For the past few weeks, the fifth-grade students have been composing music to accompany the book, "Where the Wild Things Are." We invited first grade and kindergarten classes to watch their performances. Check them out below!
Mrs. Olshaw's class, performing for Mrs. Farrell's class:
Learning how to read and perform music is an important goal of music education, but being able to use what you know to create your own composition is extremely important as well. This past week the 4th graders completed a composition inspired by our composer of the month, Franz Joseph Haydn.
After listening to Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, we examined the patterns found in the rhythm of the music. What we discovered is that the rhythm had 3 measures of rhythm that were exactly the same, followed by 1 measure that was different. This is the 3+1 formula, and its a pattern that commonly occurs in the music of many composers and songwriters.
With a partner, the students created a 3+1 rhythm and then learned to perform it. I then challenged them to “make it interesting”. We talked about all the different things that Haydn did to make his music interesting (changing dynamics), and we brainstormed ideas of their own. Here are the resulting compositions:
This post originally appeared on the Memorial School Music Blog We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Last week, the third graders sang, "The Turkey Shot Out of the Oven." They got into groups and were each assigned a verse. The groups came up with a little routine to perform while they sang. It was so much fun! In between the verses, the whole class sang the refrain. Check out the videos below:
This post first appeared on the Memorial Music Blog This week, the third graders sang one of their favorite Halloween songs, "Ghost of John." We added an accompaniment part on the Boomwhackers and triangles. In addition, our classroom Superheroes had the opportunity to play the coveted thunder drum! Half of the class sang the melody, and the other half sang a vocal ostinato pattern. Check out their videos!
(Friday night) a magical moment occurred bridging the gap between the middle school and the high school.
For the first time, the middle school Symphonic Band under the direction of Marcia Medvitz joined Mr. Matt Lovell and the BHS Red Devils Marching Band for the National Anthem. Thank you for all the staff and volunteer parents for helping make this happen.
Surely this will create life long memories for all. The pride among the parents was palpable. Way to go!
6th graders on Mr. Mullen’s general music class are learning to play melody and accompaniment in our new keyboard lab. Today, we took the headphones off, and played “open air!”
Today's lessons were fantastic! Here is the assignment for the week, and please also check out the important information below!!
Bow Exercises
Bow tube practice (just a few minutes each day)
Pages 8 and 9, pizzicato
To Hold the Bow:
Start by making your little "shadow puppet," making sure to place the middle fingers over the thumb.
Following the steps I taught in class, hold the bow as shown below- the trickiest part will be that pinky!
In addition to the windshield wiper exercise we practiced today, please watch these videos and give them a try:
These exercises should be fun, and also count towards your minutes of practicing! :)
When using the bow tube, please be sure to hold it firmly with your left hand on your left shoulder, and to place the bow inside carefully. Keeping the proper position of your right hand on the bow, pretend to play the violin through your tube. Your right hand wrist should be flexible to bend up and down as you bow. To make it more fun, you can listen to some music while you practice!
