I am so excited about what's been going on in the music room this week!
Kindergarten students are getting into the routine of coming into music class and find their yellow circle to sit on, using their class number (or letter!). They are working on using their singing voices and bravely singing alone in front of the class!
First grade students have just finished our review of material from kindergarten, Next week, we will dive into new first grade stuff! They have been singing so nicely and reviewing music opposites like fast and slow, or forte and piano!
In second grade, we played three new games this week, each of which challenged students to play barred instruments and focus on hearing strong and weak beats.
Third grade students are reviewing pentatonic melodies and starting to explore a new rhythm, which we are calling "Mississippi" (for now!). Next week, we will revisit, "Dinah" a favorite song from last year which features the "Mississippi" rhythm.
Fourth graders were SO EXCITED this week to begin playing recorder! I was so impressed with how responsible our fourth grade students were with bringing in their recorder order forms and money. Almost every student in the 4th grade has their very own recorder, and it's only the first week of September! I think that may be a record for Park Shark Music! Way to go, fourth graders!
For fourth grade students who are practicing recorder at home (which I highly recommend!), here are some practice steps for you:
1. Read through the rhythm of the song on rhythm syllables (ta, ti-ti, etc.).
2. Write in the note names (for now) underneath the notes. Soon, I will ask you to erase them!
3. Speak the rhythm on the note names (ex. "B B BB B, A A AA A").
4. Speak the rhythm on the note names while practicing the finger positions on the recorder for those notes.
5. Play the song (slowly) on the recorder. As you continue to practice, it will be easier to play at a faster tempo.
Fifth grade students are reviewing solfa and rhythms from last year as well as discovering a new rhythm called "blueberry" (for now!). They are working on recognizing and performing the "blueberry" rhythm in different contexts before we give it an official name!
Sixth grade students are doing the same thing with a new rhythm we are calling "long-short" (for now!). Do you notice a theme here? :) Sixth graders also learned two Japanese songs this week, one which imitated the actions of Japanese bakers pounding dough to make rice cakes. We watched a video of this event happening in Japan and we were especially impressed that the bakers could move so quickly without getting hurt! It's definitely something to see!
Lastly, we had our FIRST AFTER SCHOOL CHOIR REHEARSAL this week!
We have 25 singers this year!!!! And I am over the moon! That's over twice the number of singers we had last year! I would love to have even more! Our next rehearsal is this coming Thursday, September 15 from 2:25-3:25 pm. Any student from 4th, 5th or 6th grade is welcome to come, as long as they give me a signed permission slip (the link for those can be found in my previous post).
That's all for now! Have a wonderful weekend, Park Sharks!
