Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Thriller Dance

It's Halloween! For the past couple of weeks, 4th and 5th graders have been learning choreography to the Michael Jackson hit "Thriller" in a combined music/PE effort (we can't take credit for the choreography- I found it on another music teacher's blog and thought it was so great that we HAD to do it). This morning, we all met in the gym to perform for one another and then to finally perform as one big group.

Believe it or not, we're doing more than just having fun dancing together. We're actually accomplishing some music, PE, and dance state and national learning standards! In music class, we worked to identify the form of the music. We identified an introduction, A, B, C, and D sections, a bridge, and a coda. We identified "like" sections in the music and learned choreography for each section of music, and using our music map, we were able to put the whole song together quite easily! We rehearsed in a combined music/PE effort, and that was all there was to it!

Here are some of the standards we achieved during our "Thriller" experience: (There are many more than what's listed, but here are some things we focused on)

PE:     State Goal 19: Engage in Health Related Physical Activity.
           Standard Description: Flexibility Component (The ability to use body in full range of motion).
           Example Rigor: Creative Movement and Dance
                          - Executes combinations of steps
                          - Combines steps to create a short routine.

Music: National Content Standard 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
            Achievement Standards:
                       - Students identify simple music forms when presented aurally
                       - Students demonstrate perceptual skills by moving, by answering questions about, and
                         by describing aural examples of music of various styles representing diverse cultures.

Dance: National Content Standard 2: Understanding choreographic principles, processes, and
            structures.
            Achievement Standards:
                     - Students create a sequence with a beginning, middle, and end, both with and without a
                       rhythmic accompaniment; identify each of these parts of the sequence
                     - Students improvise, create, and perform dances based on their own ideas and concepts
                       from other sources
                     - Students use improvisation to discover and invent movement and to solve movement
                        problems .

To see the video of our students in action, click here! (Clearly we were very excited, and this was BEFORE candy!)

"Swim, swim..."
Awesome zombie moves.
More awesome zombie moves.
The Thriller claw.
Amazing Michael Jackson pose.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Spider and the Fly- The Performance!

You may have a read a few weeks back that 5th grade students were working on adding instrumentation to the Tony DiTerlizzi book "The Spider and the Fly" (see post here). Well, we're finishing up! Here are videos of classes who have "performed" during music class. You'll see students narrating, playing the xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels, Boomwhackers, wind chimes, and even the violin, cello, and piano! Enjoy!

     The Spider and the Fly- 5 Salach
    
     The Spider and the Fly- 5 Smith

     The Spider and the Fly- 5M

     The Spider and the Fly- 5T

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

3rd Grade Orchestra Field Trip

This morning, our 3rd graders went on a field trip to the Wheaton College to see a Children's Concert performed by the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra. This was a great way to wrap up our unit on the instruments of the orchestra and our instrument investigations! Students were all on the lookout for the instruments they've been researching!

The concert featured the instruments of the symphony orchestra, conducted by Dan Sommerville, and was hosted by magician Michael Folker, who helped illustrate through magic the colors of the orchestra.

We learned about how different instruments and families can portray different emotions through the colors of their sounds, about how composers use major and minor tonalities to affect the way we feel when we listen to music, and how rhythm gives life to music.

Here is a list of the pieces we heard (click on the blue links to hear/view)...

     Sabre Dance (by Aram Khachaturian)

     Opening theme of Thus Sprach Zarathustra (by Richard Strauss)

     Storm movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale)

     March Militaire (by Franz Schubert)

     Violin Concerto in G minor (third movement), Op. 12, No. 1 (by Vivaldi)

     Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (by Johann Sebastian Bach, as orchestrated by Stokowski)

     (Toccata and Fugue in D Minor was originally composed and performed on the organ- click here to see an organ performance.)

     Variations on America (by Charles Ives)

Waiting for the concert to start!
Conductor Daniel Sommerville and the Wheaton College Symphony Orchestra
Magician Michael Falker
"Variations on America"

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Dancing Monsters

This week, 2nd grade started getting into the Halloween spirit! We read the book "Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance," written and illustrated by Keith Graves (click here for an animated short film, narrated with the text of the story and animated based on the book's illustrations. ***Warning- it's a little creepy and goofy. This video is for my future doctors and nurses and those not grossed out by yucky things!). We used our imaginations to choreograph how Frank might dance. After our reading, we listened to Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "The Monster Mash." We mapped the form of the song (A, B, and C sections) using colored index cards. We then learned choreography for the A section and B section, and students improvised their "Frank" choreography for the C section.


Mapping the form of "The Monster Mash"
Dancing to "The Monster Mash" like Frank the Monster
Mrs. Moon's class Monster Mashing
Watch us!...  The Monster Mash- 2D
                     The Monster Mash- 2M
                     The Monster Mash- 2B
                     The Monster Mash- 2G

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

5th Grade September-in-Review


September 11, 2012: Star-Spangled Banner

5th grade students are beginning their unit on "The Star-Spangled Banner." We will discuss the story of how the song was written, and we'll watch/listen to some different performances of our national anthem. Here are some to check out....



     Josh Groban at "Concert for America" (days after the September 11th attacks)

     Academy Choirs (combined US Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, Military Academy at West Point, Coast Guard Academy, accompanied by US Army Herald Trumpets).

     Kate Wild (Ben Franklin alum!!!!) at a 2011 Chicago Bulls game

Next we'll be splitting into small groups to rotate through several activities related to our national anthem, including poetry, phrasing, vocabulary and definitions, and the history of the song. Stay tuned for pictures of 5th graders in action!

For more information on our national anthem, click here.

September 6, 2012

5th grade started out the year with a rhythm composition activity called "Just Give Me the Beat." We are now playing recorders, reviewing notes B, A, and G, and improvising our own melodies and rhythms using those notes.

3rd Grade September-in-Review


Peter and the Wolf
We reviewed Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf to familiarize ourselves with the tone colors (or voices) of different instruments of the orchestra.

Prokofiev was a Russian composer. In the video of "Peter and the Wolf" from the 1946 Disney film Make Mine Music, we see examples of words written in the Cyrillic alphabet (the Russian alphabet). Here is a website where you can translate English words into Cyrillic- see what your name would look like! (click here).


September 11, 2012: Variations on "America"
This week, we begin our study of instruments of the orchestra by listening to a piece that we will hear on our field trip to the Wheaton College Conservatory's Children's Concert: Variations on "America" by Charles Ives.

We are discussing what "theme and variation" means. We began by discussing an example of theme and variation in the art world: work by the artist Andy Warhol. (For an activity guide on the art of Andy Warhol, click here).

We listened to "America" (also known as "My Country 'Tis of Thee"), sang the song and learned a little about the history of the melody (did you know it's the melody of the British National Anthem, "God Save the Queen"?)

Here is a recording of the piece: Variations on "America"How many variations do you hear?

"Variations on America" listening map

September 6, 2012: Beat vs. Rhythm

We started out the year reviewing and practicing the difference between beat and rhythm. A beat is constant throughout a piece of music, while the rhythm is a combination of long and short sounds and silences. We learned a poem called "Way Down South." We added a steady beat to the poem using the contrabass bars (in the middle) and the bass xylophones and metallophones. We then talked about improvisation (making it up as you go) and added an 8-beat improvisation section to our poem on the alto/soprano metallophones and xylophones. Finally, we added small percussion instruments playing the rhythm (the pattern of the words) along with the poem. Not too shabby for only a few music classes! Here are some of our results...click on the links to see videos of these classes! Hope you enjoy!


4th Grade September-in-Review


September 20, 2012: A Journey
We've been working hard to practice performing in rounds using a song/poem called "A Journey." We've been splitting up into 2 groups, 3, groups (one class even split up into 25 "groups"!!!) to perform in canon. We're also reading rhythm patterns to provide instrumental accompaniment to our poem. Click on the links below to see the 4th grade classes performing!

     A Journey- 4W

     A Journey- 4R

     A Journey- 4S

We'll be coming back to this song during the year in each class so every group has a chance to "arrange" their own performance. Maybe we can perform the poem in rounds, maybe we can perform the instrumentation in rounds. It'll be up to the class!

September 6, 2012: Meter, Conducting, and Bobby McFerrin

4th grade has spent the last two weeks learning about meter. We have been practicing finding the strong beat in a piece of music by bouncing tennis balls, and I've challenged students to try to find the strong beat and meter in their favorite songs at home. We've also been learning conducting patterns.

Mr. Schremp's class practicing their conducting.

We will begin talking about the vocal artist Bobby McFerrin in next week's lesson. We'll watch him sing in harmony with himself in this video! (Pay attention at about 1:50 into the video).


Here is a really cool activity that allows you to hear how Bobby can create his vocal arrangements entirely on his own! You can drag the vocal parts into the white boxes and create your own arrangement! Click on this link...

The Spider and the Fly

5th grade classes have been working on a musical adaptation of the book "The Spider and the Fly" by Tony DiTerlizzi.

The musical accompaniment of this book will reinforce the concepts of major versus minor keys, moods in music, and quarter note-eighth note rhythm patterns. Our goal is to complete an in-class performance of this book, including narration, instrumental accompaniment, and sound effects, by Halloween (which will be posted to the blog). Here we are in action...
Mrs. Smith's class
Mrs. Smith's class
Mrs. Salach's class
Mrs. Salach's class: The Narrators

Chorus "Jammies and a Movie"

The 4th and 5th grade choruses of D41 gathered in the gym at Ben Franklin School on Friday, September 28th for our first social event of the year! We all donned our jammies and watched Despicable Me with our chorus counterparts from Lincoln, Churchill, and Forest Glen Schools. This was a great opportunity for us to meet some of the students we'll be performing with this year, and also just to relax and have a good time as a group!


Friday, October 5, 2012

Kindergarten September-in-Review

***See my post on Star Wars Steady Beats at my new website, https://artsintersection.wordpress.com/2015/12/23/star-wars-steady-beats/***

September 20, 2012: Fast and Slow

We are having fun in kindergarten music! Now that we're steady beat experts, we are talking about fast and slow steady beats. This week, we danced the "Song About Slow, Song About Fast" (check out our pictures!), read the story of the Tortoise and the Hare, watched the super-funny Presto Largo video, and we are now moving onto a listening/movement activity of "Csardas" from Ritter Pasman by Johann Strauss. We'll also start some really great activities with the song "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly."





"Light saber" steady beats

September 11, 2012

Kindergarten students have been learning all about steady beats in music class. We have been listening to environmental sounds like clocks, windshield wipers, and water dripping to familiarize ourselves with what steady beats sound and feel like. We've sung, moved, and played small percussion instruments to get used to this concept.

This week, we're having a great time in music class meeting our "beat buddies" (Beanie babies that we'll use all year long to help us keep a beat).

Beat buddies
"Walking Song"


We also listened to "Imperial March" from Star Wars, marched the steady beat, and then, of course, since we were listening to Star Wars, we needed LIGHT SABERS! Students used their light sabers (which are actually pool noodles cut in half) to tap the steady beat with a partner in "battle."



1st Grade September-in-Review


September 17, 2012: Bonjour, mes amis!

This week, while continuing our practice of steady beat with "Miss Mary Mack," we will be learning a new song called "Bonjour, mes amis" (which means, "Hello, my friends"). This is a Cajun folk song, and it's a lot of fun! We'll be learning to sing in French, as well as learning sign language for the words of the song, and then we'll be focusing on the melody of the song and how it moves- upward and downward. We will also be incorporating the song into our reading of the book, "Hello, Hello" by Miriam Schlein.

September 6, 2012: Keeping a Steady Beat

We've been reviewing keeping a steady beat in 1st grade. We've talked about sounds that keep a steady beat and sounds that do not. Ask your student to identify some things that keep a steady beat in your house! We learned a poem called "Windshield Wipers," and we'll now be learning the song "Miss Mary Mack." We'll be reading the book below, singing the song, learning a movement game, and adding instruments.


Here we are playing a steady beat game with instruments!


And here is Mrs. Sailer's class playing our "Miss Mary Mack" clapping game!




2nd Grade September-in-Review

1/18/16***See my new website at check out the post on Composition Cubes at https://artsintersection.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/composition-cubes/


September 20, 2012: Crazy Cube Compositions
We're composing! Students are using "crazy cubes" (which are really just actually wooden blocks with quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest rhythms drawn on them) to compose a 16-beat rhythm piece. Students roll 4 cubes at a time, arrange their rhythm how they want with the 4 rhythms showing, and copy it onto the composition worksheet. After four rounds of this, we've got a 16-beat composition! The kids will take some time to practice their rhythm composition and will soon be performing them on instruments!







September 11, 2012
We're now moving onto another song using those quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest rhythm patterns. The song is "I Bought Me a Cat" by the American composer Aaron Copland. Here is a video performance of the song similar to the version we listened to in class.

          I Bought Me a Cat

We'll soon be adding instrumentation to this song to create our own performance, and we'll work on our music literacy by matching each "animal sound" to corresponding rhythm patterns. We'll also explore extra verses by reading the book "Cat Goes Fiddle-i-Fee" by Paul Galdone (click on title for the Glen Ellyn library's listing for this book).







September 6, 2012: Step in Time
We've started out the school year by reviewing quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest rhythms. We've been learning the song "Step in Time" (from Mary Poppins) and learning how follow along with a vocal score, reading repeat signs, and first and second endings. We also had fun creating movements to show a steady beat with each verse.



Here is a link to the scene from "Mary Poppins!"

          Step in Time