Looking back...

Looking back over the past nine months, I am completely thrilled to see the progress that students have made in music.  Here are some highlights:

In September...

Grade 1 students explored different vocal qualities including speaking voice, singing voice, whispering voice and stage voice.  Now, these young budding musicians are able to sing, notate and create original melodies using solfège and talk about what makes two songs "the same."

Grade 2 students told simple musical stories using non-pitched instruments.  Now, they can use this knowledge to create sound effects to accompany poems and to play barred instruments to accompany the musical stories. 

Grade 3 students sang and moved to songs.  Now, they have explored a range of instruments including non-pitched instruments, barred instruments and the recorder.  They can notate a song rhythmically or melodically and create simple musical structures using different rhythmic patterns.

Grade 4 students also sang and moved to songs and performed soundscapes.  Now, they are able to play multi-voiced texture, many instruments including non-pitched instruments, barred instruments, the djembe (African drum), and the recorder.  They can read and notate familiar songs on the staff.

As we look back, our students have grown so much as budding musicians.  There is every reason to celebrate!

Using the solfège that they have learned, namely, sol, mi and la, Grade 1 students have been creating their own "musical messages."  Not only do they have to "read" these messages back in solfège, they are encouraged to "sing" them back in tune.  This is a high-level skill as it requires that student internalize the relative pitches.  Grade 2 students continue to tell musical stories.  They are currently learning lullabies and poems inspired by the Prairie scenes. 

Grade 3 and 4 students continue to build on their recorder and note-reading skills.  They are beginning to translate "finger numbers" to the 5-line staff.  In the next few weeks, they will be able to start notating the recorder songs that they have learned onto this 5-line notational system.

Music inquiry

Grade 1 students continue their inquiry on What makes two songs "the same"?  As they take time to think about their musical experience, they find that there are certain defining features which make two songs "the same."  They noticed that when notes are arranged in the same order and in the same rhythm, they will sound the same. 

Using David Bouchard's book If You're Not from the Prairie as an inspiration, Grade 2 students tell musical stories from the Prairies.  They will be singing, creating soundscape and playing instruments as they bring these musical stories to life.

Grade 3 and 4 students continue to build on their recorder skills.  They are also exploring the 5-line staff and learning about line notes vs. space notes.

Deepening our inquiry

Grade 1 students expand their solfège knowledge to include sol, mi and la as they continue their inquiry.  Grade 2 students are wrapping up their study of Acadian songs and moving onto a different community in Canada.

Grade 3 and 4 students have started their recorder unit.  They are currently exploring basic recorder techniques including fingering, tone-production, basic care for the recorder. 

Spring is here!

Using songs about Spring as an inspiration, Grade 1 students continue their inquiry on what makes songs the same.  They have expanded their knowledge of the solfège to include la.  Grade 2 students continue their inquiry on Musical Storytelling.  By exploring French-Canadian folksongs, they gain an appreciation of the Acadian culture. 

Grade 3 students are creating musical Q & A, in which they have to create a two-phrase musical structure using the concepts they have learned so far.  In May, students will be exploring the recorder.  Grade 4 students continue their study on musical texture.  Through the performance of traditional folksongs, they explored the monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic textures.  They too will be learning the recorder starting in May.

A note to the Grade 3 and 4 students:  Don't forget to bring your recorder next week!

Drip, Drip, Drop

As we greet Spring, Grade 1 students will explore a number of songs along that theme.  Through this experience, they will expand their solfège knowledge including la. They will also begin to explore different barred instruments including the xylophones, the metallophones and the glockenspiels.  Grade 2 students will continue their music inquiry by telling musical stories from the Acadian community.  They will learn a number of traditional French Canadian folksongs.

Being inspired by Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, Grade 3 students begin to see how a musical structure can be built using very limited music motives.  They explored the concept of "question" and "answer" in music.  They will expand on this concept in the weeks to come in order to build larger musical structures.   Through the performance of a number of songs inspired by the First Nations culture, Grade 4 students continue to experience the concept of texture by playing multi-voiced textures on the barred instruments.

Our journey continues...

Grade 1 students continue to explore a number of nursery rhymes which are based on sol and mi.  By adding non-pitched instruments and creative movement, students are bringing the nursery rhymes to life.  Grade 2 students' Musical Storytelling takes us to the east coast where the Acadians inhabited.  They are learning a number of songs from the Atlantic provinces and will be learning some songs in French.  

Grade 3 students continue to deepen their understanding and experience of "galloping time" vs. "marching time" by conducting the music in two-beat patterns.  They are also experiencing how a song can switch from marching time to galloping time part way through the piece.  While Grade 3 students focus on the study of "rhythm", Grade 4 students continue their inquiry on "texture", with a focus on performing different textures.  Using "Alberta" as the unifying theme, students will learn songs connected to the indigenous culture.

Please join me in welcoming Ms. Amanda Knuppel,

our student teacher who will be

working with different music classes.  

Music Inquiry

Through the singing of nursery rhymes, Grade 1 students continue to explore what makes one song sound the same as another.  So far, they have noticed that if songs have the same melodic contour and the same rhythm, they sound the same.

Grade 2 students continue their journey of Musical Storytelling.  They realized that opera is a form of musical storytelling in which the story is sung throughout.  They made the connection between the opera Hannaraptor, presented by the Calgary Opera, and some of the questions they had asked about musical storytelling.

By exploring "marching" music vs. "galloping" music, Grade 3 students expanded their collection of "musical legos".  They will soon be using these musical rhythmic blocks to create their own piece of music.

Grade 4 students continue their inquiry on "texture."  They listened to a piece of music called Scheherazade through which students were able to develop a basic understanding of "texture" or the "fabric" in music.  They will continue to develop the vocabulary necessary to describe what musical textures are.

Calgary Opera - Hannaraptor

On Tuesday, March 6, Calgary Opera will be bringing Hannaraptor to Elboya School.  In preparation for that, students from Grades 1 - 4 have been learning a little bit about opera.  Here is an interactive site that will be helpful:

http://classicalkusc.org/kids/opera/

By walking through this interactive site, no only will students listen to parts of Hansel and Gretel, a famous opera, they will also learn the ABC's of opera.

Enjoy!

Music Inquiry - our ongoing journey

As part of their inquiry, Grade 1 students have been examining the musical language called solfège.  Up to this point, they have discovered that in order for two songs to sound the same, they must have the same melodic contour and the same rhythmic pattern. Grade 2 students have enjoyed their inquiry, Storytelling through Music.  They brought to life stories about the Inuit way of living through singing, instrumental playing and movement.  Through this project, they learned two-part playing on barred instruments.

Using the song I Don't Know Why the Sky is Blue as an inspiration, Grade 3 students took their instrumental playing techniques to the next level as they explored a different musical meter through performing.  Grade 4 students explored multi-voiced texture through the performance of Song For Thunder.  They are beginning to learn how to notate the instrumental parts on five-line staff.

Music Inquiry

This poster captures well what I would like to accomplish over the next few months in music.  

Over the next little while, each grade will engage in a different music inquiry.  Some classes have started; others have yet to begin their journey: 

Grade 1 students are intrigued by the fact that many songs “sound the same.” They will explore the different shaping forces in music with a focus on the concept of “melody” in songs. 

Grade 2 students have begun their journey on  Storytelling through Music.  The first musical story they are telling has a curriculum connection to the Grade 2 Social  Studies curriculum.  They are currently learning songs that describe the Inuit community.

Grade 3 students will focus on Music and Structure, i.e. how to use rhythmic patterns has basic building blocks to create their own composition.  They have begun collecting various rhythmic patterns from the songs they have learned.

Grade 4 students will focus on developing an understanding of the concept of “texture” through singing and instrumental playing.  What does "texture" mean in music?

Music and Movement

Music has just as much to do with movement and body

as it does soul and intellect.  

~ Esa-Pekka Salonen

Finnish Musician

This week, students focused on the relationship between movement and music.  While Grade 1 and 2 students focused on responding to the mood of music through movements, Grade 3 and 4 students used movement as a way to represent their understanding of musical forms.  

The quote above sums up so beautifully what we hope to accomplish through these activities:

In order for students to respond appropriately to the mood of a piece of music, they actually have to analyze the music:  the tempo, the musical range, the articulation, the dynamics, etc. 

In order for students to represent their understanding of musical forms through movement, they actually have to analyze the phrase structure.  Students have to ask themselves:  are the phrases the same, similar or different?  How can one show these through movements?  

All of these have to do with the soul and the intellect.

Winter Celebration

Thank you to those who attended our Winter Celebration.  We had over 400 people in the audience.  I hope that gave you a small idea as to what our Elementary Music Program looks like!