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!

Way Down South- 3J

Way Down South- 3M