It's been awhile since I've posted about what we're doing in music class. Our instrument units in 7th and 8th grade are winding down. 8th grade will be testing on their guitar unit this next Tuesday, 4/16. The 7th graders have been watching my all time favorite musical, "Newsies," which won best choreography at the Tony Awards this past year. The kids really seem to like the movie. We will be starting our new units in Jr. High in the next couple of weeks.
7th grade will be introduced to their end of the year project, which will be a research paper on a composer. I will be assigning each student a composer from either the Baroque, Classical, or Romantic Period. The students will then have time in class (and outside of class) to research their composer, write a short paper, and then present on their composer. More details to come in the next couple of weeks.
8th grade will be starting a project that will tie Music, Art, and English all together. With the help of Ms. McKnight, I will be assigning each student a piece of art work. With the art work as a starting point, the students will be composing a fictional short story based off the art work, which they will read to the class. While they are reading the story, they will have 3 parts throughout where they will incorporate music in order to change the mood/meaning of the art work and of the story. More details to come in the next couple of weeks.
Kindergarten and First Grade were able to try out one of our Music iPad games, called "Blob Chorus." In the game, there are three blobs and a King Blob. The first three blobs take turns singing a certain pitch, all of which are different. The King Blob then sings one of the pitches that was sung, and the student has to select the blob that sang the same pitch as the King Blob. If they get it right, they get more points. If they answer wrong, the blob explodes! Some students were able to add more blobs as the game went on. This activity focuses on helping the students differentiate between different pitches.
4th and 5th grade are finishing their unit on Harmony, in which we have talked about counter-melodies, descants, partner songs, rounds, and canons. In this unit the students have practiced singing harmony over a melodic line. Students have also had the chance to play different percussion instruments in order to accompany the class in song. It has been a lot of fun!
6th grade finished their unit on Harmony and have begun work on a Guitar unit. The school has acoustic guitars for the students to use, but if you own an acoustic guitar, then they are more than welcome to bring that in on Monday's to use for music class.
Our ensembles are continuing to work hard as we prepare all of our music for Fine Arts Night! The event will be on Thursday, May 16th at 6:30. It will start with a short PALS meeting, followed by our musical groups. Then after the concert, there will be beautiful art work, done by the students, hanging all over the school for you to walk around and see. Refreshments will also be provided. Come out and enjoy a night of great music and art!
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