"Let It Go"

I don't know if you've gotten to see Frozen yet, but I thought it was a fantastic movie! The soundtrack was super catchy and well-written, the characters developed nicely, and I thought the message of family love was great!

If you've seen the movie, you may have fallen in love with the song "Let It Go" as much as I have. This anthem of self-discovery and self-awareness is awesome! Apparently, lots of other people think so too, since there are a ton of covers of it out there. I've posted a few of the coolest ones I've seen below. Listen to how they're all different people's interpretations of the same songs, and how different people's voices make it sound, well, different!

DRUM Card Opportunity: Email me your answer to the following prompt, using complete sentences and proper spelling/grammar. Which version of this song is your favorite, and why? 

The original (sung by Idina Menzel, actress, starred in Wicked in its original Broadway run, the movie Rent, and more)

The Demi Lovato version (as sung during the credits)

This is a bit of a parody by Christina Bianco of other singers' voices, including Idina Menzel, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears, Alanis Morissette, Celine Dion, Kristin Chenoweth, Adele, Julie Andrews, Barbara Streisand, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, and Liza Minnelli. Listen to how Bianco alters her tone quality to make her voice sound like an exaggeration of the other singers.

This one is really sweet! It features Alex Boye and a children's choir in an "Africanized tribal cover."

This is a cover by thrash metal singer Caleb Hyles.

This one is a medley (combination of songs) of songs from Frozen sung (and acted out...haha!) by Pentatonix. Make sure you watch all the way to the end for outtakes!

The Piano Guys also did a cover of it, combined with Antonio Vivaldi's "Winter."

Sometimes traffic reporters (like Bob Herzog) like to spice things up a bit and sing their winter driving tips... Here's a funny video of him singing "Just Don't Go" - some good advice for when the roads are really nasty!

I don't know if you've ever used Google Translate before, but it's not always 100% reliable... For example, if you translate something from English to another language, then translate what it gives you back into English, it won't always show you what you started with (and is often hilariously off). Case in point - see how it totally changes the meaning of lots of the song!

Can we just talk about how adorable these kiddos are??

Jimmy Fallon is the new host of The Tonight Show, and he often has musical guests sing their songs with him and The Roots using classroom instruments. It's really neat to see, and it's great that he supports music!

Brian Hull did an impersonation video using Disney characters. I'm pretty sure most of them will be familiar to you. He does characters from Pirates of the Caribbean (Captain Barbosa and Jack Sparrow), The Lion King (Scar, Pumbaa, and Timon), Monsters Inc. (Roz and Mike Wazowski), Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere and Cogsworth), The Little Mermaid (Sebastian and Scuttle), Up (Dug and Alpha), The Jungle Book (Kaa), The Princess and the Frog (Ray), Winnie the Pooh (Winnie the Pooh and Tigger), and other Disney characters (Pete, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy). Just like Christina Bianco does in her video, he changes the timbre (pronounced "TAM-ber" - it's the tone color and aspects of sound that are different between voices and instruments, so you can hear the difference between a flute and a trumpet or between two of your friends talking) to achieve these impersonations (which are hilarious!). Enjoy!

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.)