Here's a quick update on what's going on in the land of Park Shark Music!
Kindergarten students continue to explore Music Opposites. We've discovered that music can be fast or slow, but also loud or quiet. We're beginning to explore some new opposites and use our voices to make lots of different sounds.
This month,our first graders started working on mallet technique and playing barred instruments. Last week, we used "Hickory Dickory Dock" to play a glissando going up and down on a glockenspiel. We practiced holding the mallets using a "Pinch, Curl and Flip!" and pretending that we were gently knocking on a door. This week, we tried to switch hands to play one note at a time (in fancy music teacher terms, a 'broken bordun' pattern). Our next step is to sing and play this pattern at the same time. This is not an easy thing to do, but Park first graders are getting better each time they practice!
Second grade students learned several music terms this week: bar lines (straight lines in music which separate it into 'rooms' or measures), measure (a unit of music which we see as the space between two bar lines) and time signature (the 'address' for the song which tells us how many beats to expect in each 'room', or measure). We will continue to reinforce these terms as the year goes on! Second graders are also playing singing games which use the new 'low' sound. See the photo below of the handy pointing charts we started using this week as a visual to practice our 'low' sound songs!
3rd Grade students discovered a mystery book last week called Who Killed Cock Robin? by Kevin O' Malley. The book is based on an old folk song which uses the third graders' 'low' sound (different from second grade!). Spoiler Alert! In the book, Detective Owl discovers clues which lead him to believe Robin may be alive... and mysteriously the Turkey family is missing some jewels... Our third graders LOVED this book and have been practicing singing the mysterious song. Third grade students have been hard at work, also working on our new 'Mississippi' rhythm with songs like "Pumpkin, Pumpkin" and "Old Brass Wagon".
Fourth graders are practicing the 'short-long-short' rhythm, which we will re-name soon! Many of them have also purchased and received their recorders and recorder books! They are very excited and I can't wait for them to add notes and playing techniques to their recorder repertoire! Please continue to visit this site for recorder assignments, tips and updates!
Students in 5th grade just learned a new rhythm: ti-tika. We're practicing it using several rhythm games including Telegraph and (next week) Postmaster. They will also be working on singing and playing instruments for some spooky songs soon!
Sixth grade Park Sharks continue to listen to and discuss various pieces of music including "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin, "Also Sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss and the "Star Wars Main Theme" by John Williams. I continue to be impressed by their discussions about music and use of music vocabulary! For the remainder of October, our discussions will focus on spooky songs.
