 5th

JFK 3rd

JFK 5th Grade PTB Auditions

Proud To Be An American

Singing Auditions

If you are interested in a singing part. Please rehearse and memorize verse 1 of "American Tears". Auditions will be the week following April vacation during General Music. All solos will be determined by singing this song.

“American Tears”

 Verse 1: Sometimes I think about America.

About her struggles through the years.

I think of people who did what they had to do

With the strength to act through their fears.

Following these auditions a few students may be asked to sing the beginning of the following song as well. No memorization is needed. 

Spend a week this summer with Mrs. Mac!

Back by popular demand...

Elementary School Musical!

Come join me this summer for a one week (July 6-10) musical adventure! Open to all 2015-2016 3rd-6th graders. This will be my seventh summer offering this camp. I can not remember a year it hasn't had a waiting list! The last two years we even expanded the group to include 6th graders as mentors. Each year is a new experience filled with fun and music. For a full description and to register follow this link!

Elementary School Musical

January and February Celebrity Singers!

Sorry for the delay due to so much snow! So proud of these students who are going above and beyond while I'm on maternity leave! Mrs. McComb has had nothing but good things to say about the students at JFK and Parmenter and I look forward to seeing everyone when I return on Monday, April 27th!

January and February Celebrity Singers!

JFK 5th Grade

Parmenter 4th Grade

JFK 3rd Grade

JFK 4th Grade

Parmenter 3rd Grade

JFK 3rd Grade

JFK 4th Grade

Welcome Grace Elizabeth MacMurray!

While I will be on maternity leave until the week before April vacation I wanted to share my news! Grace Elizabeth was born 12/21/15 at 1:10AM just an hour after her due date! She was a peanut at 5lbs 14oz unlike her big brother, Peter, who was almost 9lbs! She is a very healthy and happy baby! Peter loves his little sister and gives her kisses all the time. I look forward to bringing her to school once the weather gets nicer! Looking forward to hearing wonderful music when I return!