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!