Any student who is taking private lessons came home with a green paper. Feel free to return the green paper to recommend your child's teacher OR just click here!
In the past few years, in an effort to enrich your child’s musical experience, I have created a bulletin board for first, second, and third graders that ties their birthdays to famous composers and musicians. While every year I try to draw music from around the world I hope this year to bring special attention to musicians and styles from different parts of the world. My hope is that in addition to helping them grow as musicians it will also help them grow in their acceptance of people’s differences.
While 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!
I decided to start with music right here in the USA. Here is a popular blues musician, B.B. King! Born September 16, 1925.
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.
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.
I'm so excited for our new year together! I've been busy this summer planning new activities, playing the ukulele, and setting up my new classroom at JFK! My new room at JFK is rm. 16 off the cafeteria. Looking forward to seeing all of you soon!
Sorry! But this news is too good not to share! The elementary music teachers put in for a FEF grant for next year and we are excited to announce we received the grant! Next year 5th graders will be learning the ukulele! Woo hoo! Looks like I better start planning!
While I'm at it, I'd like to share another really original show n' tell here at Parmenter today! This is the Ototo. What a cool instrument to add to the electric family! Thanks Sawyer for sharing!
What a great year it has been! I was so proud of my 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at JFK and Parmenter over the last two weeks! Their concerts really showed all of our hard work! These awesome kids are what makes my job so fun!
Wishing you all a relaxing summer, enjoying your families! Looking forward to seeing everyone again next year!
"Get Up and Dance"
Are you a fan of Jimmy Fallon? Jimmy Fallon and the Roots do a variation of various pop songs with the artist and elementary classroom instruments. I had an extra 5th grade class last week at JFK and the 5th graders in Mrs. Vicente's class and I put this video together in just 30 minutes. We had fun and hope you enjoy it too!
Music Show n' Tell Highlights:
Nigamanth 3rd Grade on the Mrdangam
Elijiah 3rd Grade Electric Guitar
Dylan 3rd Grade Electric Guitar
John 4th Piano and Singing
Musicians of the Month
In the spirit of recognizing rockin' female musicians, I went to see the Dixie Chicks Tuesday night at "Great Woods". What a talented trio!
This final month we will be celebrating women who have paved the way for other women in music. Below are some amazing women. Feel free to comment with more women musicians who you think have made their mark in music. I always love suggestions!
Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Marin Alsop, Amy Beach, Carole King, the list goes on!
Jazz Vocalist and Bassist: Esperanza Spalding and former Musician of the Month, Bobby McFerrin!
Fun in the music room!
I thought I would share some photos I offered to take for Mrs. Maiato of her second grade class. These kids make my job fun!
Snap with me! A 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade favorite! Students sing and move to a jazzy song in minor tonality and triple meter while exploring high, medium, and low space.
My Pony Bill! Once again students are exploring triple meter and minor tonality. I couldn't resist bringing in my friend Bill to liven things up a bit! Students sing the resting tone in minor and then get a turn on Bill. Once they have had their turn they go to the temple blocks to improvise in triple meter. Let's just hope my son doesn't notice his trusty steed missing!:)
Mrs. Mac loves using instruments! I try to use instruments at least once a lesson. To end the year each class is taking a popular nursery rhyme such as "Humpty Dumpty" (What do you know? Triple meter!:) And creating their own ostinati (short repeating rhythm) to accompany the poem and add instruments. It'll be interesting to see what these sound like when we're done!
Special thank you to Rory in 3rd grade and his family for sharing their mandolin! And a big thank you to Mr. Lee for joining myself and the 3rd graders at chorus Friday to play it for us! We really enjoyed learning about this unique string instrument!
