September Music!

September Music!

Every month I'm going to be posting pictures of celebrity singers in chorus. I will also be posting the musician, culture and composer of the month for first through third grade. (Thank you for all of your suggestions! Please feel free to still send in recommendations for your families' cultures!) Finally, I'm trying to include pictures and videos of what goes on in the music room! September was a bit of a blur but there will be more next month. I teach 33 classes a week (25 JFK and 10 Parmenter) so while I can not capture every class, every month, (I would need a personal videographer!) I'll do my best to capture each class before the end of the year. Hopefully, by seeing another class in your child's grade you'll still be able to have a great conversation with your child about what they're learning in music! 

Thanks for reading! Mrs. Mac(Murray)

Kindergarten:

This first term students are focusing on two things. 1. Learning that the beat is a steady pulse. (We've been exploring our surroundings and finding the beat everywhere! Our hearts, tools, clocks, music, instruments, our bodies, buses, windshield wipes, swings and so on can all move with a steady pulse!) 2. We can use our voice to shout, speak, whisper, sing, chant, and audiate! (Ask them to show you all the voices we use in music!) 

Mrs. Trottier's Class JFK

Students explored a new instrument, the tambourine and found the beat in Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog".

1st Grade:

In first grade we took a few weeks to review our concepts from kindergarten. We are now focusing on two learning objectives. 1. We can echo patterns in duple meter using syllables. (We are using syllables such as Du (pronounced Doo) and Du de (pronounced Doo day). This is the second step in learning how to become fluent in rhythm. 2. We can accurately find and sing the resting tone. (The resting tone is one of the most important notes in a song sometimes referred to as "Do" pronounced "Doh" when in major tonality. Students could not get enough of our musician of the month, Ray Charles. We talked about how there must have been times when things were hard due to being blind but he never gave up! 

2nd Grade:

In second grade we spent a few weeks reviewing end of the year first grade objectives. This year we are echoing and identifying two different kinds of patterns in duple meter (Macro/micro patterns and Division/Elongation patterns). We are also learning to sing patterns in major tonality using solfege starting with the resting tone! (Think Sound of Music Do-Re-Mi:) We decided to start our cultures right here in the United States! How lucky are we that we are the home to the King of Blues, Rock, Pop and many more? Students also met a jazz favorite Louis Armstrong!

3rd Grade:

In third grade we spent a few weeks reviewing end of the year second grade objectives. This year we are focusing on composers. We are singing solfege syllables in major tonality and we have been reading and creating rhythms in duple meter. We learned about the composer Gustav Holst who used the planets as inspiration for his composition "The Planets Suite". 

Sneak peek at the one of our planet compositions. Students created this rhythm as a class, talked about revisions with friends and then voted on the final 16 beats!

We listened to Mars in class. Here students can see what it looks like in concert.

4th Grade:

Students in fourth grade spent the first month learning the names of the notes on the treble clef staff and reviewing rhythms in duple meter and their names. Ask your students to teach you the tricks for the line and space notes! Recorders are beginning in just two weeks! They will come home in January:)

5th Grade:

We have been so busy catching up on recorder from last year! We are reviewing notes from last year and adding some new practices to our bag of tricks! Students are learning how to count rhythms! Their middle school teachers will be so impressed! Remember, recorders should always be in backpacks and every student should be practicing the recorder 5x a week for 10 minutes each time. Can't wait for ukuleles will begin this month! 
Feel free to check out my previous post: Thinking of buying a ukulele?

3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Chorus
All choirs have been learning or reviewing their chorus objectives. So far we have done...
1. We can sing with the 5 points of posture.
2. We can sing with great breath support!

Reminder that concert dates are on their right side of this blog page. These kids are going to sound amazing!

September Celebrity Singers

3rd Parmenter

3rd JFK

4th JFK

5th JFK

JFK Concert Date Change

Sorry for any confusion!

New concert date for JFK 3rd and 4th end of the year concerts is Thursday, June 13th. Information has been updated in important dates.

Please share! Thank you! Mrs. Mac

Mrs. Mac is back!

Welcome back everyone!

I'm so excited to be back at Parmenter and JFK Elementary Schools. While it's always hard to see a maternity leave and summer come to an end (I can't believe my baby is almost 6 months old!), I'm thankful I have a job I love coming back to. One new thing this year is my room at JFK! I'm now in room 28 in the modulars. Some former students may remember when I was in there before! While it's always hard to say goodbye to an old room, I'm thankful for the AC in my new room. Looking forward to a year of musical growth! 

~ Mrs. Mac

MUSICIAN/CULTURE/COMPOSER OF THE MONTH

In an effort to enrich your child’s musical experience, I have created a board for first, second, and third graders at both schools that ties their birthdays to famous composers, musicians and cultures. My hope is that in addition to helping them grow as musicians it will also help them learn different types of music and grow in their acceptance of people’s differences.

Like last year, to try to provide more consistency and align with the classroom and music curriculum, I'm going to do a musician for 1st grade, culture for 2nd grade, and composer for 3rd grade. 

SECOND GRADE FAMILIES: In terms of cultures, I hope to present music with as much authenticity as possible, I know I will be learning much of the music alongside your children. I also recognize that within a small region there are many different musical styles. Therefore it will be impossible to represent all regions and styles. Here is where you come in! If you have any knowledge of music from another part of the world or you would like me to celebrate music from your family's country please take this short survey below to share your idea! A yellow paper will also come home that you can fill out if that is easier. If you already shared last year, please share again! Thank you in advance!

2nd Grade Culture of the Month Survey

CHORUS and CONCERT DATES

All concert dates can be found on the right side of my blog page under important dates. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. *Feel free to share these dates and my blog to any school groups you may be a part of!

For those of you new to JFK and Parmenter or have students in 3rd grade who are hopefully coming home excited about chorus here is a quick overview! Chorus is a 45 minute block once a week in addition to general music where students come together to sing as a group. My goal is to help students grow as musicians, gain confidence, and have fun! As a special incentive, I pick celebrity singers every week. Find out more below!

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! Anyone can learn to sing!

PRIVATE LESSON REFERRALS

Every year parents ask for recommendations for private teachers for all different instruments. The music department has a running list of well qualified teachers in the Franklin area. However, every year we see incredible talent throughout Franklin and realize there are teachers we are missing. If your child takes or has taken private lesson and you would like your child’s teacher to be recommended, please fill out the below referral or direct your child's teacher to this link. Your child's teacher can also contact me at macmurraym@franklin.k12.ma.us if they would like to be added to the list.

Private Lessons Referral

Our current list which is still being updated can be found at the following link
Private Lesson Referral List