Music Activities for 3rd – 6th Grades

Mr. Gartner

(Office Hours 9 am to 12 noon daily via dojo)

Hello everyone! – I hope all is well with you. Below are several musical activities that you may consider throughout the week. The activities may be done in any order you like.

🎵 🎵 ENJOY YOUR DAY! 🥁🥁🥁

Music Activities for 3rd – 6th Grades

Mr. Gartner

The week of 4/6 – 4/10

(Office Hours 9 am to 12 noon daily via dojo)

Greetings everyone – I’ve gathered more musical ideas that I hope you will enjoy. Below are several activities that you may consider throughout a 5-day week. I hope that you would explore all the activities represented below, although that will be your choice. Activities may be done in any order you wish.

1.) World Music Tapestry – The Second Thread – String Instruments (chordophones).

Explore online for string instruments (chordophones) in any of the following continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America. You may include string instruments that you know from personal experience or that you have at home – including folk instruments.

See how many different string instruments you can find and consider saving your answers for our World Music Tapestry. You will not need to send your answers to me at this time. Here are a few examples.

2. Music Listening: I hope you enjoyed listening to the recorder ensemble, The Royal Wind Music (from Amsterdam), last week. In these listening examples, we considered tempo (the speed of the steady beat), phrasing (musical sentences) and instrument type - soprano, alto, tenor, bass.

This week, I have included two recorders that represent the lowest and highest ranges of the recorder family - the sub contrabass and the garklein pictured below.

The first known use of the word recorder (noun) was found in an early document written by King Henry IV of England in 1388. He used this word to express a difference between the transverse flute (blown on its side) and the recorder (blown on the end). See Below.

Here are the string instrument (chordophone) listening samples for this week. Consider how sound is made on the Chinese pipa (the first video) compared to the string instruments – violin, viola and cello -- found in the chamber orchestra (the second video).

The Pipa played by Wu Man, an improvisation.

https://www.wqxr.org/story/celebrate-lunar-new-year-wu-man-pipa/

See violinists, violists and cellists perform an impromptu concert -- Vivaldi’s The Seasons, Summer -- while stranded at an airport in Geneva, Switzerland.

https://www.wqxr.org/story/stranded-orchestra-brings-vivaldi-airport/

1.) Share a Song or Two (3^rd and 4^th Grades)

All Around the Brickyard – “step it, shrug it, snap it, reach it, swish it, jump it”-you know it! Use your best singing voice and keep the steady beat while using the movement that we learned in class – everything is on the video. Consider improvising your own movement to the steady beat, using the video as accompaniment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd8AGlYiOco

Cut the Cake--- Perform the game song with video or use only your singing voice to play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClNl_qMdDD0

Share a Song or Two *(5^th and 6^th Grades) sing and perform the following:

One, Two, Three O’ leary (Irish game song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_99OEgf-j4

Sarasponda (Netherlands)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcKrbWfk98g

4. The Meaning in Popular Music -- I thought you might enjoy listening to a few musical examples and think about how music is used to make meaningful connections in people’s lives. This week’s artists are from three different decades, the 70s, 80s and 90s and represent the genres of R&B, synth pop and country. Again, this activity is optional.