More Instruments of the Orchestra and Band: Woodwinds and Percussion

Two important words from last time:

        Family - group of instruments that look and sound similar but come in different sizes 

                       (larger ones are lower and smaller ones are higher)

        Ensemble - team of musicians who play or sing together

Two important ensembles:

        Concert Band - team of players of instruments that include woodwinds, brass,
                                    and percussion instruments

        Orchestra - team of players of instruments that include the string family (violin, viola,
                             cello, string bass) and any combination of woodwinds, brass and
                             percussion instruments the composer needs

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the woodwind section. 

Watch these videos to see how the woodwinds are played and how they make sound.

Green Bean's Music: Woodwind Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How do Woodwind Instruments Make Sound?

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the percussion section. 

Watch these videos to see how the percussion instruments are played and 

how they make sound.

Green Bean's Music: Percussion Instruments for Kids

Green Bean's Music: Percussion 2 Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How Do Percussion Instruments Make Sound?

Review and Check Your Learning

Second Grade - match the instruments to their names on the Woodwind and 
                        Percussion pages in your packet.
                      - List the instruments under the correct headings on the 
                        Sorting Instruments page in your packet.

Third Grade - Do the word find on the Find the Instruments page in your packet.
                    - List the instruments under the correct headings on the 
                        Sorting Instruments page in your packet.

Try some sounds of your own!

1. If a sibling has a band instrument, ask for a demonstration and try it out. It's fun to try to make sounds with big kids' instruments. Just be careful!!

2.  Check with a parent (or whoever is in charge in your house) about using old things from the kitchen or garage that make sound. I bet you can find shakers, scrapers, metals, woods, and drums! Here's a video with some suggestions. Just be sure to ask first!!

Household Percussion Jam

Instruments of the Orchestra: Strings and Brass

Transitional Kindergarten and Kindergarten

Tubby the Tuba

Music tells stories in many ways. In this story Tubby learns a lesson about his ability, and all the instruments of the orchestra get to play a new melody. The composer wrote the music as part of the way to tell the story.

Watch the video of book and music.

Watch a live version where you can see people playing the instruments.

Extend your Learning
Use this link to find out more about the instruments. 
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.

San Francisco Kids Instruments of the Orchestra

First Grade

Peter and the Wolf

Composers love to use music to tell stories. In this story, each character is represented by a special melody played by a specific instrument. You know something is happening to that character when you hear it's melody.

Watch the animated video of the story.

Review and Check Your Learning
Do the first sheet in your packet: match each instrument to the character it represents.

Watch a live version where you can see people playing the instruments.

Review and Check Your Learning

Listen again and draw your version of the story on the second sheet in your packet.

Extend your Learning
Use this link to find out more about the instruments. 
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.

San Francisco Kids Instruments of the Orchestra

Second and Third Grade

Feel free to watch the Peter and the Wolf videos (just because it's a wonderful story—not just for little kids!).

Composers love to combine different instrument sounds to make music more interesting. 

Instruments are divided into families and ensembles. The four major families are strings, 

woodwinds, brass, percussion. They are sorted by how the sound is made rather than how 

they look or what they're made of. 

Two important words:

        Family - group of instruments that look and sound similar but come in different sizes 

                       (larger ones are lower and smaller ones are higher)

        Ensemble - team of musicians who play or sing together

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the string section. 

Watch these videos to see how the strings are played and how they make sound.

Green Bean's Music: String Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How Do String Instruments Make a Sound

This video is a famous piece of music played by an ensemble called a string quartet. It's made of 4 players. Some of them are bowing and some are plucking (or playing pizzicato).

Boccarini's Menuet (a concert version of a dance)

Look at your packet to find out which instruments are in the brass section.

Watch these videos about brass instruments.

Green Bean's Music: Brass Instruments for Kids

House of Sound: How do Brass Instruments Make a Sound

The Canadian Brass is a quintet, an ensemble with 5 players. Listen to these two examples.

Here's a song with brass instruments playing accompaniment for singers.

Here they are playing Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov.

Review and Check Your Learning

Second Grade - match the instruments to their names on the String and Brass pages.

Third Grade - Fill in the instrument words on page 6. Notice that the boxes fit the shape of the words: if the box goes up high, there should be a tall letter. If the box goes down low, there should be a letter that goes below the line.

Extend your Learning

If you're really wanting to explore, use this link to find out more about the instruments. 
Ask an adult or older brother or sister to help you set it up.

San Francisco Kids Instruments of the Orchestra

Making Music at Home Week 2

I hope everyone is staying healthy and finding useful ways to pass the time! I miss making music with all of you, so I'm including some songs that we like to sing together so you can make some music with your family!

Fourth Grade

Fifty Nifty United States by Ray Charles (click on the link to sing along)

Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies;
Fifty nifty stars in the flag that billows so beautif'ly in the breeze.
Each individual state contributes a quality that is great.
Each individual state deserves a bow, we salute them now.
Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies,
Shout 'em, scout 'em, Tell all about 'em,
One by one till we've given a day to ev'ry state in the U.S.A.

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut;
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana;
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan;
Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada;
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, 

North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio;
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas;
Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming,
         Repeat the states
North, south, east, west, in our calm, objective opinion,
Iowa is the best of the
Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies,
Shout 'em, scout 'em, Tell all about 'em,
One by one till we've given a day to ev'ry state in the good old U. S. A.

Third Grade

Mrs. Jenny Wren   poem by Rodney Bennett, music by Arthur Baynon
 (click on the link to sing along)

Mrs. Jenny Wren! I have never, never heard Such a very big voice For a very tiny bird.
You sit on a post And you sing and you sing,You're a very bold bird For such a tiny little thing,
Jenny Wren.

If I had a voice For my size as big as yours, I should never dare sing Without shutting all the doors.
I'd sing very softly For fear they should hear, Or they'd hurry away And put a finger in each ear,
Jenny Wren.


Second Grade

Make a Difference audio link  by Denise Gagne

Make a Difference video link
(click on one of the links to sing along)

We can make a difference in our world today.
Together we can make our world a better place.
When we work together, so much can be done.
If all the children in the world would sing in unison.

We know what's right,
and we know what to do.
The future can be brighter.
It's up to me and you.

Take my hand and join me. Sing along with me.
When all the children join us there will be a change you'll see.
Do you have the courage? Do you have the pride?
Do you have a vision of a world where all is right?

We know what's right, 
and we know what to do.
The future can be brighter. 
It's up to me and you.

We can make a difference in our world today.
Together we can make our world a better place.
When we work together, so much can be done.
If all the children in the world would sing in unison.

We know what's right, 
and we know what to do.
The future can be brighter. 
It's up to me and you.

First Grade

One Light, One Sun  by Raffi
(click on the link to sing along)

Lyrics are included on the link above.

I'm Growing Up by Amidons

Kindergarten (and everyone else)

Standing Like a Tree

Standing like a tree with my roots down deep.
My branches wide open.
Down comes the rain (ch ch)
Down comes the sun (ha ha)
Down comes a love to a heart that is open to be
Standing like a tree.

Making Music at Home Week 1

Here are some resources for learning music at home!

San Francisco Symphony: Instruments of the Orchestra
We're studying instruments of the orchestra after concerts this year (second grade and kindergarten have started already). This needs no log-in. There are wonderful resources for listening and identifying instruments of the orchestra. Kids have loved this in past years! It's appropriate for all grades, but younger ones might want some help from an older sibling.

San Francisco Symphony: The Music Lab
This is appropriate for fourth graders (we've covered many of these concepts) and third graders who would like a challenge (we've covered some of this).

Here are some movement resources for songs we use in music class. 

The Goonie Bird Song
Mrs. Ahlrich's TK kids know this one, but it's fun for everyone!

These are MoveIt pieces. The goal is to make beautiful movements to beautiful music so children become artful about making their own music. These are part of our curriculum in TK and Kindergarten.

Waltz in Ab by Brahms
TK has done this many times. It should be familiar to kindergarten and first grade, too.

Aquarium from Carnival of the Animals by Saint Saens

Fur Elise by Beethoven
This one is a bit tricky!

Here are a few favorite songs! 

Preschool and TK kids have sung these.

Jenny Jenkins

No More Pie

We haven't done these yet in kindergarten this year, but older kids probably know them! They're often requested when I ask for favorites.

The Tailor and the Mouse

Crabfish Song

Happy Music Making!

More Tchaikovsky!!

The second graders are building on their knowledge of Russia’s most famous composer: Peter Tchaikovsky. This year we are studying his1812 Overture. He was asked to write a piece of music to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the War of 1812 when Russia’s army stopped Napoleon’s army. Since Tchaikovsky loved to compose long pieces (this one is 15 minutes), we’re just listening to the Finale (which is about 5 minutes). In 1974 Boston Pops Orchestra conductor Arthur Fiedler played it in his 4^thof July concert, and since then it’s often used for independence celebrations in the United States.

We started by doing a parachute routine and listening for the things Tchaikovsky put into the music to make it sound like the Russians felt: happy, excited, proud, maybe a bit sad to lose friends or family in the battles. We discovered how he used dynamics, tempo changes, and instruments—like brass instruments, voices, and cannons (!)—to express the emotions in his music.

Here is the video clip we listened to.

Finale from Tchaikovsky's 1812

After listening and discussing, students answered these questions. Their answers proved to be 

very insightful!

1.  When does the Finale happen in the 1812 Overture?

       beginning                middle                      end

2.  Why did Tchaikovsky choose cannons as instruments in his orchestra?

3. What feelings was Tchaikovsky trying to bring out of his listeners?

4. What do you think about when you hear this music?

St. Thomas Church Pipe Organ in New York City

The Dobson Pipe Organ Builders of Lake City, Iowa, just finished Opus 93 at St. Thomas Church in New York City, their largest pipe organ to date. The dedication weekend was October 5-8, 2018. I was fortunate enough to be part of the company contingent who went to hear it and celebrate with the church. When I came back I shared some information with the children in class. Here are the pictures and sounds of this magnificent instrument.

For more information check out the church website
St. Thomas Church Miller-Scott Organ.

Daniel Hyde from England is the music director at St. Thomas.
He plays the organ for church services and concerts, chooses music,
and teaches and directs the choir of boys and men who sing
at this church. It's the only place in the United States that has a
boys' choir that lives at the school. Boys can get a free education if they are
chosen for the choir and sing about six services each week plus special concerts.
They learn all the other subjects from other teachers. Daniel is the head music
teacher. Students take private lessons, study theory, and rehearse daily to sing
music that is often sung by good high school and college choirs.

More information about the choir boys is in a video clip on this webpage.

St. Thomas Choir School


More information about the organ can be found on the Dobson Pipe Organ Builders website.

Dobson Organs

Listen to the Dedication Recital at this link.

Dedication Recital

Daniel Hyde plays the Dedication Recital on Friday, October 5
Since the console (where the organ is played) is under the organ case
on the left, a video camera is set up to project live so
listeners can also see the organist play. The new organ
is in two chambers, one hanging on either side of the church.
Most of the 7000 pipes are inside the chamber, but the facade pipes
are open to the front and are played by the pedals (on the left) and
manuals (on the right).

Old organ case filled with new pipes by Dobson
Daniel Hyde rehearses the choir of boys (in front)
and men (in red in back).

New organ case built by Dobson

The impost of new organ case is an important part of the
structure of the case. The pipes stand on this in
wind chests, which provide the breath for the
sound of the pipes.

The Dobson Crew who built this instrument

The organ console
This is where the organist sits. The stop knobs on the right and left can be pulled to allow individual or combined sounds
of the organ to be heard. Some are quiet (like a flute, clarinet or string) and some are loud (like trumpets). The small
buttons between the keyboards are presets to be used by the organist to keep track of stop combinations for
different pieces of music. The organist can set the stops to a specific preset button and push it to change to a new setting
of stops between pieces or in the middle of a piece when a change of sound is needed. The rocker tabs under the music rack are called couplers and allow sounds set up for one keyboard to be played from another keyboard.

The console with the pedal board
Besides multiple manuals for hands, pipe organs also have a pedal board for playing with feet.

The front of St. Thomas Church
This picture, taken before the dedication service began, shows the wall behind the altar,
called the reredos, which contains many carvings of historic people.
The organ cases hang on the side walls, with the choir stalls are below them.
The church is about one football field long and about nine stories tall.

Making Music at Home Week 4.1: Sleeping Beauty and Tchaikovsky's ballets

This year the elementary students have studied Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky. He is best known for his ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and especially Nutcracker. We've watched excerpts of the first two.

Nutcracker

Every year in December the first graders explore Nutcracker. I read the story with Tchaikovsky's music playing, then we watch the party and beginning of the dream. We spend some time exploring the moves that are the building blocks of dance (travel, turn, higher/lower, close/away) then watch three versions of one of the second act dances and discuss how the dancers showed the various building blocks. After that I put on the music and the kids create their own version. We usually have time for only the Chinese Dance, but later learn the Russian Dance and March with  parachute routines. They become favorites for years!

There are many easily attainable versions of Nutcracker if you're interested in watching.

Here is our favorite dance Trepak (Russian Dance). If you don't have a parachute, use a towel
or sheet (if you can teach the moves to your whole family).

Clips from Swan Lake

These are the clips we watched in class to learn more about the story of Swan Lake and how a ballet works.

Prince's birthday party waltz

Background information and interviews with the Corps de Ballet

Dance of the four swans (referenced in Corps de Ballet clip)

Main swan theme

The Story of Sleeping Beauty

For an excellent picture-filled summary of the story Tchaikovsky used, check out this link.

http://www.classicfm.com/composers/tchaikovsky/guides/sleeping-beauty-guide-pictures/

Clips from Sleeping Beauty

If students are curious to see the dances, especially how she pricks her finger and falls asleep. I can recommend these videos from Youtube if you'd like to share them with your child.

Act 1 Garland Waltz
This very famous waltz is entertainment at Aurora's 16th birthday party.

Aurora dances with the Princes (Rose Adage)
As in many fairy tales, the main character must marry. This is Aurora's famous dance with the princes, filled with amazing balances on her toe shoes (en pointe). We have had some interesting discussions about these shoes with third and fourth grade dance students in years past.

Aurora pricks her finger and falls asleep

Tuneful Singers, Wonderful Beat-keepers, and New Instruments!

New xylophones at the Elementary building

What a way to start the year! I've been pleasantly surprised by what children remember from last year—and what beautiful singers we have! Every level has some amazing individuals, but there are whole classes singing lovely songs already.

Audio recording of Kindergarten singing Ten in the Bed (no video, but great sound!)

This year I see Transitional Kindergarten through Third Grade twice a week and have time to fit the morning sessions of 3-year and 4-year old preschool in both Rockwell City and Lake City. Our focus at the beginning of the year is to get back into singing tunefully and making our rhythms come together on a common beat. Here are some second graders creating machines to fit the beat. Making music is all about working together to make things happen!

Machine 1                                        Machine 3                             Machine 5

Machine 2                                        Machine 4                             Machine 6

 We've played games and a few instruments, so there's been a lot of fun happening in the Music Room.

Here Kindergarteners create short and long sound compositions with balloon pictures. Next they will add triangles and rhythm sticks.

Singing, Stories and Orff Instruments at the Middle School

At the Middle School we're enjoying new carpeting and paint in the music hall. Even more exciting is the addition of bass bars! Fifth Graders tried them out this week (along with autoharps and Boomwhackers), and they are really excited to add them to the concert.

Although they have music only once a week, we're planning an interesting performance. Students voted on a story and chose The Bakers' Dozen. Now each class is preparing to play one piece of music and move to another piece to make the story come to life. We'll have actors and narrators, too. Their concert is Friday, December 16 at 7:00 pm.

Titan Orff Ensemble with our new bass metalophone in the lower right of the photo

Titan Orff 2016-17

We had our first meeting today for Titan Orff, a fifth grade ensemble that prepares a piece or two for the concert. They meet during recess time on Tuesdays from the end of September through the concert.

What a great group of kids we have! I'm looking forward to seeing their work this year. They were so excited to get started. 

We got some new instruments last spring, so the kids are really excited to put it all together. Here are some photos of students hard at work learning a tricky accompaniment for a piece by Carl Orff, the teacher and composer for whom the instruments are named.

Still Playing . . .

It's been a wonderful year in the music room—too busy to keep up with my blog postings unfortunately!

We have been playing a great deal this year. Today the second grade played Fiddlestix, a card game for identifying instruments of the orchestra. It's been a fun way to explore the different instruments.  Third graders will play an online game called Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, where they can explore Benjamin Britten's theme and variations and search for instruments. Here's the link if you'd like to play at home.
http://listeningadventures.carnegiehall.org/game.aspx

Fifth graders are exploring with theme and variations. They watched a video of Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and described all the variations as they happened.  They created some "visual variations" of Hot Cross Buns which we will play with Boomwhackers. Here are a few of their really incredible ideas. I can't wait to hear what they'll sound like with accompaniments they create in teamwork time.

The fourth graders are learning the names of  lines and spaces. We read flash cards, have staff rug races, and play other games like Sneaky Snake pitch puzzles. We also read melodies to play with recorders.

Our concerts this year were quite successful. Students wrote reflection paragraphs. At the end are the class paragraphs for first and second graders. The third graders wrote their own, in rough draft form. They did a wonderful job!

We just finished two little performances: first grade went to Sunny View and second grade went to Sunny Knoll. We asked both groups to sing America with us, and it was wonderful to share the music in that way!

Kindergarten are playing patterns on barred instruments. It's been an amazing journey with this class. They are so ready to learn and have accomplished so much this year. I'm really looking forward to all the fun we'll have learning to read music next year!

Kindergarten playing aabb patterns on barred instruments

First graders are working up to playing melodies on barred instruments. I'll post video soon if we get something good.

In addition to all the games, the elementary students have been folk dancing this year. It's wonderful to see students perform them independently—they're doing a great job of working together making great music!

Class Concert Reflections

Mrs. Case’s Second Grade

We had a great concert! In the Clock Store Story we all got to our spots at the right time. In Order in the Court, we did our ostinato correctly. We all sang well with the third graders for You’re a Grand Old Flag. We should practice being more quiet and polite on the risers. Unfortunately, the mikes weren’t working, so we didn’t hear much from “the Mamas” in Buy Me Chocolate, but we sang well together. It turned out as the best concert ever!

Mrs. McAlexander’s Second Grade

We had a great concert! Flying away in the Syncopated Clock part of the Clock Store Story was fun, and there were no bumps, even though we didn’t have much space. Buy Me Chocolate was good because everyone stayed together on our ostinatos. We watched the director but could have done a better job. We could have done a better job staying quiet on the risers, too. Our concert turned out really great!

Tick Tock, Here We Come

by Mrs. Gutshall’s Second Grade

We had a great concert! We sang well on You’re a Grand Old Flag. The “children sound” was heard every time in the Clock Store Story. The children were good at acting, too. We should practice watching the director. We had fun!

Mrs. Henely’s First Graders Reflect on their Concert

We had a good concert. Ladybugs was good because everyone played when it was the right time. Pumpkin Stew was good because everyone knew what to do. I’m Growing Up was good because the boys knew when to sing to the girls and the girls knew when to sing to the boys. If we did the concert again, we could fix our movement. We could use more high/low and close/far away. We had the best concert ever.

Mrs. Hucka’s First Graders Reflect on their Concert

We had a good time at the concert! We started with Four Shapes, and we had good poses. I’m Growing Up was good because the solo singers sang beautifully and the whole class sang beautifully, too. If we did the concert attain, we would fix the Chinese Dance. We would practice to get rid of our nerves. We would fix Bow Wow Wow  by choosing good manners. We loved our concert!

Mrs. Ricke’s First Graders Reflect on their Concert

We had a good concert. We sang together on America the Beautiful and My Country ‘Tis of Thee. For Ladybugs we played our instruments together at the right time and listened while Mrs. Panning sang the verses. The cardholders put the cards up at the right time for Pumpkin Stew. If we did the concert again, we would like to sing the words better for I’m Growing Up. We liked our concert and were glad to see our families at the end.

Tuneful, Beatful, Artful . . . and Play

First Grade playing with movement levels to
create a "Dragonfly Sculpture"
for Poor Little Bug on the Wall.

For about 20 years, I've studied the work of Dr. John Feierabend, who could honestly be called a music education guru at this point in history. His many followers around the country have started a professional development association complete with teacher trainings, conferences, a website, and a Facebook forum. It's a great group and I'm happy to be part of it, but the most exciting thing is that as I spent a couple weeks last summer training to use his curriculum. The part for younger children is called First Steps in Music and the older kids (starting in second grade) use Conversational Solfege.

I'm doing the full implementation with the younger children, and working the older students in gradually as they're ready. TK, Kindergarten and First Grade do activities like "Move It!" where we mirror beautiful movements to match beautiful music in order to feel the artistry the composer shares with listeners. We clap and sing rhythm and pitch patterns with syllables to train brains to understand the language of music so that reading and writing music will be easier later. All of this builds the primary music skills: keeping a steady beat and singing in tune. I'm trying to encourage children to become . . .

Tuneful - able to sing in tune, because everyone who can speak can sing unless there's a severe hearing loss (and even then I've heard people who sing beautifully)

Beatful - a word Dr. Feierabend made up that means to make music with good timing and to be able to listen and stay together with the group

Artful - able to feel the expression of a variety of musical styles and to communicate with musical materials

Kindergarteners playing with
 short and long sound.

These skills build musical independence.

Here is the TK class in Rockwell City demonstrating
beatful and tuneful with the simple song Pitter Patter. They learned it the same day I recorded this.

TK singing Pitter Patter

Play is the other vital piece this year. For years experts have said, "play is the child's work" and "children learn from play". There are so many ways to play in the music room, and this year I'm determined to use as many as possible. Already we've played singing games at every level and student-directed activities for exploring concepts. It's a fun way to teach and learn, but more importantly, the children are becoming more tuneful, beatful, and artful, which means they are gaining musical independence!

Fifth graders did some beautiful work with accelerando, the musical term for speeding up the tempo. Here are a few examples of second grade playing with patterns as they create "Human Machines" in preparation for working with sound patterns called ostinato. Each child used the negative space created by the other people's moving parts and worked together to create a final product that moved together like a machine.

Machine #1

Machine #2

Machine #3

Fourth Graders playing with
sixteenth note rhythms.