4th Grade Music
September
Conversational Solfege Unit 1 - Review & Practice
Readiness
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Ickle Ockle
Conversational Solfege - Rote
Patterns Set 1A
Conversational Solfege - Decode/Familiar
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Ickle Ockle
Conversational Solfege - Decode/Unfamiliar
Simple Simon
Obwisana
Conversational Solfege - Create
Reading - Rote
Patterns Set 1A
Reading - Decode/Familiar
Patterns Set 1A
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Simple Simon
Obwisana
Reading - Decode/Unfamiliar
Patterns Set 1B
Button You Must Wander
Trepak
Writing - Rote
Ickle Ockle
Writing - Decode/Familiar
Closet Key
Simple Simon met a pie-man going to the fair.
Said Simple Simon to the pieman "Let me taste your ware."
Said the man to Simple Simon "Show me first your penny".
Said Simple Simon to the pie-man "Sir, I have not any".
Simple Song and Game!
Decoding the rhythms and reading the text rhythmically without teacher assistance
Identifying the similarities/differences of the 2 phrases visually and aurally
Tunefully singing the melody in unison paying special attention to the ends of each phrase
Ickle ockle, blue bottle
Fishes in the sea,
If you want a partner*
Just choose me!
4 Beat Rhythm Practice
Play "I Have...Who Has...?" in Common Time
Omochio Tsukimasho
Omochio tsukimasho, Omochio tsukimasho
Petanko, petanko, Petan, petan, petanko
O konente, o konete, O kone, o kone, o konete
(Up) Ton, ton, ton. (Down) Ton, ton, ton
(Up and down) Ton, ton, ton, ton. (Up) Ton, ton, ton
This is a great game to practice steady beat and also requires students to work with each other as mochi-pounding machhines!
Added bonus if we get to find Japan -and the mochi shop! - on Google Earth
Button You Must Wander
Button you must wander, wander, wander.
Button you must wander everywhere.
Bright eyes will find you. Sharp eyes will find you.
Button you must wander everywhere.
October
Black and Gold
Tunefully singing together and in parts in a minor key
Beatfully accompanying ourselves on pitched and unpitched percussion instruments
Artfully expressing the mood of the text and music
Black and Gold - Orff Parts.pdfPumpkin, Pumpkin
Tunefully singing this 2 bar song in unison and in cannon
Developing inner hearing by singing specific words only in our heads
Aurally decoding and notating the rhythm of the text
Beatfully using body percussion which correlates to the rhythm of the text
Artfully performing as a body percussion canon with special attention to dynamics and phrasing
Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat,
Turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!
The Great Pumpkin Waltz
Moving to this mellow jazz waltz by Vince Guaraldi who is most famous for writing all of the music in the Peanuts TV specials
We'll use our Beat Buddies as partners!
In the Hall of the Mountain King
Playing the Boomwhackers as artfully as we can with special attention to changing dynamics and tempo
November
Begin work on our Celebration of Winter Holidays program!
4th-graders study the Hindu festival of Diwali and learn a song which uses special melodic patterns to evoke a sense of mystery. Since it's a festival of lights we learn choreography based (loosely) on typical Indian dance positions and then enhance the experience with glow sticks.
You can check out all of the other songs we usually perform as a whole school in the slide show to the right. This year we'll learn all of the music but have to figure out an alternative to an all school assembly.
Steady beat practice
"Over the River and Through the Woods" - we'll sing this simple tune and explore ways to accompany ourselves using jingle bells.
December
Continue to work on our Celebration of Winter Holidays program!
Boomwhacker Fun
Moving to "The Children's March" from The Nutcracker
January
Conversational Solfege Unit 4
- Tonal Do-Re-Mi
Conversational Solfege Tonal Patterns - Familiar
These patterns use the solfege syllables Do-Re-Mi and we will practice them together in class.
"I Have Lost My Closet Key"
First we'll review the melody and the differences between phrases 1 and 2 then we'll play the game! This song use the solfege syllables Do-Re-Mi. We will decode the rhythms, decode the solfege syllables, and perform the melody on resonator bells.
February
Recorder Karate!
This slideshow has all of the songs we are learning to earn our karate belts. There are usually two options for each color belt and students may learn whichever they prefer. To earn a belt students must play the song with the correct notes and the correct rhythms. The recordings in the slideshow can help you. Please DO NOT test if you aren't completely ready to play for me. I won't pass anyone onto the next level until they show me they are ready. You WILL have to work for your belts.
Students may test in 3 ways:
Play the song for me during our class time
Come to school at 8:10 on Wednesdays or Fridays to practice and play before school begins
Record a video of yourself playing the song and share it with me by email (awesthaver@longmeadow.k12.ma.us)
I Let Her Go
Tunefully singing this 4 bar song in unison
Moving our bodies by ourselves and with a partner on specific beats
Joyfully discovering a new partner every time we jump and turn!
Moving/Playing to a Steady Beat
"Funky Veggies"
Great practice for independent lines as well as ensemble performance skills. We'll use tennis balls as well as unpitched percussion instruments.
I Have, Who Has
This game practices steady beat as well as identifying written rhythmic patterns. We'll use quarter notes, quarter rests, and pairs of eighth notes.
Composing Rhythmic Pieces
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Great practice for independent lines as well as ensemble performance skills
Rock Paper Scissors - 2:4.pdfMarch
Vocal Exploration
Imagine being able to see the sounds you make!
Conversational Solfege Unit 2
Rhythm Patterns in 6/8 Time
Du-da-de - 2 beats per measure with 3 pulses per beat
"Fish in the Sky" - a non-sensical poem
Oh, my! Fish in the sky!
Shoes on the ceiling and trees walking by!
Reaching up low, bending down high,
Ev'rything seems to be wrong, right?
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
Beatfully accompanying this piece in 6/8 meter
Decoding familiar patterns in 6/8 meter
Tunefully singing the minor melody
Boomwhackers are back!
We'll try out our rhythmic and melodic skills with the Columbian rhythms from Encanto
The Grumpy Dance
Moving our bodies to the beat while identifying patterns and form
April
A few more before we say goodbye to Boomwhackers
"Hot Cross Buns"
This song use the solfege syllables Do-Re-Mi. We'll review this tune, decode the rhythms, decode the solfege syllables, and perform the melody on resonator bells. Eventually we will notate the song onto the treble clef.
May
"Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum!"
This rhyme is so versatile it takes us through rhythmic decoding, phrasing, moving to 4 beat patterns, and creating our own B sections using spoken ostinati as a starting point.
"Fee, fi, fo, fum. I smell the blood of an Englishman.
Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread!"
- Readiness
""
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- Conversational Solfege - Rote
Patterns Set 2A
- Conversational Solfege - Decode/Familiar
Patterns Set 2A
"Johnny Grim"
"1, 2, 3 Aleerie"
- Conversational Solfege - Decode/Unfamiliar
Pattern Set 2B
"Yankee Doodle"
"Fish in the Sky"
- Conversational Solfege - Create
Various techniques
- Reading - Rote
Patterns Set 2A
7.Reading - Decode/Familiar
Patterns Set 2A
"Johnny Grim"
"1, 2, 3 Aleerie"
"Yankee Doodle"
"Fish in the Sky"
8. Reading - Decode/Unfamiliar
Patterns Set 2B
"Twinkle, Twinkle"
"The Bridge of Avignon"
Listening "The Crane"
9. Writing - Rote
"Yankee Doodle"
10. Writing - Decode/Familiar
"Twinkle, Twinkle"
11. Writing - Decode/Unfamiliar
"Twinkle, Twinkle"
12. Writing - Create
Various Techniques
June
Extra Materials
Moving Beatfully to "Stars and Stripes Forever"
Star = quarter note (Du)
Stripe = half note (Du-u)
Eagle = 2 eighth notes (Du-de)
Purple Heart = 2 eighth notes and a quarter note (Du-de Du)
Quarter = 1 beat rest
Keeping the Beat ~ TEMPO
Tempo has to do with the speed of the steady beat. We'll learn the game "Sevens" where the tempo increases each time we start over. I made it through Round 6. How far can you go?
Following a Melodic Line On Pitched Instruments
Simple Song - Call & Response
The Telephone Song
LEADER: Hey Johnny!
“JOHNNY”: Someone’s calling my name
LEADER: Hey Johnny!
“JOHNNY”: I think I hear it again
LEADER: You’re wanted on the telephone
“JOHNNY”: If it’s not Alice, then I’m not home