Rotation/Lessons

Click on a Rotation for an idea of what we studied during that period.

Orientation: During the first week of school we went over procedures and class rules.  

 We talked about our what it means to be a good citizen in general, and then how to be a good citizen in the world of music.  We talked about being an audience member and how showing good citizenship looks different, depending on what kind of concert you are at.  We can show good citizenship at any musical event and in our classroom as others perform in various ways.

We talked about some basic musical elements, starting with beat and pitch.  Beat is the "pulse" or heartbeat of the music that keeps everything in time, while the pitch is how high or low the music sounds.  

Rotation 1

Rotation 2



Rotation 1: The main focus of this Rotation is "Well Being  We talked about all the different people that get our favorite songs from the minds of the bandmembers to the radio/internet.  We learned about all the unsung collaborators like producers and mixers/sound engineers.  We learned about 2 composers- one from then, and one from now.  


Our "then" composer was Edvard Grieg.  He was born in Norway into a family of musicians, studied in Germany, and then moved to Denmark to begin his career.  He was approached by a playwright to compose the music for a play called Peer Gynt.  This is where we encounter one of his most famous works "In the Hall of the Mountain King."  Even though it was written almost 150 years ago, it is still recognized by almost everyone!  We talked about how that song has been used in various movies, commercials, and other media.  We used this song to go over some basic rhythm components: the quarter note, eighth notes, and the half note.  

Our modern composer we learned about was John Williams.  He is still alive, and has composed music for some of the world's best loved films of all time, including Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Superman, Jaws, and many more!  We watched several films of orchestra's playing these beloved theme songs and had the students guess which film it came from.  It was amazing to see these kids realize that John Williams is one of their favorite composers...they just didn't realize it yet!

Grades 4-6 worked on a few basic ukelele chords to play along with "Best Day of My Life" and Grades 1-3 worked on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" using bells, boomwhackers and percussion instruments.  

Rotation 2: This rotation, we started out by discussing "Character," another 6C.  Aside from what it means to have good character, we discussed how music can affect our character.  Music can influence our moods, feelings, and understanding.  We also influence the character of society by what kind of music we patronize (buy, stream, attend concerts, etc).  We discussed why it's important to choose good music to listen to that inspires good character.  

Music also has its own "character" depending on what kinds of pitches it uses.  We talked about the different between "major" sounds and "minor sounds."  Major scales tend to induce feelings of light and warmth.  Minor scales tend to convey feelings of heaviness and melancholy.  While both are beautiful in their own way, they are different.  

Our composer of this rotation was Ludwig van Beethoven.  He had much strife that he dealt with over the duration of this whole life.  He lost his mother and three of his siblings, he was pressured by a perfectionist, alcoholic father and as a teen had to financially support his family.  He started losing his hearing around age 26 and kept it a secret from society for many years, resulting in much isolation.  We talked about his ironic it was that during his years of losing his hearing and lots of internal pain that he wrote some of his greatest works.  He showed great character by persevering through his difficulty and not giving up on writing music.

We listened to Symphony #5 and the students indicated when the music would shift from minor to major, and back again.  We also took Symphony #9 ("Ode to Joy") and learned solfege hand signs to that melody.  The older grades were introduced to the music staff and helped put the notes on the staff to recognize how music looks as it steps up and down the scale.  The younger grades learned "Ode to Joy" using bells, boomwhackers and percussion instruments and their performances were recorded.  Grades 4-6 worked on ukeleles and a few songs that use only a few basic chords, like "Lava," and "Country Roads, Take me Home".  4th Grade in particular got to re-write a couple verses to "Country Roads, Take Me Home" using recalled knowledge of Utah's Counties and notable places that they learned in Culture Connections.

Grades 1-6 were also introduced to the 4 major instrument families: Strings, Brass, Percussion and Woodwinds.  We talked about each family's characteristics and even had a listening test to identify various orchestra instruments and match them to their families.  

Rotation 3: This rotation we've gone through all the major elements of music (beat, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, and form).  Ask your students to tell you what those elements mean.  We learned how to connect music to science because of its elements.  

We've been exploring how to express emotions we feel through those musical elements in different art forms, such as movement and drawing.  We learned that elements of dance and art can visually show the elements of music that we hear.  "Sound mapping" is a great way to express music through art, such as the great Wasilly Kandinsky, the "father of abstract art."  Below is a painting he did while listening to music.  Grades 1-6 either have or are going to be working on sound maps in my class and they will be displayed at our school arts night, March 27th.  There will be a binder for each grade where you can find your student's work and a QR code for you to hear a clip of the music we used for those exercises.  It has been so much fun combining art forms during this rotation and I have loved seeing your students' creativity!  Encourage your students to get out some paper and crayons and draw to music at home when they need a brain break.  

I showed the students a video I made using Chrome Music Lab where I created a song (or re-created in this case) on the "song maker" game.  You can adjust the settings to make it longer, use chromatic scales (half-steps) instead of plain do-re-mi scales, and more!  To be completely honest, a very astute 6th grader made this discovery and showed it to me when we were using it in class.  I love when the students make discoveries!  If your student makes a song at home and they want to save it, you'll need to use a screen-recording app or extension such as Quick Time or Loom to record their song playing on the screen and then you can have your own video file. 

Music is art!  Music is science!  Music is simply incredible!

Rotation 4: This rotation is our "World Music" unit.  It's all about exploring and experiencing music that connects us to history, culture, and community.  Grades 1-3 were asked to think of a family musical tradition of some kind to share in class.  If you haven't yet had this conversation with your child, I encourage you to think about how your family uses music and create some traditions if you haven't already.  These can be simple things like the way you sing "happy birthday," how you use music to celebrate holidays, music from your family's lineage and culture, and more.  Music can have a place to strengthen every family, create a sense of security, and pass down your family's individual culture to each generation.  

Our 6C for this unit is "Communication."  We discuss the various ways we can communicate, of course, but we focus on how music can communicate to us as listeners.  We listen for messages and discuss how music can play an important role in passing down traditions, culture, and literally teach us about history.

We also are working more in Chrome Music Lab as a class to learn how to put in a familiar song in the "song maker" game to prepare them to create their own musical ideas in our next and last full rotation for the school year.  I highly encourage students to use "chrome music lab" at home to play around with the games.  They'll be strengthening their musical ears without even realizing it!

Each grade has different lessons and learning different songs.  Ask your student about what places they've been learning music from and to sing one of the songs for you.  Ask your 4th graders about how their Utah Program Songs connect them to history, teach them about culture, and unite people.  Ask your 5th and 6th graders about where Jazz music came from and how it connects us to history and culture.  

I am really enjoying this unit because I get to hear from your students about how they experience music at home in their families and it inspires me to continue to do the same with my own.  I love hearing the upper grades tell me what they've already learned about history in their Culture Connections class and in their grade classes about history and culture.  They are starting to understand that music is so much more than just pretty sounds to entertain us.  It communicates...it teaches...it unites.