"Don't Worry About a Thing, 'Cause Every Little Thing's Gonna Be All Right"

This week has been Songs That are Stories and Stories That Are Songs.
We had music classes in the library where we read a storybook called Every Little Thing inspired by the Bob Marley song "Three Little Birds".  We even learned the verse and chorus and some got up to dance as they sang.

We also watched the 1949 Disney film, Peter and the Wolf, a classic story-song.
Each character has its own instrumentation that we listened for.
We then drew pictures inspired by the story as we listened to the orchestration again.

Bravo, grades 3 to 8!

Congratulations to the grade 3 to 8s on a wonderful Arts Night Performance!
You all worked hard and did a great job.

"Oh, What a Beautiful Morning! Oh, What a Beautiful Day!"

The first couple days of this week have been absolutely gorgeous (and HOT!) so we took music outdoors! 

... and we looked cool doing it!

Oh, no! There's a spider on my
face, on my face!  There's a
spider no my face, on my face.
It's such a big disgrace.
There's a spider on my face!
There's a spider on my face,
On my face!

The JKs had lots of fun learning a couple new animal songs including There's a Spider on the Floor.

And of course, there were lots of Green & Speckled Frogs hopping in the pond.

Outside is also a great place to play the Song Game, Chay Chay Koolay.

The grade ones learned a new silly song Corner Grocery Store and we took turns coming up with silly rhymes of what we might find in the store (we also learned that "pineapple" and "oranges" are very difficult to rhyme!)

[Video by Zoya]

Finally, we all learned the new song, Lying in My Sleeping Bag.  We made all the sounds you can hear at night including crickets, dogs, owls, sirens, sprinklers, and even the sun rising (imagine what the sun might sound like!)  At the very end, we "finally fell asleep".

Listen to all that snoring!

Feelings, Animals, & GoNoodling, Oh My!

Now that we have wrapped up Arts Night (for the JK-2s at least) for another year, it's time to learn some new songs and dances.

The SKs have been learning songs about feelings this week.
We've sung "If You're Happy and You Know It" but remixed it to include other feelings.
We've danced to "Can't Stop That Feeling" from Trolls and freeze danced to "Happy".
We've learned Raffi's "I'm In the Mood" and the traditional song "You Gotta Sing" and, of course, we added our own lyrics to include what we were in the mood to do.
We've also learned "How Are You" a song that includes sign language. 
We've been looking up and trying to learn signs for different emotions.
We've also been practicing being very expressive and showing the feelings on our faces.
Check out these sad and happy faces!

The JKs have been learning songs about animals this week.
We've learned The Chicken Dance.

We did The Animal Hokey Pokey (here we are putting our antennae in and taking our antennae out  and putting our antennae in and shaking them all about).

And we were Five Green & Speckled Frogs (sitting on our speckled logs and eating our most delicious bugs - Yum Yum!)

We also listened to music inspired by animals.

The Carnival of the Animals by Camille St. Saens features different pieces about different animals. 

We listened to the music and tried to guess which animals it was about based on how it sounded.  Then we listened again and moved to the music like the animals.

In The Aquarium we even had some hungry sharks trying to eat some starfish!

While the JKs were singing about and moving like animals they also met some animals today.  The grade 1s also got to meet some very interesting animals today during their music time.  This week the grade ones completed their top GoNoodle level.  They got to GoNoodle for the entire music class after missing their GoNoodle time to work so hard rehearsing for Arts Night. We're looking forward to learning more new and fun songs on Monday!  

Bravo for Arts Night!

While I unfortunately could not attend the Arts Night Performances on May 17th, if our Wednesday "performance" for the videographer was any indication, I am sure that you all were able to enjoy a great show.  The students should all be very proud of their hard work.

I did manage to get some photographs to share with you.

ARTS NIGHT REHEARSAL @CITY CHURCH

ARTS NIGHT PERFORMANCE (05/16/2018)

Photos by HMHphotography

Let Us Entertain You

Arts Night is TOMORROW!
Today we are rehearsing and filming on stage at City Church.  We can't wait for you to join us tomorrow evening (and or afternoon) so we can entertain you!

Arts Night! Arts Night! Arts Night!

Arts Night is soon upon on Thursday, May 17th! and we are working very hard at our rehearsals.
Rehearsing can be a tough job, especially for the youngest students, as it takes a lot of patience and a lot of repetition.  The students are doing a great job. They've been practicing entering and exiting the stage.  They've been practicing projecting their voices to fill the stage (it's going to be a big stage).  They are polishing up their choreography.  And they've been practicing their bows in preparation for the rounds of thunderous applause! 

We definitely have a fun show in store for you!

This week, some of our JK classes also have had the opportunity to start exploring music about animals to accompany their UOI of "Is It Alive?".  We've been listening to excerpts Camille St. Saens Carnival of the Animals and trying to guess what animal it sounds like.  We then have been moving to the music like those animals.

Here we have some little chickens pecking the ground for some yummy grubs.

Here we have some birds flying around the aviary.

And here we have a stampede of elephants!

While our JKs are learning animal songs, our SKs are continuing to explore different feelings in music.

Arts Night is Coming!

We have busily practicing for Arts Night (it's not far away now)! 
There's been lots of singing and choreography and costume planning.
It's sure to be a fun night and we really hope you will all come out to join us on May 17th.

This week, after rehearsing our numbers we took a moment to draw a piece "inspired by" each Arts Night number.  Here are a few....

Workin' 9 to 5 (SK Bancud)

     

Puppy Love (SK Ayoub)

 


Won't You Be My Neighbour (SK Mather-Dyer)

 






I Get By With a Little Help from my Friends (JK Fisher)

Isn't She Lovely (JK Padovan)

 



ABCs (JK Bannon) ~ we haven't gotten to do our drawings yet; we've been busy shaking it!

Going to the Chapel (1 Foster)

 

Where is Ms. Hayward?

Father's Day card I made
in grade 2

Just a short post to thank everyone at St. Jude's Academy for their support while I have had to be away this past week to be with my family following the death of my dad on Wednesday.


My Dad (and mom) instilled a love of music and reading in me.  He was always singing.  He will be missed.

"Oh, Mr. Sun - Please Shine Down on Me!"

It may not feel too Spring-y out there this week but in the music room we've been singing in the season and on the go!

This week the SKs have been learning new songs all about Spring-time.  We've been singing about rain and robins and Mr. Sun.  Today, we tried to convince Mr. Sun to come out to shine with some great singing (and it seemed he listened - even if it was at the very end of the day.  Hopefully, he'll
stick around for the weekend!)

(Please note: video is just audio - next time we'll place the device farther away from Ms. Hayward's big voice)

This week the JKs have been learning new songs all about Transportation. We started with a very popular one - "The Wheels on the Bus".  We especially had fun with the bus horn (though it did sound like we had a few ducks on the bus in one class.  In another we had all sorts of animals on the bus).

The grade ones have worked so hard on their musical rhythms and inventions that this week we had a big "Let's Sing Together" day and picked some of our favourites to sing while accompanying the songs on our rhythm instruments.  

Next week officially starts our practicing for Arts Night.  Mr. Oliver has put together a very interesting program and it is sure to be a great night of art and music (more to come ...)

A Note About Arts Night

It was lovely to see everyone's smiling faces back after Spring Break.
We got back into the swing of things by singing some of our old favourites (yep, that includes Peanut Butter) and learning a new Spring-y song - Oh, Mr. Sun. 

We can't wait to learn lots of new songs and to get ready for our upcoming Arts Night.
We'd like to share with you this note regarding that:

We are excited to let you know that our Arts' Night performances this year will be held at The City Church auditorium located on Argentina road, just a 3 minute drive from the school. With this new venue, we have extra lighting, surround sound, a larger and higher stage, more seating, and much more! This will give you and your family the opportunity to enjoy the Arts' Night performance even more in a theatre environment. 

With the new venue location, please note that the JK - Grade 2 performance date has been changed to May 17th.  

An Announcement from St. Jude's Academy

Hello all,
Hope everyone is having a wonderful March Break.
I am now busily editing some photos from Spirit Week and music class which I hope will be ready to share soon.

In the meantime, I would like to share with you this information flyer about our new St. Jude's Football Club.  It is a very exciting opportunity!

'There was a man lived in the moon ..."

This week we continued our "World of Songs" by learning a folk song from Korea asking a little blue bird to not disturb a flowering bean plant or the jelly-maker would be sad.  Together we decided on what dynamic and tempo would be best to express the sadness of the song.  We decided on soft and slow because it sure sounded silly loud and fast!

Then we learned a frog song from Japan and even got to hop around while we sang it.

 

 

Later in the week, we took a break from our travels to revisit a favourite song, Aikendrum and got to make our own Aikendrum bobbleheads.  Mr. Aikendrum lives in the moon and he is made up entirely of food! 

"A World of Song" (Continued ...)

After an exciting week last week (100 Day!, Pancake Tuesday, Valentines Day, PD Day!) and a (hopefully) fun and relaxing long weekend, we were back our "travelling" around the world learning new songs.  This week we "traveled" to Europe and learned songs from two countries.

An Austrian Went Yodelling (Austria)
and Rock-a-Bye, Baby Bear (Latvia)

We also sang some of our favourites of the songs we learned on our "travels" (Ram-Sam-Sam is particularly popular) and some of our old favourites (Peanut Butter still tops the list!)

The students were also super excited to find the newest Rhythm Shakers added to our Rhythm Instrument Box.

a World of Song ...

Wow!  The last few weeks have flown by ... I guess that's what happens when you're busy making music.  And that's what we have been doing in music class making lots and lots of beautiful music. Fast Music.  Slow Music.  Quiet Music. LOUD Music.

Both the JKs and the SKs have been "travelling the world" through songs.

We started in Canada.  We sang My Paddle Keen and Bright while keeping the beat and rowing our canoes together.  We sang all about Sandwiches ("Sandwiches are beautiful. Sandwiches are find.  I like sandwiches; I eat them all the time") by iconic Canadian children's musician, Fred Penner.  And we learned Skinnamarink" by equally iconic Canadian children's musicians, Sharon, Lois & Bram (though we still aren't quite sure what a skinnamarink is).

Then we "flew" across the ocean to Morocco at the top of Africa and learned the song A Ram-Sam-Sam.  We then learned A Kapsule, a song about friendship from Angola, and a call-and-response tag game from Ghana called Che Che Koolay.

Next we headed back across the ocean to Mexico and and rode El Treyn and then finished the week off in Chile where we sang, Canta, Canta, Pajarito ("Sing, Sing, Little Bird") in hopes that Spring will be here soon.

We also had a lot of fun accompanying our new songs with a brand new set of rhythm instruments that I purchased for us (who knew maracas would be such a big hit!).

Here we have a video of some of our smallest 100 year olds on 100 Day singing the song A Kapasule that we just learned.  They take turns sharing our new rhythm instruments, clapping their hands (because we all are our own instruments), and holding the world.  The words to the song mean, "My friend" and "How are you?".

Our grade 1 friends have started learning about the musical instrument families and how they make sound.  They will continue to explore all sorts of instruments and then they will get to be musical inventors and design/invent their own musical instrument.  I can't wait to see what they come up with!

"We Are the Music Makers" (Continued) ...

Our Musical Instrument Masterpieces have been completed!

After several days of a wonderfully creative messy process 

the JKs created their very own Percussion Instruments (Shakers of all sorts of styles and sounds)

and the SKs created a variety of instruments of their own design. 

(We had Percussion Instruments, and String Instruments, and Wind Instruments!)

When we were all done we gathered together at the carpet to play Tingalayo together

accompanied by our newly created Musical Instruments.

After all, one of the best things about music is making it together!

"We Are the Music Makers" ....

"We are the Music Makers,

and We are the Dreamers of Dreams.

We are the Movers and Shakers

of the World Forever, it seems."

~ Arthur O'Shaughnessy ~ 

It seems like it's taken a bit to get "back in the swing of things" after a nice an relaxing holiday time but we are back underway making music!  

Our return to the music room began with a reviewing our rules and expectations when in the music room and a refresher on what we have learned thus far.

The JKs and SKs finished learning about the last instrument family: STRINGS (i.e. instruments you strum or pluck).  Grade 1s were just getting ready to start their "Stomp Out Loud!" inspired assignment when we were interrupted by the fire alarm!  It was a chilly adventure but we're all very happy that we (and the school) are all safe and sound.

Thursday and Friday we had an EXPLOSION OF CREATIVITY in the Music Room as the JKs and SKs began work on making their very own MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.  We've got all sorts of percussion and string instruments (and I believe I even saw a few wind instruments being attempted).

We will be continuing on with our instruments in the upcoming week, sharing/presenting them to the class, and playing along while we sing some of our old favourites before learning our new songs.

The grade ones started their "Stomp Out Loud" assignment by writing their rhythms together.  

They will be performing their rhythms on whatever item they wish and presenting them to the class next week.