Happy New Year! - December Music

Reminder: January Concerts coming soon!

Everyone should have received a paper reminder before vacation indicating concert details and concert attire. Attire is that students dress up for this special performance. 

Parmenter 3rd Grade: Tuesday, January 14 9:00 AM
JFK 3rd Grade: Thursday, January 16 9:00 AM
JFK 4th Grade: Thursday, January 16 9:45 AM

December Celebrity Singers in Chorus!

 

  JFK 3rd Grade

JFK 4th Grade

 JFK 5th Grade

 Parmenter 3rd Grade

December Musician, Culture, and Composer of the Month!

Students also requested I share this so they could watch again at home:)

1st Grade Musician: Ludwig van Beethoven 

2nd Grade Culture: Europe - Russia

3rd Grade Composer: Pyotr Tchaikovsky

"The Nutcracker Suite" premiered December 18, 1892

Other snapshots of Music in December!

Below are pictures and videos of different activities and concepts we explored in music. I plan to feature every class that I teach at JFK and Parmenter by the end of the year. Stay tuned!

Also follow me on twitter @MrsMacMusic1

Grades 1st-5th Music Show and Tell

Thank you to everyone who helped transport instruments etc. during this busy week so students could perform for myself and their classmates. If your child forgot, don't worry! We'll be doing this again in June. Here a few small highlights.

Kindergarten

I regret not getting any videos or photos this month! We've done so many fun activities! All activities this term are centering around finding the macro (big/strong) beat and micro (small/divided) beats and finding and singing the resting tone. The resting tone is Do in a scale (or La in a la-based minor scale) and lays the foundation for the I chord later in reading bass lines, improvising etc. Ask your children about The Nutcracker, Grizzly Bear, Tiny Tim the frog, Boom Boom Boom Went the Giants and Little Snowflake. You might hear the resting tone and some macro and micro beats!

1st Grade

Here in Mrs. Kolodny's class, students learned to listen to parts that sound the same and different. This is how students start learning about form or how composers organize music. We also learned that in a ballet dancers tell the story with no singing or talking. This is "Dance of the Reed Flutes."

2nd Grade

Students learned how to create harmony in a round using the song "kookaburra". I loved how students kept asking me to create more and more harmony by dividing into smaller groups.

3rdd Grade

This is Mrs. Henneberry's class performing "The March" from the Nutcracker.

4th Grade

Students completed learning B,A,G on the recorder and are now ready to bring them home! Starting next week students will be asked to practice the recorder 5 times a week for 10 minutes each time. This might fluctuate depending on the song or student but I would say this is the max they should need to master a song. All songs will be part of the program Recorder Karate and will be performed in their end of the year concert. More details coming home next week! Get ready!:)

This is a modified version of Jingle Bells using the notes:B,A,G.

5th Grade

Here are fifth graders in action on the ukulele! This month I gave students a packet filled with all different winter songs. Students could pick whatever song they wanted to practice and perform for me on the recorder and they were given a couple of songs to learn on the ukulele. Students should have completed one winter song for a report card grade. Check in with your child and make sure they have completed this. In January we are starting new music! Here they are performing the C chord and newly learned F chord. Enjoy!

In 5th grade students are now able to play all the notes in the popular winter song, Jingle Bells.