The 4th and 5th graders started learning/reviewing their treble clef note names this week in preparation for our recorder unit. We started this process with a parody called "I Knew You Were Treble" by Jeanette Young.
We've also started practicing and creating our own acronyms to help remember the location of the letters. My personal favorite line acronym is "Evil Gummy Bears Destroy Florida."
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!"
Here are some online games for students to play to continue improving their note-reading skills:
Lines and spaces: this one from netrover.com, this one from musictheory.net, this one from Sound Feelings, musicracer.com (in the blue box, choose Note names; in the yellow box, choose Recorder), this one from Vic Firth, this one from classicsforkids.com, this onefrom teoria.com (to start, check Treble clef, lines and/or spaces (up to you - add ledger lines if you want a challenge), answer using note name, and uncheck the maximum time to answer; once you feel ready, start challenging yourself by changing the options!), notationtraining.com
Last month, the 2nd graders at Lannoye went to see highlights from act II of The Nutcracker at the Meyer Theatre. Before the trip, they learned that a ballet is a dance that tells a story. They also learned about the original story of The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman. In the story, Clara, a young girl, gets a nutcracker for Christmas. He comes to life and is attacked by the evil Mouse King (or Queen, depending on the version of the story). Clara helps him defeat the Mouse King and finds out that her nutcracker is actually a prince! Her prince takes her to his home in the Land of the Sweets, where she meets several sweets...before she wakes up from her dream.
Photo from TallahasseeGrapevine.com
After the students learned about the author of the story, they learned more about the Russian composer of the music for the ballet, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky was a musical child, constantly drumming on windowpanes (to the point that he broke the glass once and cut his hand!). When he was seven, he begged for piano lessons after hearing Mozart's Don Giovanni on a music box. Playing the piano made him too excited to sleep, though. Sadly, his father didn't think music was a "real" career, so Tchaikovsky became a law clerk instead. After his mother died, he started writing music, which became the thing in his life that gave him purpose. While he composed, he often forgot to eat. One of his quirks that the students really enjoyed was his irrational fear that his head would fall off while he was conducting an orchestra. As a result, he would hold onto his head with his left hand while conducting with his right. In addition to The Nutcracker, Tchaikovsky is also widely known for 1812 Overture (you know, the one with the cannons) and the ballet Swan Lake. (Information from Lives of the Musicians: Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull)
Photo from Biography.com
After an introduction to what choreographers do as well, the students got to hear the story with some videos of the act II dances they'd see on our field trip.
As we watched these videos (and after we attended the performance), we talked about the strength, musicality, flexibility, balance, and physical control that ballet requires. One of the students brought up that it's similar to ice dancing. Several students had seen some of the figure skating at last year's Olympic Winter Games, including pairs ice dancing. I showed them a couple of videos of the gold medal winning pair, Charlie White and Meryl Davis, from Michigan.
2014 US Nationals Short Program: I Could Have Danced All Night," "With a Little Bit of Luck," and "Get Me to the Church On Time," all from the musical My Fair Lady
Christmas may be over, but if you're still in the mood for holiday music, this is the place to be! In the last couple weeks before the holiday musical, if students had extra time in class after practicing their songs for that, they'd get to choose from a variety of short reward videos. Lots of students really gravitated towards Pentatonix, Piano Guys, and A Claymation Christmas Celebration (yes, the one from the '80s!). Here are some of their favorites... (Oh, and if you're in the mood for last year's Frozen earworm, remember to check out the "Let It Go" blog post, which has several covers and parodies of the catchy song.)
Last month at Lannoye, we were fortunate to have one of our very own students perform for the 4th and 5th grade classes. One of the 5th graders has been taking violin lessons for a few years now, and she volunteered to do a playing demonstration for her peers. She prepared and performed a piece, and we were all very proud of her and thankful for her musical contribution!
Our in-house visitor followed our visitor from the middle school in October. Mr. Kozlovsky, the 8th grade band director at PCMS, packed up some brass instruments and came to visit us. He and I team-taught the 4th and 5th grade lesson for the day, and he performed pieces on horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba. He used SmartMusic, a music education software program, and explained a bit how the band team uses it at the middle school.
John Philip Sousa was a very famous American composer who is known as the March King since he wrote so many marches. One of his marches, "Stars and Stripes Forever," was voted by the United States Congress to be the official national march of the United States of America! He also led his own band, and he conducted about 14,000 (yes, that's 14 thousand) concerts throughout his life!
His father played trombone in the United States Marine Band, so Sousa was surrounded by music as a child. He began learning several different instruments at a young age. When he was 13, he tried running away to join a circus band. After that, his dad signed him up as a band helper for the U.S. Marine Band. He stayed with the Marine Band until he was 20, then came back at the age of 25 to conduct The President's Own (the premier military band in the country, as well as the oldest continually active professional musical organization in America since they began in 1798). Throughout his 12 years with The President's Own, Sousa continued to compose, took the group on a couple tours, and recorded with the group. Phonographs were a relatively new invention, and Colombia Phonograph Company wanted to record a military band and sell the recordings. Between 1890 and 1897, The President's Own recorded more than 400 pieces of music.
In 1892, Sousa resigned and started his own band. They toured the world from 1900 to 1910. After World War I (1914-1918), the Sousa Band continued touring and championing the right of music education for all children (PBS). Sousa wasn't only a skilled musician, though - he kept busy in other ways as well. In addition to the 136 marches and 10 operas that he composed, he also wrote 3 novels and an autobiography.
For more information about John Philip Sousa, check out PBS's page on him. You can also check out this public radio article (with audio interview with the director of the New Sousa Band).
In the meantime, I'll leave you with this video of The President's Own performing "Stars and Stripes Forever."
DRUM CARD OPPORTUNITY: Using your own words, email me the most interesting thing you learned from this blog post or the links within it. (Don't just copy and paste.)
Adolphe Sax was the inventor of the saxophone. He was born in Belgium on November 6, 1814. His father was an instrument maker, so Adolphe grew up helping his dad. Adolphe helped make improvements to the bass clarinet before inventing his own family of instruments called the saxhorns (pictured below - spoiler alert: they don't look anything like saxophones). After that, he invented the saxophone.
The saxhorn family. There's a band in Michigan (that a few of my friends have played in) that dresses up in old-time clothes and plays saxhorns. http://www.dodworth.org
If you would like to listen to examples of different saxhorns and saxophones, click on this link to listen to a short NPR interview about Adolphe Sax's birthday!
DRUM CARD OPPORTUNITY: Using your own words, email me the most interesting thing you learned from this blog post or the links within it. (Don't just copy and paste.)
So far this year, we’ve played name games, learned music room rule songs, had a birthday
learning celebration of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and reviewed different
music concepts. If you haven’t been serenaded with any of the rules songs (or
the original tunes they were taken from), ask your child(ren) about the music
rules! You can find more about the rules on the music blog.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” celebrated its 200th birthday on September
14, so we celebrated by learning the history behind it (grades 3-5), reviewing the
official etiquette during its performance (K-5), and practicing that etiquette
while singing the song (K-5). You can learn more about what we learned in class
by checking out the music blog.
Students also learned about
ways to earn DRUM (Demonstrating Respect
and Understanding in Music) cards for individual recognition of
above-and-beyond behaviors. When students earn three DRUM cards, they may
redeem them for a reward (like eating lunch with me or sitting in my chair
during one class). Students can choose to earn DRUM cards by being leaders
within the music classroom, answering questions very well, posing
thought-provoking questions, completing DRUM card opportunities posted on the
music blog (and sent to their school email addresses), or attending/performing
in music performances of any kind outside of the school day. If you’re
interested in attending performances, here are a couple of (free! optional!)
upcoming ones in the community:
Wednesday, October 22 7 pm Pulaski
Area Community Band Concert
PHS
Ripley PAC
Saturday, November 1 7 pm Red
Raider Showcase Concert
PHS
Ripley PAC
If they are able to attend a performance, in order for
me to verify their attendance, I ask that children bring in a program with their name on it and tell me (or write on
the program) something about it: something new they learned, their favorite
part of it, etc.
If you have any questions or
concerns, please contact me. I look forward to meeting you throughout the
school year!
