Sixth Grade Music

Week of 8/31-9/4

Students have been learning about the Greek definition of beauty (order, pattern, symmetry, form).  We have discussed that our modern ideas of beauty lean more toward what we can see with our eyes, rather than these ideals.  Even in what we see with our eyes, the face has a certain symmetry.  It has been a subject of study that persons that are widely considered beautiful have a great deal of symmetry in their appearance.  So, perhaps, we lean on these Greek ideals more than we realize.  

This week we began studying the composer J.S. Bach, the father of the fugue.  He did not invent this form, but mastered it.  The fugue is but one form we will study this quarter. This week we began a project to help us learn about Bach and what motivated him as a musician.  We will listened to Tocata and Fugue in D Minor, parts of the Well-Tempered Clavier, and others in our study of form as beauty.  

The Bach Project (as you see pictured below) is a collection of information and worksheets about Bach.  Last week we completed the Bach book (center) and read it aloud in class.  We finished the flapbook (bottom left) with 8 questions about Bach that could be answered from our Bach book from the day before.