Come On, Let's Celebrate

Students have started working on the songs for our Winter Celebration.  As we take on a multi-cultural approach to our celebration this year, you will hear a range of performances, including singing and instrumental playing.  Stay tuned for more information and updates!

The Sound of Music

Where do we find music?  Why do so many children's songs sound similar?  These are some of the questions Grade 1 students are exploring.  By comparing a number of familiar songs, they discover that many songs have similar melodic framework.  Grade 2 students are learning songs about the Northern Lights, which has a curriculum tie to the Social Studies curriculum.  Grade 3 and 4 students continue to work with rhythmic patterns using 16th notes.

Solfège Town

The term, solfège, will become a familiar term for our budding musicians as we continue to explore the musical language through singing and instrumental playing.  Solfège allows us to vocalize pitches.  Grade 1 and 2 students have been introduced to two members of the solfège language, sol and mi.  They noticed that these two pitches form the backbone of many songs that they have learned up to this point.  In addition to this, they explored the concept of beat.  Grade 3 students have been introduced to the pentatonic through singing and now through solfège.  Grade 4 students continue to consolidate their knowledge of 16th notes, or ticka-ticka and rhythmic patterns based on a combination of 16th notes and 8th notes (ti-ticka or ticka-ti.)

November, November

By now, students have experienced, in various degrees, what it means to be a performer, a listener and a composer of music.  Grade 1 and 2 students listened to In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg.  While Grade 1 students focused on responding to the music through free movement, Grade 2 students explored story-telling through music.  Grade 3 students took the first step in learning how to notate the rhythm of a familiar song by finding the beat and sub-dividing it.  Grade 4 students continued to consolidate their instrumental skills on barred instruments, i.e. xylophones, metallophones and glockenspiels.