Google Voice

The 4th and 5th graders have been exercising a technology-infused DRUM card opportunity utilizing Google Voice. Basically, they call the phone number for my Google Voice account (using any phone) and play 3 recorder songs for me...and they get a DRUM card! It's super easy! (And a great incentive for practicing!) They can get a maximum of two DRUM cards for this right now; I'll update them in the future if I end up resetting the number. :)

Google Voice Instructions for 4^th and 5^th Grade Recorders

·       

Using a phone, call (920) 643-0433.

·        State your name, your class, and the exercises you are going to play.

o   Example: “This is Colleen from Mrs. Johnson’s class, and I’m going to play Land of a Thousand Dances, Rockero, and The Magnificent Seven.”

·        For every three songs you play successfully, you will earn a DRUM card! (For a maximum of two DRUM cards) (Successful means I can tell you practiced it. Small mistakes are understandable, but I should still be able to understand what the song is.)

Frequently Asked Questions

·        Which songs can I play?

o   You may choose from any written music from your book that we've talked about and/or played in class, as well as the B-A-G packet I gave you.

·        What will increase my chances of success?

o   Choose the exercises you’re going to perform, and circle them so you can find them more easily during the call. Practice them before calling.

o   Practice before calling so that you are comfortable and confident with the exercises (songs) you’ve chosen to perform!

·        What if I don’t know the notes?

o   It sounds like it’s time to practice…you need to remember the letter names of the lines and spaces and go from there. So far we know two line notes (G and B) and two space notes (A and C). The first thing to figure out is whether it’s a line note or a space note. Next, determine if it’s low or high – that will help you determine which note it is.

Onomatopoeia: What Does the Drummer Say?

Onomatopoeia: The creation of words that imitate natural sounds (or, more simply, words that sound like the noises they describe). Examples: buzz, hiss, hiccup, boom, bang, crack, splash, crash

Want some more examples? Check out this website, which has 101 examples of onomatopoeic words!

Using onomatopoeia in your writing can help your reader imagine what you're describing more clearly. For example, which of the following sentences creates a more vivid (clear and intense) picture in your head?

1. The thunder shook my windows and startled me.
2. The booming thunder rattled my windows and startled me. 

Notice how the onomatopoeia ("booming," "rattled") in sentence #2 helps describe the sounds the thunder and windows made. That helps me imagine that I'm actually experiencing the booming thunder and rattling windows because the situation is described more in more detail.

If you know any percussionists, you might hear onomatopoeia when they "sing" their parts. When we sing through melodic parts (for strings, woodwinds, brass, or keyboard percussion parts), we can sing the pitches using a neutral syllable (like "la," "da," "loo," or something else) or solfege (do, re, mi, etc.). However, what happens when you try to sing parts for drums and auxiliary percussion?

What kinds of alternate sounds can you come up with for some of the sounds you hear in the Eastern Michigan University Drumline's Series?

If you spelled them out, would they look something like the words in this percussion-inspired video? It's a parody (silly version) of "The Fox."

DRUM card opportunity: Email me a sentence or two using at least two onomatopoeic words of your choice. (Check out the link at the beginning of this post for more ideas.)

The National Anthem

The 3rd graders started learning about our national anthem last week, before the Super Bowl. They learned about the origins of "The Star-Spangled Banner," (link has all sorts of neat things about the SSB, including lyrics to all 4 verses) including the fact that although it was written in 1814, it wasn't officially adopted as our national anthem until 1931.

We talked about some disrespectful ways to sing the anthem (making it about you instead of the USA, not removing hats, being goofy instead of reverent and respectful, not singing the right words), and practiced singing it the proper way after watching a short compilation of what not to do.

For more information, listen to musicologist and University of Michigan professor Mark Clague discuss the history of the national anthem on Michigan Radio.

The following video is an example of a large group of high school musicians, all gathered at a hotel for the Kentucky State Honors Choir. They spread out on the balconies of all 18 floors to sing the national anthem. (Apparently, it's a KY State Honors Choir tradition.) How neat are the acoustics in this open space?!

This is a video of what some people consider the best Super Bowl performance of the national anthem. Whitney Houston (1963-2012) sang it for Super Bowl XXV in 1991.

This year (2014) was the first year an opera singer was invited to perform the national anthem at the Super Bowl. Renee Fleming (1959-  ), American soprano, was accompanied by professional military vocalists and a recording of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

Treble Clef Note Names

The 4th and 5th graders have reviewed different ways to remember the lines and spaces of the treble clef. Here are some of the memory tricks we've used:

Evil Gummy Bears Destroy Florida

Even George Bush Drives Fast

Elvis Goes Belly Dancing Fridays

We've also used a chant to go along with our hand signs (video to come later). "E G B D F - these are the lines of the treble clef. F A C E spells face in the space, uh-huh, face in the space, uh-huh, face in the space - yeah!"

Playing recorders gives the students a great opportunity to practice reading the notes in context while playing an instrument. Here are some online games for students to play to continue improving their note-reading skills:

Space notes

Line notes

Lines and spaces: This one, this one, this one, and this one

Spelling words

Kindergarten: Johnny Works with One Hammer

Lately, the kindergarteners have continued their steady beat practice. We've worked it into a song that uses our whole bodies, "Johnny Works with One Hammer." One of the kindergarten classes asked me to record them and post the video on the blog...so here they are! (By the way, they choreographed the 7th hammer (er, screwdriver?) move themselves.)

February Performances in Northeast Wisconsin

Whenever any Lannoye student goes to any performance (band, choir, etc.) outside of the school day, if s/he brings back a program with a sentence written on it stating one thing s/he liked about the concert and why, s/he will receive a DRUM (Demonstrating Respect and Understanding in Music) card.

Jazz Fest with Kenny Werner, jazz pianist
February 1, 4 pm
Weidner Center
Tickets: $12 in advance, $15 day-of
(Every year, UW-Green Bay hosts a jazz festival for high school jazz bands to compete with each other and work with professional jazz musicians. The top two high school bands will perform at the afternoon concert alongside the UWGB Jazz I Ensemble and Kenny Werner.)

Green Bay Symphony Orchestra
February 8, 7:30 pm
Weidner Center
Tickets: $15 - $45
(The program is entitled "Great Music from Around the World" and includes music from Rossini's Barber of Seville (Bugs Bunny version below), Chinese music with a traditional Chinese instrument, Bernstein's On the Town, and da Falla's Three-Cornered Hat.)

Wicked
February 12 - March 2
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
Tickets: Start at $49.
(This is a musical about the story of The Wizard of Oz, through the eyes of the Wicked Witch of the West. The song below is "Defying Gravity," sung by the stars of the original Broadway production, Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth.)

Civic Symphony of Green Bay
February 15, 7:30 pm
Meyer Theatre
Tickets: Family $40, Adult $17, Senior $12, Student $7
(Program includes "Nessun Dorma," as sung by the late Luciano Pavarotti below, also featured in the Matrix-inspired Kia commercial during the Super Bowl, posted below Pavarotti)

Chris Botti
February 15, 7:30 pm
Weidner Center
Tickets: $39.50 - $72.50
(Jazz trumpetist and composer Chris Botti, who won a Grammy in 2013, will be performing in Green Bay.)

Pulaski High School presents: Anything Goes
February 15, 7 pm
February 16, 2 pm
PHS Ripley Performing Arts Center
Tickets: $7

Allouez Village Band
February 17, 7 pm
Meyer Theatre
Tickets: Free
(Program includes John Williams' "Symphonic Marches" (as shown below by the US Army Field Band), highlights from the musical Guys and Dolls, and more.)

Pulaski High School presents: Anything Goes
February 22, 7 pm
February 23, 2 pm
PHS Ripley Performing Arts Center
Tickets: $7

Pulaski High School: Music for Moderns Concert
February 25, 7 pm
PHS Ripley Performing Arts Center

Music Notes: End of January 2014

Music Notes

January 2014

Hello from the Lannoye music room!

If you check out the Lannoye music blog, you will see a new post with videos from the winter concert! You can relive the concert at lannoyemusic.blogspot.com. Don’t forget to sign up for email updates in the upper right corner, underneath the Lannoye Dragon.

Despite all of the snow days and cold days, we’ve been keeping busy in the music room. Here’s a grade-by-grade breakdown of what the students have been learning:

The kindergarteners continue to practice physically showing the steady beat to songs that we sing by ourselves (like our a cappella welcome song), songs that we sing along to, and instrumental music that we listen to. We do lots of movement to different kinds of music. We’ve continued our pitch matching experiences by singing echo songs, and have moved on to playing student-led pitch-matching games like “Charlie Over the Ocean.”

The 1^st graders have continued working on ta, ti-ti, and rest (quarter note, two 8^th notes, and quarter rest) through clapping, speaking, playing instruments, reading, and writing. They’ve begun learning about composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in addition to creating their own rhythmic compositions.

The 2^nd graders have been reviewing half notes and half rests, and they just added whole notes and whole rests to their rhythmic vocabulary. We’ve played rhythmic games like “Poison,” and singing games that correspond with songs like “Wee Willie Winkie.” Most recently, they’ve begun creating their own rhythmic compositions.

The 3^rd graders have moved on to leading their own body percussion rounds, and they’ve been practicing singing rounds as well. We added a dance to a Hebrew round called “Toombaї.” The students also learned a new rhythm (ti-tiri, along with a sneak preview of tiri-ti, which is a 4^th grade rhythm) and have applied it in different songs and rhythmic sightreading exercises. Most recently, we started moving on to pentatonic scales by doing a short activity exploring different Greek and Latin numeral prefixes, then applying that language (penta- + -tonic) to music.

The 4^th and 5^th graders started their month by reviewing rhythms, rounds, and note names on the treble clef staff. I may have tricked them all into doing a bit of music math with the rhythms we’ve reviewed, especially the dotted ones… In other rhythmic news, the 4^th graders learned how to count rhythms using numbers instead of counting syllables. They’ve practiced this skill using rhythms as small as 8^th notes. The 5^th graders reviewed this skill, added 16^th notes to their number-counting repertoire, and learned a new rhythm (dotted 8^th/16^th note combination). After we reviewed counting and note names, we were ready to move on to recorders! It’s been a bit of a bummer with cold days taking away instruction time, but many of the students have been excited for home practice time.

Happy 2014, and may the polar vortex be over soon!

Ms. Corinne Galligan
(920) 822-0433
cmgalligan@pulaskischools.org
lannoyemusic.blogspot.com