Here's Some Help for My 5th Graders!

A link to "Bethlehem Skies" for you...

Please use your lyrics, or even listen and write down the words to memorize it really well. :)

Hey, and don't forget to practice recorder.  Let's see what we can really do on those!

Our Choir Members are Learning a Little French

Choir, here are a couple links to help you with Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant.  Remember, we are now only going to use the first 2 verses and the chorus.  Use your sheet from the other day.  You will be so glad we did this-- I promise!

Big Sound from the 4th Grade!

With this large 4th Grade class, we are going to be able to get some great sound when singing and playing instruments.  So far, we have danced, played drums and bells, and we are about to start reviewing and really learning how to play some fun material on the recorders.  That said, this coming week, I will be constantly reminding the 4th graders to locate their recorders at home and to bring them in so we have them on Thursday.

A singing game the class has enjoyed is one I have borrowed from a great middle school choir director that we call,"The Forbidden Pattern."  You may be familiar with solfege--- do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do--- from having watched "The Sound of Music."  In that wonderful musical, Maria teaches the children about singing with "Do, Re, Mi."  "Do, a deer, a female deer... Re, a drop of golden sun..."  Solfege is a way of singing musical scale tones using syllables, and it is useful when teaching pitch and reading vocal music, especially when sight-reading.  This game also encourages ear training and listening, both so magical to witness truly occurring in a large group of students all at once.  I sing different solfege patterns and have the students echo my examples.  Then I name a pattern the students canNOT sing.  As I continue to sing patterns, if the students listen and can keep quiet when I've sung the "forbidden pattern," they get a point.  If not, it's a point for the teacher!  We will continue to battle it out during the quarter and see who can collect the most points.

That is just a little insight into something we have enjoyed together thus far.  I will be sure to post more soon!

3rd Grade is Pumped to Play Recorders

3^rd grade is rockin’ on their recorders!  Or, at least, they are on their way!  I will soon send a note home explaining the plan and care for these instruments.  If they take them home to practice, they need to bring them back for music classes each Wednesday.  To be sure each student has their own recorder with them for the next couple weeks, I will have them store their instruments at school beginning this week on the 30^th. 

To Continue, yes, along with singing and playing bells and other percussion, 3rd graders will learn how to read music while playing the recorder.  Our first public performance will be at the Christmas concert.  The kids are very excited and eager to play!  Some even have older brothers and sisters at home who have kindly helped them get ahead of the game.  Please encourage them to play when they are at home, even if you need to ask them to go in another room and shut the door.  :)  It takes time to be able to play quietly with good tone, but the only way they will learn is by practicing.  Along with learning the value of practice, students will also learn the rules for this particular instrument, how to control their breath, and how to manipulate their finger muscles to cover the correct holes while reading notes and rhythms.  This is all a terrific introduction to playing instruments in general.  I am psyched for them to show you the progress they’ve made at various points this year!

PreK Sings Canciones Infantiles

Last week the pre-kindergarteners and I talked a bit about Hispanic Heritage Month and sang some children’s songs from various countries.  They also learned about the percussion instrument called the guiro.  Each student had a chance to play a small guiro and we watched a video of professional musicians demonstrating on larger guiros.  Many of the kids wanted to dance to the rhythms immediately.  It was a lot of fun!  We also watched a video of the coqui frog that lives in Puerto Rico before we sang and played to the song, “El Coqui.”  I encourage you to look up the little frog to hear it’s high-pitched “song.” 

Here are some of our Spanish songs, including “Oh Mister Sun (O Senor Sol),” which is not really a song for Hispanic Heritage Month but one that the kids could review in Spanish before moving on to new material:

“La Lechuza” (de Argentina)

(Spanish)

La lechuza,

la lechuza,

hace shhhhhh*

hace shhhhhh.

Hágamos silencio,

como la lechuza,

que hace shhhhhhh,

que hace shhhhhhh.

“The Barn Owl”

(English)

The barn owl,

The barn owl,

Goes shhhhhhh*

Goes shhhhhhh

Let's be in silence

As the barn owl,

Who goes shhhhhh,

Who goes shhhhhh.

“A La Rueda, Rueda” (de Venezuela)

Canción de corro

(Spanish)

A la rueda, rueda

de pan y canela

dame un besito

y vete a la escuela

si no quieres ir

Acuéstate a dormir.

“Go Around the Ring”

Circle Game

(English)

Go around the ring

Of bread and cinnamon

Give me a little kiss

And let's go to school

If you don't want to go

Lay down to sleep.

El coquí

(Spanish)

  

El coquí, el coquí a mi me encanta. 


Esta lindo el cantar del coquí.


Por las noches salir acostarme. 


Me adormece cantando así.


Chorus: Coquí, coquí, coquí, qui qui qui.


Coquí, coquí, coquí, qui qui qui

The Coquí

(English)

Little coquí frog, how I love you. 


How I love your beautiful song.


In the night as I am sleeping, 


You sing to me all night long.


Chorus: Coquí, coquí. coquí, qui, qui, qui


Coquí, coquí, coquí, qui qui qui

  

“Los Pollitos Dicen” (de Ecuador)

Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, pío

cuando tienen hambre

cuando tienen frío.

La gallina busca el maíz y el trigo

les da la comida y les presta abrigo.

Bajo sus dos alas, acurrucaditos

¡duermen los pollitos

hasta el otro día!

“The Little Chickens”

(English)

The little chicks say pio pio pio

When they are hungry

And when they are cold.

The mother hen looks for corn and wheat.

She gives them food and grants them shelter.

Under mama's wings, huddling up,

Sleep the little chicks

Until the next day!

“O Senor Sol”

O Senor Sol, Sol

Senor Sol

Dame tus rayos de sol

O senor Sol, Sol

Senor Sol

Detras de ese arbol

Estos ninos te piden ya

Sal afuera para jugar

O Senor Sol, Sol

Senor Sol

Dame tus rayos de sol.

1st and 2nd Grades Start Their Musical Year!

1st and 2nd graders have been learning how to play various rhythm patterns on the drums and bells.  We have hand drums that each student can hold and either play with the other hand or with a mallet.  They have been learning how to read quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests.  This coming week we will talk about bar lines and measures which are used to separate music into a specific number of beats.  I mainly just want them to recognize these symbols for the moment, and then eventually their function will make sense later in the year.

Last week, we received resonator bell kits!  Each bell is like a piece of a xylophone.  Now we have these and hand bells, and it has been great for the students to experience the music alphabet (ABCDEFG and repeat) in these two different forms.  Some kids like to ring bells, some like to hit them with mallets. :)

Of course, we do plenty of singing.  Singing remains an ever-important activity!-- It works so many parts of the brain and is such a valuable way to express emotions.  I will be sure to write some special post throughout the year about the many ways singing is important.

1st and 2nd grade will be learning about Solfege, a way of singing scale tones with syllables that is probably most recognizable from "The Sound of Music," if you recall the song that begins "Do a deer, a female deer..."  Actually, we use this throughout all grades.  It's something that will be more and more useful as students progress through their music education.

Students will also learn how to use the hymnals (book of church hymns [songs]) and missalettes (books with songs and readings in the back of pews) that they see in their weekly masses.  As their reading and math skills progress, these materials make more sense.  Students really enjoy being able to use the hymnals and missalettes when they are able.

So far we have sung songs that include:
"This Little Light of Mine"
"Peace is Flowing Like a River"
"Hallelujah" (getting ready for Christmas... I promise not to make them sing about snow yet!)
"Alabare" (a Spanish hymn)
a special "Hello Song" where we can work on learning dynamics (louds and softs)
"We are Marching"
"Amazing Grace"

We've really been focused on our bells and drums for the past couple weeks and so have mainly sung hymns thus far since we were learning how to use the church materials.  However, we will be exploring many different songs in many different styles throughout the year.  Coming up, we will be learning more songs in Spanish from various Hispanic countries in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, which began on September 15th.  We will talk about Latin instruments and rhythms and certain musicians with Hispanic heritage.

Here is a picture of Ms. Claudio's 2nd grade class enjoying and learning rhythms on the drums:

I am sorry these aren't bigger and clearer.  I'm working on it!

Kindergarten Music Introduction

Music is a blast with Kindergarteners!  This is always true for me.  My plan for the kindergarteners' musical year is to expose them to many styles of music while helping them explore their own voices and to develop their rhythmic skills and recognition of patterns through singing and plying instruments.  We will play bells, drums, and other percussion instruments.  And I will play them recordings of songs, as well as demonstrate the piano and some guitar and ukulele.  I am just a beginner in my own work on the last two, but I plan to integrate these to mix things up for the kids.  I also played the violin and saxophone many years ago, so I will be sure to bring those out later in the year.

Kindergarteners are able to learn and retain some more of the musical language and notation, and so we will also cover basic music notes and rests and how to read those while playing drums.  We will cover the musical alphabet (ABCDEFG;ABCDEFG...) while playing bells and singing.  And, solfege, "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do" is something I will also introduce.

We have sung a handful of songs so far, including some to recall summer picnics...
"The Ants Go Marching"
"Down By the Bay"
"The Peanut Butter and Jelly Song"
"Oh Mister Sun" in English and in Spanish
Our "Hello Song"--- this is an upbeat song I play on the piano, and the kids love to hear their name and sing along each week.  We will change this quarterly.
"Peace is Flowing Like a River"
"This Little Light of Mine"
"Two Little Blackbirds" rhyme

Because they are so excited about playing instruments, we have done many activities with those so far that have not necessarily included specific songs.

Hispanic Heritage Month began September 15^th, and in the coming weeks we will be singing and listening to songs that explore and celebrate this. 

ALSO, I am already integrating some of the things they will be part of during our Christmas Concert this year.  I know talking about Christmas brings thoughts of winter and that can be very depressing. :)  And so I promise not to have them singing about snow too soon.  Because we have limited time together, I just want to make sure they will be very comfortable and proud at the concert.  So far, you may hear them singing, "Hallelujah" now and then.

I look forward to updating you again soon.  And I hope your kids bring some music home and teach you some of the things we've done!