Second Graders Play Instruments

Last week we took one of our concert pieces a bit further. These are links video clips of students playing an instrumental version of the ostinato pattern with Alligator Elevator. Mrs McAlexander's class video shows our student teacher, Miss Fish, leading the class.

Mrs. McAlexander's Class playing Alligator Elevator

Mrs. Case's Class playing Alligator Elevator

This week we moved on to work with the keyboards. So far Mrs. Gutshall's and Mrs. Lindeman's classes have played their first song on the black keys beautifully! Unfortunately, since we had early dismissal for conferences, Mrs. Case's and Mrs. McAlexander's classes will have to wait until next week.)

Next we move on to playing keyboard accompaniments, and soon they'll be on to playing melodies. It's an exciting time in the second grade music room!

Second Grade Music Skills

Making music is an activity that is unique to—and essential for—human beings, so the goal is to prepare children for a lifetime of possibilities. As the second graders prepared for their concert I thought about the skills they're working on this year. They are usually presented as parts of games, and the goal is to play with the elements of music to gain understanding. Here is the list:

• Provide appropriate feedback to performers using musical terminology
• Demonstrate the ability to keep a steady beat to a song or ostinato
• Create simple rhythm patterns by using levels of body percussion
• Understand that notation can represent melodic direction and duration.
• Use rhythm notation: quarter note and rest, paired eighths, half note and rest,
  whole note and rest, repeat signs
• Read a 2-verse score
• Identify instruments of the orchestra by family
• Create short melodies
• Sing with expression in a healthy manner with a clear, free tone
• Improvise rhythmic movement to various styles of music
• Appropriate audience behavior for 3 to 5 minute musical selections
• Listen to music from different periods of musical history and understand that music evolved through and relates to history
• Play traditional and non-traditional instruments

It's also the year they begin to work on ensemble skills—that's making music with other people, not just by themselves. Think of these as music teamwork skills.

Good musical ensembles can . . .

• Start and stop together
• Listen to get in the grove
• Sing and play at the same time
• Perform harmony
• Watch the director

 Exposure at this point in their lives will prepare students for whatever musical activities they want to be part of when they’re older. At SCC that usually means choir, band, and maybe piano or guitar. Second grade builds a good foundation.

Time to play the Barred Instruments!

It's that time of year again to play one of the kids' favorite instruments in the music room . . . the barred instruments.

Here's a bit of background information. Sometimes they're called Orff instruments, because Carl Orff (a music teacher in Germany) found the idea on a visit to Africa and had them designed for his students in the mid 1900s. Since then they've spread all over the world. They're a wonderful tool for teaching accompaniment and working on melody playing. They really let students hear what's going on in the music—and they're fun to play!

Here's a short video that explains their names.

Intro to barred instruments

First Graders have been working on accompaniments (come to the concert on March 11 to see their amazing work!) and soon will be playing 3-note melodies.

The Second Grade Class worked on 5-note melodies but they're not ready to share them at their concert. Check in later and hopefully we can post student performance video. 

Second Grade Composers

It's been exciting to watch the Second Graders develop this year. We've worked on both rhythm and pitch to get ready for reading music. They've just learned their first scale (a 5-note set called the pentatonic scale which is used in many folk melodies—as well as the black keys on the piano). The children can play melodies pretty well on the barred instruments, and they're almost ready to read from a full 5-line staff.

I decided it was time to do some composing, so each section wrote a melody for a poem about clocks that get up and dance (it's part of a story they'll perform for their concert on February 25). All the melodies turned out to be wonderful, so I enlisted the help of 11 judges to decide which one to use for the concert. The one written by Mrs. Lindeman's class won, but it was a close race. It'll be a beautiful addition to the concert!

All four melodies in their rough draft and final forms.

Kindergarten Sings America

 
Every year students learn one patriotic song so they'll have a collection from memory before they leave. This week the Kindergarten class worked on America (My Country Tis of Thee). They explore long beats here with scarves in teams, making the scarf wave in time to the music. Most of them can also sing along with the words.

Elementary Choir Sings at Sunny Knoll

 
The Elementary Choir is made up of 27 third and fourth grade singers. They had their first performance of the year for Sunny Knoll Nursing Home in Rockwell City on Tuesday, December 18. Rehearsals begin again on January 15, and they'll perform for a concert at the Middle School on February 19. They'll also sing for the third grade concert in April, and a few will attend a the KidzSing Festival on May 18 in Sioux City. Special thanks to Mrs. McChesney for accompanying on the piano, and to the moms who brought treats for the party after we sang.

First Grade Nutcracker Dances

The first graders have been studying Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. We talked about how ballet tells a story with music and movement then explored the building blocks of dance: traveling movement, turning, moving from high to low, and moving close or farther away from the body or from the group you're moving with. 

After learning the story and watching the beginning of the ballet, we've been comparing three versions of the dances from other countries that happen while Clara and the Nutcracker Prince are at his castle. Students watched, noticing that the music was the same, but the movements changed. They did a great job of finding the building blocks of dance in each example. 

These are pictures of students doing their own versions of the Russian Dance from Nutcracker. You can hear the music at this link Russian Trepak from Nutcracker. There are other versions available if you search YouTube. The dances may be different, but Tchaikovsky's music is always the same!