Music Class 1/22-1/25

Music Class this week:

PK- We will continue working on our classroom songs, and students will have the chance to try and play the trumpet!

K/1- We had a great time coloring brass instruments and listening to brass music last week! We will work on the hymn that the students are singing for chapel next week. We will also do dictation review on our white boards, reviewing notes, note lengths, the treble clef, and rhythms.

2/3- Our recorders came in last week! We covered the basics of the recorder (hand position, playing technique, care) and we learned the first 3 notes (B,A,G). The first song we are learning is "Hot Cross Buns." Once students master this song and play it for me individually, then they will receive their white belt! We will practice the song together in class, and then students will get a chance to individually practice and test.

4/5- NO CLASS

6- NO CLASS

7- We will be working with the iPads again this week. We have downloaded a new piano app called, "Virtuoso." We will work through piano exercises in the book as a class with the iPads, and students will receive a chance to use the real piano to play the songs.

8- We will begin our guitar unit this week. We were supposed to begin it last week, but had too many students missing due to the weather. Each student will be provided with a guitar and we will discuss the basics and start to work through our Guitar book.

Each class will also learn the song, "It's cool in a Lutheran school," in preparation for National Lutheran School's Week!

Journal for the week: "Sounds of Silence," by Simon and Garfunkel (folk/rock)

Music Class: 1/14-1/18

Here is what is being covered in Music this week:

PK-1: We will continue talking about the Brass Family, and will be working on Brass coloring sheets. Kindergarten and 1st grade will also continue to work on their song that they will be performing in chapel at the end of the month.

2-3: We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our recorders and our recorder books! If these arrive during the week, then we will start our recorder unit on Thursday. 

4-5/6: We will continue our work in our books. 4-5 will be doing activities based on the Mexican folk song, "La Cucaracha." We will learn the Spanish words for the song, and students will have a chance to play band instruments along with the song. 6th grade will be learning the country song, "On the road again," by Willie Nelson. We will talk about "harmony" and will learn to sing harmony along with the recordings.

7th-8th: Having completed music worksheets this past week, we will begin our piano (7th) and guitar (8th) units. Our 7th grade will utilize the school's iPads and the piano apps that we have installed, so that everyone has a piano to use. Our 8th graders will take advantage of the school's guitars for our unit. We will be learning the basics of these instruments, as well as the techniques involved in reading and playing music.

Music Journal for the Week: "The Rite of Spring," by Igor Stravinsky (orchestral, symphonic, 20th cent.)

Music Journal last Week (1/7-1/11): "Ain't Nothin' Wrong With That," by Robert Randolph and the Family Band (rock, funk, soul, r&b)

Hymn of the Month

Each month of this school year, our students have been learning different hymns that we sing together as a school in chapel every Wednesday. Our hymn for this month is entitled, "Let All Things Now Living." The tune is called, "The Ash Grove," and is the same tune used for the hymn, "Sent Forth by God's Blessing." The text for the two stanzas we are learning is as follows:

   1. Let all things now living, a song of thanksgiving
       To God the creator triumphantly raise
       Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
       Who still guides us on to the end of our days.
       God's banners are o'er us, His light goes before us,
       A pillar of fire shining forth in the night.
       Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished
       As forward we travel from light into light.

   2. His law he enforces, the stars in their courses
       And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
       The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains,
       The deeps of the ocean proclaim him divine.
       We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
       With glad adoration a song let us raise
       Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
       "To God in the highest, Hosanna and praise!"

What a great hymn to start off the year! In this season of Epiphany, we give thanks to God for the gift of his Son as our Savior, the gift of rebirth through the waters of Holy Baptism, and for the gifts that He continually showers upon us in our everyday lives.

Wecome Back!

First and foremost, I just want to thank all of the students, teachers, and parents for a very successful Christmas Program. CLS is an amazing place where we can come together as a community to celebrate the birth of our Savior, and this year's program felt like the perfect start to our Christmas season, and the perfect end to our semester.

Our music classes this semester have some exciting things in store! In 2nd and 3rd grade, we will begin a new recorder curriculum called, "Recorder Karate." Students will learn how to play the recorder and the basics of reading music, and will be rewarded throughout the unit with Recorder Karate Belts!

Our 7th graders will be starting a unit on piano, in which we will utilize the school's iPads and iPad apps in order to teach our students the basics of piano. Our 8th graders will start a unit on guitar as well, in which the will learn the parts of the guitar, and the basic fundamentals to reading guitar music.

While all of these exciting things are happening, our Kindergarteners and First graders will be taking a tour of "Brass Land" in order to continue learning the different families of instruments. They will also be preparing special music for their chapel service during National Lutheran School's Week at the end of this month.

I am very excited for this coming semester, and I look forward to the learning that will take place!