First Grade Music
September
Pitch Exploration
Your Name is a Song!
Arioso -
Explore some of the many things we can do with our voices including changing dynamics and timbre. "I speak like this, I sing like this!"
Song Fragments - Call & Response
Wolf Swamp Cheer!
I don't know but I've been told - A great school sits on Wolf Swamp Road.
People there are cool and kind - Best place to learn that you can find.
Try new things and make mistakes - Learn from them that's what it takes.
Work hard, play hard all day long - then we get to sing this song!
Sound off - 1 2 Sound off - 3 4 Wolf Swamp Wolf Pack - Ow, ow, owoooo!
Simple Songs -
"Frog In the Meadow", "Pitter Patter", "Peep Squirrel" - review these familiar tunes from last year while practicing our beat keeping, pitch accuracy, and inner hearing. I wonder who our beat buddies will be?
Movement Exploration
"Sasha!" - a scatter dance with no strict formation, just joyful chaos! If the counting sounds a little unusual that's because we count to 3 in Russian. Un, dva, tre!
"Old Brass Wagon"
A traditional circle dance with endless variations
Beat Movement
"Pass the Shoe"
Movement for Form and Expression
"Wake up you Lazybones!"
Song Tale
"The Crawfish"
An old English folk song, pub song, sea shanty....Who knows where it came from but it sure gets our voices and bodies moving!
October
Pitch Exploration ~
They'll be owls hoo-hooing and ghosts boo-booing!
Arioso
We'll use our singing voices to talk about all things Autumn and Halloween
Song Fragments - Echo
"Caney mi macaro"
This fun echo song may have Caribbean roots but no one knows for sure.
Tuneful - unison pitch matching on beautiful leaping phrases
Beatful - we'll use our Beat Buddies as we learn the song by rote
Artful - we'll show the direction of the pitches and phrasing with out bodies
Simple Song
"Falling Leaves"
Tuneful - we'll enjoy this simple and haunting minor melody
Beatful - we'll accompany ourselves on resonator bells and practice our steady beat
Artful - To make the experience magical we'll use scarves and streamers to show the dancing, falling leaves. We'll also add flourishes like wind chimes and finger cymbals.
Beat Motion
"Mi Cuerpo hace Musica"
Tuneful - we'll sing this fun song in unison y en Espanol
Beatful - we'll move our bodies to the beat as we learn Spanish words for hands, feet, mouth, and waist
Artful - can we still sing beautifully as we get faster and faster?
Moving for Form and Expression
"The Halloween Song"
This song is all about the actions that go with the lyrics. All of the zombies slowly rise up from the ground and then scare themselves silly!
Moving Expressively to Classical Music
In the Hall of the Mountain King from "Peer Gynt Suite" by Edvard Grieg
Beatful - we'll move our bodies to the beat of this popular piece which tells the story of a rather awful young man who encounters the Troll King deep inside of a mountain
Artful - the trick is to let our movements start tiny and grow bigger and faster as the theme is repeated louder and faster until the final second when Peer escapes!
Song Tale
November
Pitch Exploration
Flying Puppets and Beat Buddies/Changing Tempos
Song Fragments ~ Echo
"Che Che Kole" An old favorite performed at different tempos
Movement Exploration
The Land of Slow and Fast Motion
Beat Motion
Our beat buddies will bop along to this sweet song.
What are we grateful for?
Movement for Form and Expression
Move and Freeze - move expressively to musical excerpts from our Celebration of Winter Holidays
December
Pitch Exploration - With Ribbons
Beat Motion -
"Auld Lang Syne"
Song Fragments ~ Call and Response
"Deck the Halls" This Yuletide treasure is great for form and pitch direction
Movement for Form and Expression with Classical Music
"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker Ballet
Movement for Form and Expression with Classical Music
"Sleighride" by our Musician of the Month Leroy Anderson
Continue work on songs for Celebration of Winter Holidays
"Little Snowflake" is beautiful and gentle fun with ribbons
Beat Motion
"Hej, tomtegubbar"
A folk song and dance from Sweden where our friends, the tomtem, come to visit every year around Yuletide
Beat Motion
"Fjaskern"
A Swedish folk dance that makes you hurry and scurry!
Songtales
"Frosty the Snowman"
January
Pitch Exploration
Sing the Line - teacher lead and student created/lead
Arioso
Rediscover our speaking and singing voices
Song Fragments - Echo
"Bill Grogan's Goat"
IMG_0224.m4vSimple Songs
"Hot Cross Buns"
Create body percussion patterns that demonstrate the rising and falling pitches of the melody. Working on High-Middle-Low. Accompany with tone bells.
"Do You Know the Muffin Man?"
a fun game where students ID their fellow classmates based on the timbre of their voices
Moving to the Beat
Deteggtive Anderson
Level 1 - Beat patterns
Level 2 - adding percussion instruments into the mix
Movement for Form and Expression
We are putting the "hungry" in Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms. Learn the "chef moves" and we will silently move to this fun piece of classical music.
Songtales -
"Clementine "
My Darlin’ ClementineFebruary
Pitch Exploration
Spinning toys that fly!
Song Fragments -
Echo Song "Oh, In the Woods"
Oh in the Woods.pptxMovement for Form and Expression - Classical
Artfully moving to Beethoven's "Fur Elise"
Beat Movement - Folk Dance
"Heel and Toe Polka" lets us feel 1 and 2, 1 and 2
Moving to the Beat
Deteggtive Anderson - Level 3!
Song Tale
"The Derby Ram"
An old English folk song, pub song, sea shanty....Who knows where it came from but it sure gets our voices and bodies moving!
Songtale
"Abiyoyo"
March
Pitch Exploration
Can you imagine what your voice LOOKS like?
Arioso
Do you speak whale?
Song Fragments
Echo Song "Charlie Over the Ocean"
Simple Songs -
"Au Clair de la Lune" - Adding actions to the text in French and English
"Purple Light" - an echo song
From the 1959 film "Rio Bravo" and adapted for kids plus a couple of my other favorite cowboy-around- the-campfire songs from "The Three Amigos" and the original "Muppet Movie"
Looking at Melodic Direction...
"I Like You!"
I like you
Yes, I do
You are a good friend of mine
I like you - boo!
Beat Movement - Folk Dance
Irish Stew danced to the tune of "Rakes of Mallow"
Songtales -
"Froggie Went A-Courting" - This folk song has so many variations and we'll look at at least 3 of them
April
Simple Song ~
"Hop, Old Squirrel"
We'll use our Beat Buddies for this one and maybe - if we need to get some wiggles out - we'll move our bodies like the squirrel too! I bet we can come up with some new moves for the squirrel!
Movement Exploration
"Sticky, Sticky Bubble Gum" - What will we be stuck to next?!?
Looking at Melodic Direction...
"Bow, Wow, Wow!"
Bow, wow, wow. Whose dog art thou?
Little Tommy Tucker's dog. Bow, wow, wow. Woof!
This song moves the same way as "I Like You" but with different lyrics
Moving to the Beat
"The Ants Go Marching" - set to the melody of an old Civil War tune, this fun song gives us a chance to stretch our voices and move our bodies
Beat Movement - Folk Dance
"Chimes of Dunkirk" - one of the earliest known French folk dances
"Bate, Bate"
"Bate, Bate Chocolate!" is a Mexican folksong celebrating one of my favorite things - chocolate!
The first video describes the making of mole sauce while the second one shows how to make spiced hot cocoa. Yummy!
Movement for Form and Expression
"The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin
Songtale
"The Tailor and the Mouse"
A Musical Story
"Jazz Baby" ~ Story by Carole Boston Weatherford, Pictures by Laura Freeman, Music by Billy Strayhorn
May
Arioso
Singing conversations with our friends
And maybe some emoji-inspired ariosos...
Echo Song -
"Great Big Moose"
Simple Song
"Trot, Old Joe"
Moving Expressively
"Can You Plant a Bean?"
(We use only the audio for this song with more challenging motions for each step in the process)
Movement for Form & Expression ~
Fingerplay "A Sailor Went to Sea"
Beat Motion
The Sasa
We're celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month by visiting the South Pacific country of Samoa. The traditional "sasa" is usually performed by a large group of people sitting down. The movements depict everyday life.
Moving to a Steady Beat
"The Clap Clap Song"
Song Tale
"The Crabfish"
If someone you loved wasn't feeling well, what would you do to make them feel better?
June
Vocal Exploration - Roller Coasters!
Simple Song
"Frere Jacques"
Moving with the Beat
"Limbo Rock!"
You can check out the World Record Holder on the far right!
Expressive Movement
"Going On a Dragon Hunt" - yoga style!
Song Tale -
"Puff, the Magic Dragon"
Extra Materials
Musical Story
"Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin" ~ by Lloyd Moss, Pictures by Marjorie Priceman
Simple Song ~
"I Have Lost My Closet Key"
Movement for From and Expression ~ Synchronous
Claude Bizet's "Can-can" from his opera Carmen
Over the course of the week we'll listen to "Can-can" many times and each time we'll try following different parts, adding body movement for each color, adding instruments, and have fun just trying to keep up!
Movement for Form & Expression ~
The Comedians, Op. 26: Pantomime
Russian composers Kiril Kondrashin, Oscar Shumsky, and Dmitri Kabalevsky are waking up zombies!
Movement With the Beat ~
"Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves"
Simple Song
"Yankee Doodle"
We'll learn this song, move our bodies to it, and then decode the rhythm patterns that make up the melody/lyrics of the refrain. We'll also look at the form (AB) and learn to conduct a two beat pattern
Song Tales ~
"There's a Hole in the Bucket"
Just for fun...
Week 6
Vocal Warm-ups
"There Was An Old Woman All Skin and Bones"
Movement With the Beat
Try to keep up with this arrangement of Disney's "Skeleton Dance"!
Moving our bodies Expressively
The Comedians, Op. 26: Pantomime
Russian composers Kiril Kondrashin, Oscar Shumsky, and Dmitri Kabalevsky are waking up zombies!
"Halloween Song"
A favorite from years past, this song has us waking up from our graves, scaring each other, walking around in a daze, and creeping back underground at the end.
Decoding Familiar Rhythm Patterns
Students will listen to me perform familiar 4 beat patterns on nuetral syllables then decode to our rhythm syllables (Du and Du-de)
"Miss White Had a Fright" Decode the rhythm patterns for each line of the rhyme.
Arioso Land
Question and answer conversations with me then with a partner
Simple Song - Call and Response
"Shoo Lie Loo"
Week 7
Vocal Warm-up
A little bit of everything: Slide Whistle, Silly String, Owls and Whale Talk, and Spinner Toys!
Simple Song -
"1,2,3 Aleerie"
This is a childrens singing game with many, many variations. We'll be learning the simple melody and then playing around with adding accents in the form of bouncing tennis balls!
Simple Song -
"Juba"
The video to the right features the group Sweet Honey in the Rock telling us about the history of "Juba". Hundreds of years ago, slave owners in America took drums away from their slaves because their rhythms and sounds communicated strength and hope but the slaves found ways to share their feelings through body percussion and dance. "Juba" grew into the traditional folk song that kids still sing and dance to today (although now Juba chases a yellow cat instead of killing it).
We will move to this song, decode it's rhythms, and play the dancing game that goes with it. Can we see your Juba?
Choice Time!
Risseldy, Rosseldy Chop, Chop, Chippedy Chop Frog in the Meadow No More Pie!
Dancing Queen African Hopscotch In a Cabin in the Woods Aquarium Move It!
Oh, My Aunt Came Back Bill Grogan's Goat Leaves Are Falling Down Pitter Patter
Can Can John, the Rabbit Hop, Old Sqirrel A Sailor Went to Sea
Hall of the Mountain King Fais Dodo Che, Che Cole Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
There's a Hole in the Bucket I Have Lost My Closet Key Sea Lion Wolf Swamp Chant
Yankee Doodle Shoo Lie Loo Skin and Bones Skeleton Dance
Move It! Waltz in Ab Poison
Just for fun and because you asked for it...
Here are music videos for our African Hopscotch game. If you want to practice at home you can draw a chalk grid 2 squares wide and 8 or more squares long on your sidewalk or driveway. I've also included the video we watched in class so you can remember exactly what the steps should look like. The last video takes it to a whole new level!
Pitch Exploration ~ Synchronous
Name Game - What food (that starts with the first letter of your first name) makes you say "Mmmm!"
Slide Whistle Glissandos
First Grade
Movement with the Beat ~
Deteggtive Anderson is on the case! This fun music features pizzicato strings and a catchy melody. We stamp a foot on the red eggs, pat our laps on the yellow eggs, and clap our hands on the blue eggs - we practice them one at a time first though :)