2nd graders are exploring beat and rhythm through singing, moving, and playing instruments. They read rhythms that include quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests. The 2nd graders explore their singing voices and musical opposites with the song “Goin’ Down to Cairo.” They will also compose and perform repeated rhythms, called ostinatos, to accompany their singing.
2nd grade students are focusing on melodic direction for the melody unit. They create and perform melodies that get higher, lower, and repeat pitches on xylophones, metallophones, and glockenspiels. The 2nd graders are also exploring melodic direction in songwriting. They are working together in small groups to create songs to accompany folk tales. They will perform the songs at their concert in March.
2nd graders are focusing on the timbre of orchestral instruments. The kids will learn about the characteristics of specific instruments, then sort them into instrument families (brass, woodwind, string, and percussion) based on their shared characteristics. Then the 2nd graders will hear how the composer Sergei Prokofiev used the instruments in his well-loved piece, Peter and the Wolf.
Folk Tale Songwriting
The 2nd grade concert is on Thursday, March 12 at 6:40 pm. At the concert, the 2nd graders will sing songs that they composed in their melody unit. The songs will help the 2nd graders retell folk tales at their concert.
This is connected to the IB theme How We Express Ourselves which will be a focus in the general classroom during April and May. The students will work on good vocal production, good performance practices, listening and blending. After the concert, the students will have one more day to reflect on their performance and celebrate their hard work.
In the 2nd grade form unit, students will sing, listen to, and analyze songs with the form ABA, verse/refrain, and call and response. They will move and sing “Shoo Fly” to demonstrate ABA form, and sing and read “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” to demonstrate verse/refrain. To practice call and response, students will play a game with body percussion and hand drums. Students are also beginning to see music written on a staff and are noticing how pitch gets higher and lower depending on where the noteheads are placed.
2nd graders have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of melodic direction, rhythm, and music notation by creating and notating short melodies for barred percussion instruments (like xylophones).
2nd Graders are learning many different ways to create harmony with instruments. They will learn “Funga Alafia,” a folk song from Nigeria. The kids will sing the melody while playing instruments to add harmonic structure. They will play chord borduns, broken borduns, bi-level boarduns, and crossover bordunes on the keyboard instruments while they sing. (A bordun is a simple accompaniment pattern based on the first and 5th note in a scale.) They will add the song to the picture book I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison to create a complete performance.