Pre-School and Kindergarten classes continued to build singing voices through vocal exploration and singing simple songs. We added Come Little Leaves, 5 Little Pumpkins and an all-time classic called I’m Being Eaten By a Boa Constrictor (“Oh no, he’s got my toe!...Oh yip, he’s got my hip!...Oh dread, he’s got my head!”). We also began exploring how to classify instruments based on how they make sounds: Percussion Family, String Family and Wind Family.
In ELC, Mary and Jana’s classes started to work with the O Passo movement for 4 beats. After establishing the movement, we played a game called Positive and Negative. The students astounded me with how quickly they caught on. In an unplanned move, we began working with percussion instruments while stepping, playing a basic funk rhythm on Brazilian percussion instruments. Ari and Jim’s classes explored several musical games including Old King Glory. All classes began exploring how to classify instruments based on how they make sounds: Percussion Family, String Family and Wind Family.
IA continues to build musical skills on pitched percussion instruments and Brazilian percussion instruments, using O Passo to organize their playing. In Karen’s class, we explored the idea of a home note as a pitch that we return to. Students created short melodies around this idea. In Devin’s class, one student performed a guitar solo that she learned in her guitar lesson. Cathy’s class combined with half of Karen’s class for our first combined Friday class.
Bridges students in Tyler’s class started to use Chromebooks to listen to music and list songs/artists that they love. This is part of a project called Musical Mind Map where we will ultimately create pictures in the art room that illustrate how our musical minds operate. Shannon’s class has continued to play pitched percussion instruments.