Kindergarten Music
September
Pitch Exploration
Slide Whistles and "That sounds Yummy!"
Student: “My name is ______ and my favorite food is ________”, Class: “Mmmmm!”
(in the style of "The Ice Cream Sundae” pitch exploration)
Arioso-land
When we visit Arioso-land each week we can only understand each other if we are singing.
(developing appropriate singing voice - head voice). "This is my speaking voice/This is my singing voice"
Song Fragments...Echos
"Oh, My! No More Pie..."
teacher led and student led
Simple Songs
"Welcome and Say Hello"
"Frog In the Meadow"
Movement Exploration
The End is Near! "I think I hear the ending coming and now it's time to stop"
Straight and Wiggly
Movement Exploration
"Old Brass Wagon" a traditional circle dance
Movement for Form & Expression
"Wake Up You Lazybones!"
"At the Bottom of the Sea"
Movement for Form & Expression - with Classical Music
"The Aquarium" from Camille Saint-Saen's Carnival of the Animals
Beat Motions with our Musician of the Month - Michael Franti
Songtales
"Kitty Alone"
October
Pitch Exploration
They'll be owls hoo-hooing and ghosts boo-booing!
Song Fragments
...Echos
"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 will 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 - Wolf Swamp Sound off - Wolf Pack
Wolf Swamp Wolf Pack. Ahwoo, ahwoo, ahwoo!
Simple Song
"Leaves Are Falling Down"
Tuneful - we'll enjoy this simple and haunting minor melody
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 Motions - Student Initiated
Listen, listen, listen well! ( someone's ) going to get the bell!
Listen, listen isn't that neat? (student's name ) playing a steady beat!
Movement for Form & Expression - Fingerplays
Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat, turn into a jack-o-lantern just like that!
10 Little Fingers
Movement for Form & Expression
"The Halloween Song"
This song is all about the actions and how they fit onto the patterns in the song. All of the zombies slowly rise up from the ground and then scare themselves silly!
Songtale
"Listen to the Water"
Songtale
The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything
November
Pitch Exploration
Flying Puppets and Beat Buddies
Movement Exploration
Listen and Move - ME pg. 10
I'll Count to 10 ~ Here and There (straight and twisted)
Simple Songs
Hop Old Squirrel
How many ways will Old Squirrel move his body? This is also a song to foster good intonation, steady beat, and phrasing.
Songtales
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
December
Pitch Exploration
Stick Ribbons
Song Fragments - Echos
"Che Che Koolay"
Beat Motion
"Auld Lang Syne"
Movement Exploration
Move and Freeze (walking, shaking, etc isolating body parts)
We'll also move to "Winter Fantasy" which includes "Jingle Bells" so we'll bring some bells along with us!
Movement for Form and Expression
3 Little Christmas Trees
Movement for Form & Expression with Classical Music -
"Trepak" and "Tea Dance"from The Nutcracker Ballet by Peter Tchaikovsky
January
Pitch Exploration
Follow the Line - roller coasters and more
Song Fragments...Echos
"My Aunt Came Back "- teacher lead
"No More Pie!" - student lead
Oh, My Aunt Came BackSimple Songs
"Trot, Old Joe" - so many ways for Joe to get from here to there!
Movement Exploration
Read My Mind
Beat Motion - Folk Dance
"Sasha"
Movement for Form and Expression
"Chubby Little Snowman"
Movement for Form & Expression - with Classical Music
- "The Anvil Chorus" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il trovatore
Songtales
"Had a Little Rooster By the Barnyard Gate"
This song gets longer each time you sing it as we meet more and more animals playmates! The rooster's "Cock-a-doodle-doo" comes back every time and is my favorite part to sing. :)
Mi Cuerpo Hace Musica!
The words tell us what to do with our bodies but can we keep up as we go faster and faster?
Manos = hands which "Clap, clap, clap!" Pies = feet which go "Boom, boom, boom!"
Bocca = mouth which says "La, la, la!" Cintura = waist/hips sway & say "Cha, cha, cha!"
February
Pitch Exploration
"The Squiggle" Written by Carole Lexa Schaefer and Illustrated by Pierr Morgan
We'll use strings to create our own squiggles
Arioso
We'll continue to sing in our Arioso voices and create our own tunes for some Mother Goose rhymes...
Jack be nimble
Jack be quick.
Jack jump over the candlestick!
Song Fragments
"Charlie Over the Ocean"
Movement for Form & Expression - with Classical Music
- “Pizzicato Polka” from Sylvia by LéoDelibes
Movement for Form and Expression - Fingerplays
"One From the Left.."
A fun fingerplay in a minor key which is kind of unusual for children's songs! Try singing along once you practice the movements. Can you teach this to someone else?
Simple Songs
"Hop, Old Squirrel!" - opportunities for students to lead this familiar song
"Peep Squirrel" - what are some different things that squirrels do?
Movement for Form & Expression - with Classical Music
"The Beep, Beep Song" sung to the tune of Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz
Begin the classical piece at 1:20 and see if we can figure out where the beeps would go!
Songtales
"The Fox Went Out"
March
Pitch Exploration
Whale Talk
Arioso
"This is my speaking voice/this is my singing voice"
We'll create our own tunes for some Mother Goose rhymes...
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
couldn't put Humpty together again.
Song Fragments
"Pancake, Pancake"
This song lets us add silly movements and sounds as we make our pancakes. We'll also create our own rhythm patterns as we add in our favorite kinds of pancakes.
Simple Songs
"Pitter Patter" - We'll use our fingers to feel gentle raindrops on different parts of our bodies
"Cinderella, Dressed in Yellow" - This 2 note song turns into a game incorporating pitched and unpitched percussion instruments as we move around my rainbow carpet...
Movement Exploration
Glue Dancing "March of the Martians" from The Happy Moog
"The Land of Slow & Fast Motion" - largo vs allegro tempos
Movement for Form & Expression - Fingerplays
"Do Your Ears Hang Low? " - Accelerando tempo (gradually getting faster)
Movement for Form & Expression - with Classical Music
"The Waltzing Cat" by Leroy Anderson
A Singing Game...
"Who Has the Penny?" - an excellent chance for solo singing in tune!
Who has the penny? Who has the key? Who has the thimble? Please let us see!
Songtale
"Risseldy, Rosseldy" is an American nonsense song with a quick tempo and a tongue-twister of a repeating refrain.
April
Pitch Exploration
Where are you going Big Pig, Big Pig?
Out to the garden to dig, dig, dig!
Out to the garden to dig, dig, dig? Shame on you Big Pig, Big Pig!
Sorry ma'am, but I'm only a pig and all I can do is dig, dig, dig.
"Aikendrum"
Aikendrum is a pretty silly man who lived on the moon and his body is made of all sorts of crazy things. Once we learn the song we'll create our own Aikendrums.
Simple Songs - songs with only 3 notes!
"Pitter Patter" - Can we make sounds for different kinds of rain in between each verse?
"Cinderella, Dressed in Yellow" - This 2 note song turns into a game incorporating pitched and unpitched percussion instruments as we move around my rainbow carpet...
Movement Exploration
Imagination Game...Bunnies!
Beat Motions -
"Keep the Beat!"
Movement for Form & Expression - Fingerplays
"Do Your Ears Hang Low? " A little bit faster each time!
Musical term accelerando
Movement for Form & Expression - with Classical Music
- "The Aquarium" from Caille Saint-Saen's Carnival of the Animals
A Singing Game
Well, "Jennie Jenkins", what color WILL you wear? We'll try to make up our own verses too...
Songtales
"Kitty Alone" - a beautiful folksong from Appalachia
May
Vocal Exploration
"The Nosy Rabbit" and other lines and shapes...
Song Fragments
"Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?"
Simple Song
"Engine, Engine #9"
This song gets us singing and moving around the room from "station" to "station" on trains that are always switching direction and engineers!!
Movement Exploration
"Highland Gates" and "Old Brass Wagon"
Movement for Form & Expression - Fingerplays
Can you plant a bean? Can you plant it faster? Review accelerando
Can you sing while you're planting?
Can You Plant a Bean? May 3, 2020.webmMovement for Expression
"Sleepy Bunnies" - review and enjoy largo and allegro (slow and fast)
Movement for Form & Expression - with Classical Music
- "Humouresques" by Antonin Dvorak - "Ah! Les Jolis Papillons" (The Joyful Butterflies!)
Songtales
"Workin' On the Railroad"
June
Arioso
This is my speaking voice/this is my singing voice - we'll share our summer plans with each other
Let's go out for ice cream! What delicious creation will you order? Remember to sing your order!
Movement Exploration
"Limbo!"
Movement for Expression
How does different music from all over the world make us want to move?
Movement for Expression
"Down By the Sea"
Beat Motion
"Les Saluts"
Songtales
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
Songtales
"If All the Raindrops"
Extras...
"Good Morning!"
What a great was to start the day!
Movement for Expression
The Regal, Royal, Really Cool People Dance
aka Kings and Queens
Fanga Alafia
Keep the Beat - and get a workout - with this song!
Fanga Alafia is a Nigerian song sung in the Yoruba language. The words Fanga Alafia directly mean "Hello, welcome". The word Fanga is specifically the word for welcome dance and the word Alafia is specifically a greeting like "good health" or "peace".
Do you love to create art?
Using any media you'd like (markers, paint, string, pencil, chalk...) create a picture as you listen to any one of these 20 pieces of music. They are all pieces by amazing composers and each one has a different feel depending on the instruments, tempo, style, and mood.
Feel free to create as many as you'd like! If you’d like to share your art with Mrs. Westhaver, be sure to include the title of the piece(s) you listened to. I'd love to add art to my webpages!