"... and Wiggle Your Waggles Away!"

Hurray! Our new music room is ready! (I just have to unpack - the students have asked me to "do it quickly" 😃 - and put up our decorations).

Before moving music class to the music room, all the students worked together to make two beautiful cards for Mr. Nahi and Mr. Brian who worked VERY hard getting the music room ready for us.

 

Thursday and Friday we had our music classes in the new music room.  It was very exciting.
The grade ones are working on the Musical Element: RHYTHM.  This week we learned how to read different rhythms.  Next week we are going to be composers and practice writing our own rhythms for our friends to perform.

We have continued singing the songs we know and accompanying them with rhythm instruments (We're practicing keeping the beat and using dynamics).  And every once in a while we just got to "Shake Our Sillies Out".  Here "for your listening pleasure" are Thurday's classes singing some of our favourites ...

 

"Aikendrum"                  

"Shake Your Sillies Out" 

"Tingalayo" (watch for a cameo by Mr. Foster!)

and, of course, we can't forget "Peanut Butter"!

"I Got Rhythm"

... and Rhythm Instruments, too!

This week we continued working on our Music Journals.  There's been lots of colouring, and cutting, and pasting going on and our Musical Elements pages are coming together quite nicely.

This week we also started talking about Musical Instruments in the Kindergarten classes and had our first try at the Rhythm Instruments (also known as Percussion Instruments - SKs will be learning that new word next week!).  We got to try lots of different instruments.

Ask your child(ren) which one was their favourite and why?

We practiced different dynamics on instruments by playing loudly and softly.

We learned the first verse of a great Canadian folk song, "I'se the B'y" from Newfoundland and practiced keeping the beat with our rhythm instruments while singing. 

Thursday was Farmer Day for the SKs so the SK Musicians worked with Ms. Hayward to remix a Raffi song called "Going to the Zoo" into "Going to the Farm".

In Grade 1 we learned our newest musical element: RHYTHM.  

Rhythm is the pattern of long and short notes within a beat.

Today we learned 1 beat (TA) can be broken into 2 parts (TI-TI), or 4 parts (TIKA-TIKA), and that silence (SHH - what we call a "rest" in music) is just as important when creating rhythms.  Our student conductors helped lead the class musicians in a performance of "Peanut Butter". Everyone had to watch VERY carefully because the conductors could change the dynamics or tempo anytime they wanted.  We also started learning a new song, "Tingalayo" (Ask them to sing it for you!)

"Taking Care of Business"

We are Knowledgeable Musicians.  

We are Reflective Musicians.  

We are almost done our Musical Elements Unit and have been very excited to finally be able to put together the first few pages of our Music Journals.  Each of us has our very own Music Notebook in which we are creating pages for each of the new things we learn as musicians.  So far we have a Beat Heart, a Pitch Slide, a Dynamics Chart, and a Tempo Train.  The grade 1s also have Conductor Patterns and a Solfege (Do-Re-Mi) Chart.

We will continue to add pages as we continue to learn about and practice being the best musicians we can be.

"All Aboard the TEMPO Train! Choo! Choo!"

TEMPO

the speed at which music is performed

This week we learned all about Tempo (Fast or Slow).  We put the beat in our hands and feet and practiced changing tempos.

JKs practiced going as fast and as slow a we could go.

The SKs learned:
Andante = Walking Speed (Medium)
Largo = Slow 
Allegro = Fast 

The Grade 1s learned:

Largo = Slow

Andante = Walking Speed

Moderato = Moderate/Medium Speed

Allegro = Fast

Vivace = Quick & Lively 

Once we learned tempo, we put it all together while performing all the songs we've learned so far.  We have learned a lot and have had so much fun singing at different tempos, dynamics, and pitches.

Today the Grade 1s also became conductors.  Each student will be getting the chance to conduct the class as we make music.  The conductor is in charge of keeping the beat, and changing the tempo and dynamics.

"Peanut ... Peanut Butter ... JELLY!"

"Peanut .. Peanut Butter ... Jelly!

Peanut ... Peanut Butter ... Jelly!"

You may be hearing these words being sung around your house this week.  This is one of our new songs we learned while working on our new musical element - DYNAMICS - and it has proved to be quite popular.

(I tried to find a YouTube link to share with you but the only versions of the song I could find have been change and, frankly, aren't near as fun.  Looks like we are going to have to make our own!)

DYNAMICS are the levels of volume in music (Loud & Soft)

JKs explored the difference between loud and soft and brainstormed ideas of different things that made loud sounds and soft sounds.

The SKs learned four of the Italian
Dynamic Terms:

Piano = Soft

Mezzo Piano = Medium Soft

Mezzo Piano = Medium Loud

Forte = Loud

The grade 1s learned a couple more terms:

Pianissimo = VERY Soft

Fortinissimo = VERY Loud

The grade 1s also became Conductors this week.  We learned and practiced the conducting pattern for 4/4 time (ie. Down - Left - Right - Up) and some great risk-taking volunteers shared this new knowledge by keeping the beat and conducting the class while we sang.

We have been busy musicians this week; we learned TWO new musical elements!

We also learned about PITCH - the notes we sing/play - and practiced echoing pitches and sliding up and down as high as we could go and as low as we could go.

Up Next?
ALL ABOARD THE TEMPO TRAIN! Choo-Choo!

"We Got the Beat!"

This week we started our unit on Musical Elements.

Musical Elements are the basic building blocks of making music and, because we are all musicians in our music classes, we are going to learn about each one according to the grade level.

Beat is the rhythmic movement of music.  It is how we measure the movement of the music.

Beat is like the heartbeat of the music.  

It keeps the music steady and helps us all sing/play/move together.

We all learned the game "Keep the Beat" (ask your child(ren) if they can teach it to you).

We are practicing paying attention to the leader and keeping the beat steady when we play.

We learned a fun new song, Johnny Works With One Hammer)

(I am still trying to figure out how to take some video to share. It's a real challenge to record video while playing guitar or clapping out the beat!)

We worked on the first entry for our Music Journals which we will be adding to throughout the year as we learn new things and create new music.  This week we worked on "Beat Hearts" to cut out and add to our journals.  We also each decorated small hearts which we will use for a "Beat Display" in our new music room when it's all ready (We are getting very excited about our new room!).

UP NEXT: Our new Musical Element - DYNAMICS

"If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands"

Clap! Clap!

We certainly are happy about our first week of Music Lessons with the JKs, SKs, and 1A!  We were clapping our hands, stomping our feet, jumping up and down, spinning around, and shouting "Hurray!".

This week was all about getting to know each other. We learned the song Willoughby Wallaby Woo to help learn all our names.  

We've learned a little bit about being musicians.  We've warmed up our instruments (our voices) with the song Apples and Bananas - and what beautiful instruments they are!  

We've learned that being a musician isn't just about making sounds but also about being a good listener so we practiced our listening when learning new songs.

We've learned that being a musician also means using our eyes and looking at/watching the conductor/learner.  Today we learned our first conductor's sign: The Cut-Off. This is how we know the leader wants us to be quiet. (Ask your child if they can show you what the cut-off looks like).

Finally, sometimes (lots of times) being a musician means having fun and being a little silly so we shook our sillies out while singing Shake Your Sillies Out!

Next week we are going to start learning the Musical Elements (the basic building blocks of music).