Hello? Who's There?

My kindergarten friends have been working on some vocal exploration. We've worked to recognize high and low sounds, melodies that move up and melodies that move down, and now we're trying to create those sounds with our voices! Unfortunately, with so many kiddos in such a small space, it can be a challenge. Lucky for us, thanks to some Pinterest inspiration, we have brand new phones that we can use to hear our own voices! In literacy, these types of phones are often called "phonics phones" or "whisper phones" as they help students recognize sounds in phonics and can also be used so students can whisper and read to themselves. We are going to use them for the development of our singing voices!

We first looked at some shapes and squiggles, and tried to mimic those shapes with our voices. We even used pipe cleaners to create our own squiggles.

Then, we used our whisper phones to, well, not really whisper, but move our voices into both high and low registers. I am looking forward to using these new creations more in the future and seeing if it helps make a difference in our ability to match pitch in our singing!

Recorder Karate Green Belts!

4th grade is cruising right along in their Recorder Karate quest! We've been working on a new pitch, low E, and we're in the process of earning our highly coveted Green Belts! Mr. Wittenberg's class completed this task today, and here is a video of everyone playing their Green Belt testing song, "Boat Song," together!

Congratulations!

Lyric Opera Field Trip!

I've been a very absent blogger lately- I apologize! I wanted to share details of our recent 4th grade field trip to the Lyric Opera of Chicago! We spent several weeks studying opera in music class (types of voices, types of performances, opera history, and we even watched an operetta, "The Pirates of Penzance").

After learning about all of the backstage workings of an opera and other stage performances, we took a trip to the Civic Opera House in downtown Chicago, which houses the Lyric Opera of Chicago. We saw the auditorium, the costume department, the wig and makeup department, the props department, the catwalk, dressing rooms, practice rooms, and so much more! Rather than tell you about it, I'll share pictures. Thanks to my photographer, Kaitlyn!

Vibration is Sound!

2nd grade has been learning about sound in science, and this seemed like a natural place for us to integrate music and science! We have learned all about how sound is created by vibrations, and we wanted to do an experiment to see sound waves at work.

(Check out the hyperlinks below at housingaforest.com for some great pictures and a video of oobleck!)
We made oobleck, which is a substance that isn't quite solid, and isn't quite liquid. We put the oobleck on a cookie sheet on top of a speaker and played some bass tones through the speaker (thanks to Mrs. Bray, who prepped everything for our experiment!) Below are some pictures of the dancing oobleck!

Please come to the music room during open house on Thursday night, 2/28, for an oobleck demonstration and some information about other things we've been learning about in music class!

Kindergarten: One or Two Sounds?

We know a beat is steady, and a rhythm is a combination of long and short sounds. We've been working so hard on keeping a steady beat, and now we're moving onto rhythms! We've been using what we know about syllables, after learning a poem in music class, to determine whether each beat has one sound (or syllable) on a beat, or if it has two.

We learned that when there is one sound on a beat, we call it "ta," and we notate it with one single vertical stick. When there are two sounds on a beat, we call it "ti-ti," and we notate it with two vertical sticks with another stick connecting them across the top. See us notating sounds with popsicle sticks:

The following week, we learned a poem called "Cobbler, Cobbler."

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe.

Get it done by half past two.

Half past two is at the door,

Get it done by half past four!

Using our giant beat strips, we used our shoes to notate whether each beat had one or two sounds to it. I cannot even tell you how entertained we all were to take off our shoes in the music room!

Here's Ms. Falsone, our great student teacher!

5th Grade is Rockin' and Rollin'!

5th grade said goodbye to our beloved drums at the beginning of February, and since, we have been learning a bit about the history of rock and roll. We've learned about The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and other pioneers of rock and roll.

Here we are doing a little bit of research:

As we've been learning about some of these rock and roll legends, we've been reviewing how to build chords, how to read chord symbols, and learning how to read guitar chord diagrams in preparation for our guitar unit (which we'll be starting right after spring break).

Here we are playing chords for "Hound Dog"on Boomwhackers:

And here we are working in groups to interpret guitar chord diagrams: