Welcome to Music!

MUSIC NOTES 

Arwen Norman, General Music and Chorus

normanar@glastonburyus.org

March is an exciting time in that we celebrate Music In Our Schools Month (MIOSM).  The theme this year is “I See ME in Music Education”.  For over 30 years, March has been the month where the importance of Music Education is focused on across our nation.   Hopewell is no exception!  We have a school wide music challenge with our March Music Madness!  This year Disney and Pixar will compete to see who has the best song about Friendship!  AND we will have our Music Spirit Week the third week of March.  

Through February, our Kindergarten musicians learned some new songs while we continued exploring musical opposites.  We are now discovering music pitch and how it can be high and low.  We have also continued to focus on steady beat and using our four voices (speaking, singing, whispering and calling). Ask your musician to teach you our newest greeting song, “Hello, Neighbor”.  They all have fun greeting each other with this song.

First grade musicians have continued focusing on sol-mi and have created their own 8 beat songs!  In addition, they have learned a new dance from Canada called “Les Saluts”, which has them dancing in a large circle.  Ask your musician to sing our songs “Lemonade” or “Pizza Pizza” to you.

Our second grade classes had our musicians learning a dance from France called “Chimes of Dunkirk”.  It was our first dance in a longways set and they did a marvelous job working with their partners!  We have begun our unit on Composer Choices while learning about the French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns and his masterpiece “Carnival of the Animals”.  Ask your musician about the lions and chickens.  Maybe they will teach your our song “Shanghai Chicken”.

Third grade musicians have been working hard while learning to read notes on the staff and make beautiful sounds on their recorders.  Each of them is getting faster with our Mad Minutes and they have all learned how to be “recorder doctors” if they squeak and know how to solve the problem.  I’m so impressed by their lovely tone and their dedication to learning this amazing instrument.  Ask your musician to play a song for you.  Maybe they can teach you how to make a warm sound.

Our musicians in fourth grade have begun to focus on the Pentatonic Scale through songs, playing xylophones and glockenspiels, and through movement and games.  We also continued learning new folk dances.  We focused on one from Vermont this month called “Snowball”.  Your musician should be able to tell you why it was given that title.  Ask your musician to teach you the song and game “Farmer’s Dairy Key”.  It’s become a new class favorite.

Fourth Grade Chorus did a phenomenal job singing at the Wolfpack game on February 10th.  They were so excited to sing “God Bless America” and did it wonderfully!  Thank you for encouraging them and ensuring they were there on time.  We now focus on our Spring Concert.  The parent concert is at 9:30 (doors open at 9:15) and we can’t wait to share the “stage” with the band and orchestra.  We look forward to seeing you at our “School Days” Concert.