Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Music Week 13
It was a very busy week. 1st-2nd grade continued to work on A Cricket Named Joe. They worked on playing the parts on xylophone, drum, singing, and the movement that goes along with it. Many of the classes have made significant progress and should be ready to perform the song next week for their homeroom teachers. If possible I hope to post a video of the kids performing. 3rd grade worked on Fais Do Do, a French folksong. The purpose was to study meter in 3/4 time. 4th grade continued working on Ode to Joy Rock which uses both strings of the guitar that we have learned so far. 5th grade went to Camp Crystal and was gone for most of the week. Next week, we are learning how to use a guitar pick and play chords. Hopefully, the students will also be able to sing a song while playing guitar. Kindergarten classes continued studying the difference between high and low pitches. I had students clap above their heads if they heard the high sound or move their feet if they heard a low sound. I played to different melodies on the piano. Students should have heard the difference between high pitched sounds vs. low pitched sounds by the movement they made.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Music Week 12
This week 3rd-5th students took a break from their instruments to work on a coloring sheet. It was not just any coloring sheet. It was musical. The objective of the sheet was to get students to realize the difference between notes that are on a line and notes that are on a space. This is important because some students were having trouble distinguishing an A from a B or a C from a D on the treble clef staff. This leads to many wrong notes when we are playing guitar or recorder. Students were to color in the shapes that had two line notes. If the students colored in the correct shapes, in this case squares, a pattern was made. Here is a sample:
Grades 1-2 began working on learning how to play the xylophone. We learned the song called A Cricket Named Joe. The objective of this assignment, in addition to learning how to play the xylophone, was to put multiple musical lines together to create a performance. Students learned the song, then they learned the movement that goes with the song, then they learned the instrumental parts, and finally we put it all together. I am hoping to develop mallet technique with the students in the short time that we have together. We will most likely work on this song for another week or so and then move on to something else to help teach rhythm and melody and performing parts together.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Music Week 7-11
We have had a very busy five weeks. The 4th and 5th graders have continued to work on their guitar skills. We learned B,C,D very well before Spring Break. 3rd grade continued to work on their recorder skills as well as got ready for the Medieval Fair. I was very impressed with the production the 3rd graders put on. The costumes were excellent, the props were amazing, and the students were super. I was really impressed by the acrobats and how elaborate the gypsy dancers were. The 3rd grade teachers really put on a great production.
The Primary grades had their beat assessment. They had to listen to three songs and determine whether or not each song had a beat. Each student passed their little quiz.
Last week, During week 11 we reviewed all the things we learned before spring break. I was worried that the 3rd-5th graders would be rusty on their instruments after such a long holiday. They were and I am glad that I took the time to go over some basics to ease them back into working. The primary grades learned a new song called Bye'm Bye. It is a folk song from Texas about counting stars in the sky. I showed them a map of the United States and where we are in relation to Texas. I also showed them a map of just Texas. We used it to focus on high and low. The students also had the opportunity to play high and low tones on the Orff xylophones.
The Primary grades had their beat assessment. They had to listen to three songs and determine whether or not each song had a beat. Each student passed their little quiz.
Last week, During week 11 we reviewed all the things we learned before spring break. I was worried that the 3rd-5th graders would be rusty on their instruments after such a long holiday. They were and I am glad that I took the time to go over some basics to ease them back into working. The primary grades learned a new song called Bye'm Bye. It is a folk song from Texas about counting stars in the sky. I showed them a map of the United States and where we are in relation to Texas. I also showed them a map of just Texas. We used it to focus on high and low. The students also had the opportunity to play high and low tones on the Orff xylophones.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Music Week 6
Last week all the classes participated in station day. It is very similar to centers in their own classrooms. I used stations to quickly assess if concepts are being learned or need to be retaught. Depending on the grade level, each class had to visit 4-5 stations. Kindergarten had only one to visit.
Kindergarten used Disney Dance, Dance Revolution. DDR is a series of games that uses a dance pad with arrows on it. The objective of the game is to push the corresponding arrow once it reaches the top of the screen to the beat. It has several levels of difficulty. The easy modes allow beginners to practice with minimal arrows but the harder modes have multiple arrows and require fast feet. There are fast songs and slow songs. Some songs are American pop songs while others can be Japansese pop songs(J-Pop) or songs from the dance genre. DDR has been relatively popular since the late 1990's in Japan and North America. It began on the Playstation 1 but several titles can be found on the Playstation 2 &3, XBox 360, and Wii. The series has several titles such as DDR Extreme, Super Nova 1, Super Nova 2, Disney Mix(PS1), Disney Channel Mix, Extreme 2, Max 1, Max 2, and Konamix(PS1). I was checking to see if students can feel the beat and step on the corresponding arrow to the beat as it came up. Some students were more successful than others but I feel that kindergarten just needs more practice with some gross motor skills that relate to music.
1st-2nd grade had four stations to visit. The first station was a listening station. The radio that was set up played five sounds that the students had to determine whether or not each sound had a beat. The second station was Engine, Engine No. 9. The students were to review the song and play the game in a smaller area than before. I was checking to see if students could either keep a steady beat or listen and move their feet to the beat of the person playing the woodblocks. The third station was keeping a beat with rhythm sticks. I was checking to see if students could keep slow, fast, medium tempo beats within their groups. The final station was Dance Dance Revolution Supernova 2. Students used the same dance pad as kindergarten and had to step on the appropriate arrows to the beat. The song that we used was Every Little Step by Bobby Brown. Many students were successful because some of them actually own the game at home or have really good rhythm or just good at following directions.
3rd grade had to visit four stations as well. Their first station was flash cards. Students had to name and define concepts already learned by looking at musical flash cards. They had to identify the treble clef, quarter note, half note, whole note, and quarter rest. The second station was a recorder review station. Students picked up a recorder and worked on the fingerings for Mary Had a Little Lamb. They were not supposed to play the instrument but only work on the fingerings and call out the letters as they did the fingerings. The third station was the rhythm sheet station. Students were supposed to do lines A-F from rhythm sheet 1. They were to clap and count the rhythms in time and together with people in their group. The last station was Dance, Dance Revolution Supernova 2 (see above).
4th-5th grade had to visit 5 stations. Two of the stations were similar to the 3rd grade's assignments: Flash Cards and Rhythm Sheet 1: Lines A-F. The third station they had to visit was the guitar station. In that station, students had to correctly hold the guitar and review No. 3 from the guitar book we are using. Students were to practice reading and performing the notes E, F, and G. The fourth station that students had to visit was Oba Simusa. Oba Simusa is a stone passing game from Ghana that I taught the students the first week of music. They were to review how to use just the right hand and pass bean bags in a sequence to the beat. If they were successful with the right hand, then they were to change over to the left hand and pass the bags in the sequence the other way. The sequence is pick up the bag with your right/left hand, touch your knee, pass the bag to the floor in front of your neighbor and clap. If you are passing to the left everything is done with the left hand and knee. If you were passing to the right, then everything was done with the right hand and knee. The final station that the students had to visit was Guitar Hero II. The Guitar Hero series is a music simulator that lets adults and kids alike experience playing lead guitar for a rock band. The controller is shaped like an electric guitar with five different colored buttons, a strum bar, and a whammy bar. The object of the game is to push down the appropriate color and strum as it appears on the screen. The game has several levels of difficulty. The higher the difficulty they closer it is to the real song. It has been a huge franchise that has led to other Guitar Hero games such as Legends of Rock, the 80's, and Aerosmith. Let me begin by saying Guitar Hero is not meant to teach students how to play guitar! It is just a simulation and I use it because it requires students to do the same motions that they would do on a real guitar! Technically, playing the game is easier than playing the real thing. Many of the students were having a hard time pushing their fingers down on the string of the real guitar. I thought that with the GH II game we could practice the push down motion of our first and third finger that we use to play guitar because it was easier to push a button than a string. Students were also forgetting to strum the E string on the real guitar. I was hoping that since the game does not use strings that they would not forget to use the strum bar. Unfortunately, not all the students made the leap from guitar to game as I hoped. The same issues were still present: not looking at the board/screen, forgetting push down the appropriate string/button, and not strumming with the right hand. When I question the students about how to read notes or play notes on the guitar they can tell me. They are having a hard time with coordination and application. I wish there was some way to get them to get more time on the guitar outside of a once a week music class.
Kindergarten used Disney Dance, Dance Revolution. DDR is a series of games that uses a dance pad with arrows on it. The objective of the game is to push the corresponding arrow once it reaches the top of the screen to the beat. It has several levels of difficulty. The easy modes allow beginners to practice with minimal arrows but the harder modes have multiple arrows and require fast feet. There are fast songs and slow songs. Some songs are American pop songs while others can be Japansese pop songs(J-Pop) or songs from the dance genre. DDR has been relatively popular since the late 1990's in Japan and North America. It began on the Playstation 1 but several titles can be found on the Playstation 2 &3, XBox 360, and Wii. The series has several titles such as DDR Extreme, Super Nova 1, Super Nova 2, Disney Mix(PS1), Disney Channel Mix, Extreme 2, Max 1, Max 2, and Konamix(PS1). I was checking to see if students can feel the beat and step on the corresponding arrow to the beat as it came up. Some students were more successful than others but I feel that kindergarten just needs more practice with some gross motor skills that relate to music.
1st-2nd grade had four stations to visit. The first station was a listening station. The radio that was set up played five sounds that the students had to determine whether or not each sound had a beat. The second station was Engine, Engine No. 9. The students were to review the song and play the game in a smaller area than before. I was checking to see if students could either keep a steady beat or listen and move their feet to the beat of the person playing the woodblocks. The third station was keeping a beat with rhythm sticks. I was checking to see if students could keep slow, fast, medium tempo beats within their groups. The final station was Dance Dance Revolution Supernova 2. Students used the same dance pad as kindergarten and had to step on the appropriate arrows to the beat. The song that we used was Every Little Step by Bobby Brown. Many students were successful because some of them actually own the game at home or have really good rhythm or just good at following directions.
3rd grade had to visit four stations as well. Their first station was flash cards. Students had to name and define concepts already learned by looking at musical flash cards. They had to identify the treble clef, quarter note, half note, whole note, and quarter rest. The second station was a recorder review station. Students picked up a recorder and worked on the fingerings for Mary Had a Little Lamb. They were not supposed to play the instrument but only work on the fingerings and call out the letters as they did the fingerings. The third station was the rhythm sheet station. Students were supposed to do lines A-F from rhythm sheet 1. They were to clap and count the rhythms in time and together with people in their group. The last station was Dance, Dance Revolution Supernova 2 (see above).
4th-5th grade had to visit 5 stations. Two of the stations were similar to the 3rd grade's assignments: Flash Cards and Rhythm Sheet 1: Lines A-F. The third station they had to visit was the guitar station. In that station, students had to correctly hold the guitar and review No. 3 from the guitar book we are using. Students were to practice reading and performing the notes E, F, and G. The fourth station that students had to visit was Oba Simusa. Oba Simusa is a stone passing game from Ghana that I taught the students the first week of music. They were to review how to use just the right hand and pass bean bags in a sequence to the beat. If they were successful with the right hand, then they were to change over to the left hand and pass the bags in the sequence the other way. The sequence is pick up the bag with your right/left hand, touch your knee, pass the bag to the floor in front of your neighbor and clap. If you are passing to the left everything is done with the left hand and knee. If you were passing to the right, then everything was done with the right hand and knee. The final station that the students had to visit was Guitar Hero II. The Guitar Hero series is a music simulator that lets adults and kids alike experience playing lead guitar for a rock band. The controller is shaped like an electric guitar with five different colored buttons, a strum bar, and a whammy bar. The object of the game is to push down the appropriate color and strum as it appears on the screen. The game has several levels of difficulty. The higher the difficulty they closer it is to the real song. It has been a huge franchise that has led to other Guitar Hero games such as Legends of Rock, the 80's, and Aerosmith. Let me begin by saying Guitar Hero is not meant to teach students how to play guitar! It is just a simulation and I use it because it requires students to do the same motions that they would do on a real guitar! Technically, playing the game is easier than playing the real thing. Many of the students were having a hard time pushing their fingers down on the string of the real guitar. I thought that with the GH II game we could practice the push down motion of our first and third finger that we use to play guitar because it was easier to push a button than a string. Students were also forgetting to strum the E string on the real guitar. I was hoping that since the game does not use strings that they would not forget to use the strum bar. Unfortunately, not all the students made the leap from guitar to game as I hoped. The same issues were still present: not looking at the board/screen, forgetting push down the appropriate string/button, and not strumming with the right hand. When I question the students about how to read notes or play notes on the guitar they can tell me. They are having a hard time with coordination and application. I wish there was some way to get them to get more time on the guitar outside of a once a week music class.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Music Week 5
Grades 4th-5th are progressing quite well on guitar. We are still working on the basics but I hope to be able to move on to the second string in 2 weeks.
3rd Grade is doing an excellent job of learning the first three notes. We will begin working on Scarborough Fair in 2 weeks to get ready for their medieval program. I will be teaching them some advanced notes with the right hand. If they are comfortable with playing notes on the left hand, the transition should be minimal.
2nd grade did one more lesson on boomwhackers. We worked on Hickory Dickory Dock. We used the boomwhackers to hit our knees, the floor, and our hand.
1st grade had their patriotic play on Friday. I was extremely pleased with how they articulated their songs and how they song and spoke with such enthusiasm. Many thanks to the first grade teachers for giving me direction on how to best help with the program.
Kindergarten began a listening assignment. They had to listen to some music and sounds and try to determine whether a song had a beat or not. I told them that if they felt that they could clap to the selection, then it had a beat. If it sounded like random noise and they could not clap to it, then the selection had no beat.
Next week, we will be doing stations. I will explain next week.
3rd Grade is doing an excellent job of learning the first three notes. We will begin working on Scarborough Fair in 2 weeks to get ready for their medieval program. I will be teaching them some advanced notes with the right hand. If they are comfortable with playing notes on the left hand, the transition should be minimal.
2nd grade did one more lesson on boomwhackers. We worked on Hickory Dickory Dock. We used the boomwhackers to hit our knees, the floor, and our hand.
1st grade had their patriotic play on Friday. I was extremely pleased with how they articulated their songs and how they song and spoke with such enthusiasm. Many thanks to the first grade teachers for giving me direction on how to best help with the program.
Kindergarten began a listening assignment. They had to listen to some music and sounds and try to determine whether a song had a beat or not. I told them that if they felt that they could clap to the selection, then it had a beat. If it sounded like random noise and they could not clap to it, then the selection had no beat.
Next week, we will be doing stations. I will explain next week.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Music Weeks 3-4
3rd -5th Grades have had their hands busy learning their instruments. We are constantly reviewing notes and fingerings. The 4th and 5th graders are still learning E, F, and G on the guitar. 3rd grade is still learning B, A, and G. I want those grade levels to be really secure with the basic fingerings before moving on. 3rd grade did complete Hot Cross Buns in the last two weeks and have since moved on. Grades 3rd-5th have also been studying rhythm sheets. They are learning how to count various rhythms, recognize time signatures, measures, bar lines, and double bar lines. They should be comfortable with these few symbols. If they want more practice, they can follow any of the links on this page.
1st grade has spent the entire time working on the patriotic play. In conjunction with their homeroom teacher, we have been learning the words and going over pronunciation. Hopefully, we will understand them on the day of the performance.
Kindergarten has been studying beat. We have done various activities that involved keeping a steady beat and recognizing when a song has a beat. They have used rhythm sticks and body percussion. We used a Woody Guthrie song called Howjidoo to help this process.
2nd grade has learned how to play boomwhackers. For those of you that don't know, boomwhackers are plastic, pitched tubes that you hit with you hand or on the floor. You can play many songs if you learn to watch and wait for your cue. We learned how to play Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling. The students had to watch Mr. Thomas very closely in order to make the song sound the way it was supposed to. We are going to do one more lesson on boomwhackers and move on to something else.
1st grade has spent the entire time working on the patriotic play. In conjunction with their homeroom teacher, we have been learning the words and going over pronunciation. Hopefully, we will understand them on the day of the performance.
Kindergarten has been studying beat. We have done various activities that involved keeping a steady beat and recognizing when a song has a beat. They have used rhythm sticks and body percussion. We used a Woody Guthrie song called Howjidoo to help this process.
2nd grade has learned how to play boomwhackers. For those of you that don't know, boomwhackers are plastic, pitched tubes that you hit with you hand or on the floor. You can play many songs if you learn to watch and wait for your cue. We learned how to play Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling. The students had to watch Mr. Thomas very closely in order to make the song sound the way it was supposed to. We are going to do one more lesson on boomwhackers and move on to something else.
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