2nd Grade Music
September
- Readiness -
Echo Me, Echo the Instrument, Poison!, Layering Ostinatos to Accompany Songs/Poems
I Have Lost My Closet Key
Miss White Had a Fright!
- Conversational Solfege - Rote
Echos, Clap Your Syllable, Body Percussion, Formal Practice, Color Hoops/Squares
- Conversational Solfege - Decode/Familiar
Jungle Messages, Now Feel This!, Clap for Your Syllable, Bounce the Ball
I Have Lost My Closet Key
Miss White Had a Fright!
- Conversational Solfege - Create
Improvise 4 beat patterns as a response to a different pattern (use tubano drum)
- Reading - Rote
- Reading - Decode/Familiar
I Have Lost My Closet Key
Miss White Had a Fright!
Listening - "The Tortoises" from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille
The Noble Duke of York lyricsVocal Exploration -
Follow the Rainbow, echoing on neutral syllables, using our bodies to show expressive elements and to internalize the concepts of high, low, and same
Arioso
"This is my speaking voice/this is my singing voice!"
Begin echoing 4 beat patters in our singing voices Du and Du-de
A Simple Song
"I Have Lost My Closet Key"
Tunefully singing this simple melody in unison
Beatfully moving our bodies/beat buddies in time
Joyfully playing the hide and seek game that goes with this song
A Name Game Song
"All de People Like Bananas"
Tunefully singing this fun melody in unison
Beatfully moving our bodies in time
Joyfully expressing our thoughts about bananas!
Movement Exploration/Beat Movement
"Highland Gates" - fun folk dance of unknown origins which can be done as a "leader" dance or a "snowball" where more and more kids get involved on every repetition
Movement for Form and Expression
"Fjaskern" - Swedish Folk Dance
Explore AB form through movement and then by accompanying on unpitched percussion instruments
Movement for Form & Expression
Fingerplay "A Sailor Went to Sea".
Moving for Form and Expression with Classical Music
Camille Saint-Saens "The Aquarium" from The Carnival of the Animals
October
A Spooky Arioso!
Questions and answers on neutral syllables (ghosts and owls!) paying attention to tonic and dominant (sounding complete or incomplete)
Fly, Fly Witchy
There'll be ghosts boo-booing and owls hoo-hooing as we tunefully sing this in unison
We will keep the beat in various ways on the chorus section
We will gleefully add sound effects and motions onto each verse
Fly, Fly WitchySkeleton Dance from Disney
Beatfully using body percussion and unpitched percussion instruments to keep up with this arrangement of Disney's "Skeleton Dance"!
Decode familiar rhythm patterns
Poison Rhythms!
Miss White Had a Fright!
Decoding rhythm patterns from text
Creating a song in rondo form using the poem as the A section and improvised 4 bar phrases on resonator bells in a minor key for all of the other sections
Miss White had a fright in the middle of the night!
Saw a ghost eating toast halfway up the lamppost!
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Rhythm Play-a-long
There Was an Old Woman All Skin and Bones
Tuneful - A classic tale that offers an excellent chance to create beautiful vocal tones on "ooh"
Beatful - We will accompany the piece with assorted ostinati on resonator bells
Artful - How can we use our faces, our bodies, and our voices to create the eeriest performance?
November
Begin working on songs for our Celebration of Winter Holidays
Second-graders will learn about Lunar New Year and they will learn the song "Gong Xi Fa Cai"
Check out the slides to the right to see all of the songs we'll be working on!
You can learn the history of Chinese New Year in the 2nd video to the right.
Song Fragments ~
"Che Che Kole" An old favorite and a great way to explore tempos, timbres, and dynamics
Steady Beat
"Over the River and Through the Woods" we'll accompany this seasonal song with jingle bells
Steady Beat
"Thankful" - We'll clap along on beats 2 and 4 and think about what things we are grateful for.
Student Improvisation
The Stick Game is learned as a teacher-lead game then the students take over
Rhythmically Moving
To "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson
December
Student Improvisation -
Rhythm Q and A on drums and body percussion
We'll also work on creating patterns for the Stick Game and notate them on our white-boards
Moving to the Beat
"Auld Lang Syne"
Moving to the Beat
Bo Diddley and Alabama Gal
Moving to the Beat
Scarves with Trepak from the Nutcracker Ballet
Continue working on songs for our Celebration of Winter Holidays
Mostly adding ribbons and pitched and unpitched percussion to our Chinese New Year song
1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8
1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8
1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8
1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 - 5 6 7 8
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & - 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 &
January
Continuing Conversational Solfege Unit 1
Song Fragments
"Down By the Bay"
Once we're familiar with the song and patterns we'll create our own verses matching animals (nouns) with rhyming actions (verbs)
Moving Expressively to Classical Music
"Waltz of the Flowers" from The Nutcracker Ballet by Peter Tchaikovsky
Moving to the Beat
Claude Bizet's "Can-can" and "Les Toreadors" from his opera Carmen
Over the course of the month we'll listen to these two pieces many times and each time we'll try something different: keeping a steady beat while listening, decoding rhythm patterns, following different parts, adding body movement for each color, adding instruments, and have fun just trying to keep up!
"Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves"
Tempo will be initiated by teacher then by students
Song Tales ~
"There's a Hole in the Bucket"
February
Simple Song - Call and Response
"Shoo Lie Loo"
Singing Tunefully
"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
Movement for Form and Expression - Classical Music
The Comedians, Op. 26: Pantomime
Russian composers Kiril Kondrashin, Oscar Shumsky, and Dmitri Kabalevsky are trying to get us out of bed but we're SO sleepy!
Song Tales ~
"In a Cabin in the Wood" - this fun song about rescuing a rabbit from a hunter also lets us practice our inner-singing
March
Vocal Exploration
Seeing the sounds that we make!
Simple Song - Call and Response
"Shoo Lie Loo"
Everyone gets a chance to shine as the leader of this fun song
Simple Song -
"Juba"
The top 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?
Singing: Juba this and Juba that, Juba chased a yellow cat. Bent over double trouble, Juba - uh oh!
Speaking: Can we see your Juba? Yes, you can! Can we try your Juba? Yes, you can!
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8! 1 2 3 4 Singing: Juba, Juba, Juba, Juba
Moving for Form and Expression
"The Noble Duke of York" - a traditional English folksong with a fun longways-set dance to go with it. ABC form
Beat Motion
"Yankee Doodle"
We'll 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
Movement for Form and Expression
"Rig-a-Jig Jig"
A snowball dance that gets more people up and moving for each verse
Simple Song
"Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?"
Someone stole it from my home! Can we decode the rhythmic patterns in this song?
April
Movement for Form and Expression/Decoding
Who can resist keeping the beat to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Edward Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite? In this piece not only does the tempo steadily get faster and faster but the dynamics get louder and louder!
Beat Motion
"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 and we'll try those outdoors.
Simple Song/Decoding ~
"I Have Lost My Closet Key" - we use this simple song to help find hidden objects in the music room. (Usually it's my rubber chicken!)
Reading Rhythms
We'll use Offenbach's famous "Can-Can" to practice our 4 beat rhythm patterns using quarter notes, eighth note pairs, and quarter rests.
Moving to the Beat
"Bo Diddley" - a longways set dance with a little shout out after each new move
Song Tale
"Senor Don Gato" - this Mexican folk song about Mr. Cat is an old favorite of mine. While it does take a dark turn, fear not, cats do have 9 lives after all!
May
Moving to the Beat
"The Sweets of May" - there are such cool moves in this longways set dance!
"Kings and Queens" - a dance which honors each child as royalty, done in the style of historic English country dance
Decoding Rhythms
Rock Paper Scissors - this activity turns into a tool for our first experience at composing. We'll create and edit our own rhythmic patterns then add melody on pitched percussion instruments.
Rock Paper Scissors - 2:4.pdfMoving Expressively
"Little Sally Walker" - we'll look at two versions of this classic game
Trying out Boomwhackers for the First Time!
"The Clap, Clap Song" - discover the musical form of this piece
June
Vocal Exploration
A little bit of everything: Slide Whistle, Silly String, Owls and Whale Talk, and Spinner Toys!
Singing Tunefully
"Fais Dodo"
This lullaby in 3/4 time is sung in French-speaking areas of Europe, Canada, and Haiti, as well as in the Cajun areas of Louisiana in the United States. A fais do-do is also a Cajun dance party.
Songtale -
Risseldy, Rosseldy
Beat Motion
"Limbo Rock!"
You can check out the World Record Holder on the far right!
Extra Materials
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!
Senor don Gato
While this song does call for unison singing, it is more so a dramatic tale with many flourishes to bring it to life. We will be artful!
- Readiness -
Echo Me, Echo the Instrument, Poison!, Layering Ostinatos to Accompany Songs/Poems
I Have Lost My Closet Key
Miss White Had a Fright!
- Conversational Solfege - Rote
Echos, Clap Your Syllable, Body Percussion, Formal Practice, Color Hoops/Squares
- Conversational Solfege - Decode/Familiar
Jungle Messages, Now Feel This!, Clap for Your Syllable, Bounce the Ball
I Have Lost My Closet Key
Miss White Had a Fright!
- Conversational Solfege - Decode/Unfamiliar
Similar activities as step 3 but with unfamiliar patterns
Yankee Doodle
Juba
- Conversational Solfege - Create
- Reading - Rote
- Reading - Decode/Familiar
I Have Lost My Closet Key
Miss White Had a Fright!
Yankee Doodle
Juba
8. Reading - Decode/Unfamiliar
2,4,6,8
The Noble Duke of York
Listening - "The Tortoises" from The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens
9. Writing - Rote
10. Writing - Decode/Familiar
I Have Lost My Closet Key
Miss White Had a Fright!
Yankee Doodle
Juba
11. Writing - Decode/Unfamiliar
12. Writing - Create
The Noble Duke of York lyricsConversational Solfege Unit 2
- Readiness
- Conversational Solfege - Rote
- Conversational Solfege - Decode/Familiar
- Conversational Solfege - Decode/Unfamiliar
- Conversational Solfege - Create
- Reading - Rote