Kindergarteners are so good at hearing MUSICAL OPPOSITES!  They use movements to show they can hear loud and soft, choppy and smooth, and high and low.  This learning prepares them for first grade when they will begin to perform and create musical opposites with their voices and on instruments!  Most importantly, Kindergarteners have fun dancing to the piano.

Students in Kindergarten are working on "Music Games from Around the World."  One of their favorites, "Button You Must Wander" comes from England.  This song helps students expand their singing ranges within the Do-Sol range.  It is also loads of fun to see them hide and giggle while a friend searches for the big cardboard button!

Kindergarten musicians are working hard to sing with gentle head voices, keep a steady beat with their bodies, dance using levels, directions and weight and play instruments.  Kindergarteners have even started to read a few notes!  One of our first projects was to sing "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear."  This song allows children to sing four pitches (sol, mi, la, do) which are very natural to their young voices.  Children also perform moves with their song.  This helps them develop an understanding of phrasing.  Enjoy our youngest performers!

First graders are building on their knowledge from Kindergarten about MUSICAL OPPOSITES.  They learn muscal terms for tempo, dynamics and articulation.  Then they combine them to change different songs.  Here, students perform Ghana's "Kye Kye Kule" with some selected musical markings.  Let them teach you at home!

First graders are ready for winter with this Orff Schulwerk-inspired classroom classic.  Notice how students can keep a steady pulse, sing, rap, manage a rest and play instruments at specific times.  Most first graders are experts when it comes to singing in their gentle head voices.

First graders have loved playing "Spool and Key!"  This search-and-find game allows me to assess solo singers in groups of three.  Each student participates, sings and listens each time.  Listen for singers to sing "Who has the spool?/key" and "I have the spool?/key?" on scale steps sol and mi (C and A on the piano) using their gentle singing voices.  Every student in each first grade class has taken a turn on the stool, with the spool, with the key, and handing out the items during the game.  Sometimes Dr. Huntley even sits on the stool and students try to trick her!

Second graders are working hard on the Symphony Orchestra unit.  One of their many projects includes learning the "Orchestra Song" in four parts!  They only know two so far, the violin and clarinet, but they can sing in two parts!  By the end of their work, seconds graders will be able to sing all four parts at once!  (The Orchestra Song is originally from Austria, but we have chosen to sing it in English to help us understand that each instrument represents an orchestra instrument family.)

Second graders can read, compose and hear using seven different kinds of rhythms.  They can do this work independently and in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures.  The exercise in the video, Rhythm Build, illustrates not only the students' skills, but also their sense of artistry where they use repeated patterns, opposite patterns and complementary rhythmic patterns.  Notice what good audience members they are for each other as well!

Second graders have been exploring their musical identities.  As part of this project, they have been traveling around the world with their music.  One of the cultures we visited was Colombia.  In addition to some listening and dancing, students also learned the Spanish traditional song "Arroz con Leche."  Many Spanish-speaking cultures take ownership of this song as a part of their culture, but the song actually originated in Colombia.  Listen for students' abilities to sing in Spanish while accompanying themselves on maraca (not Colombian!) and bongos.  You can also ask students about the music video "Yo Voy Ganao" by Systema Solar and dancing to Shakira's "Waka Waka!"

Third graders are not just playing recorder this year!  They are also expanding their ability to sing.  While younger kids sing in unison, older kids begin to sing partner songs and rounds.  In this video, third graders sing "Kookaburra," a song my Australian Marian Sinclair, in a three-part round!  Student learned that Marian Sinclair lived at a time when women were not treated equally.  Ms. Sinclair trained young women to camp, hike and find their own water and food in the Australian "bush."  Ask your student what the words in the song mean!

Third grade musicians expand their western notation reading from just rhytyhms into rhythms and pitches.  They then have to transfer this knowledge to playing an instrument: the recorder.  In this video student demonstrate their ability to use multi-step note reading to play a simple melody.  The process they have used here will serve them well when they learn band and orchestra instruments next year.

Third graders have begun playing the RECORDER.  A recorder is a flute-like instrument played vertically and VERY gently.  (This has been the hardest part!) Students have learned to read and play their first three notes: B, A and G (mi, re, do.). Using the traditional Irish Folk Song, "Tell Me Ma" students have learned how to improvise on their recorders while singing.  Listen for students' amazing singing abilities and their pick up at the beginning of the second verse.

"Duke's Place" is an early blues/jazz classic by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.  As student sing and scat-sing this song, they are exploring the roots of Black American Music.  Fourth graders are working their way through Black American Music by following the lyrics in "Bridging the Gap" by father-son due, NAS and Olu Dara.  Ask your students about Miles Davis, scat singing, Dizzy Gillespie, Salt Peanuts and how many bars are in a 12-bar blues!

Fourth graders have begun exploring Black American Music.  We use NAS and Olu Dara's "Bridging the Gap" to create the outline for our unit.  The song talks about Black American musicians and styles on which Hip-Hop and other modern music are built.  The first artist named in the song is Miles Davis.  As we begin to study jazz, students learned to scat sing!  After listening to them practice scat singing in this video, see if you can try it at home!

Fourth graders in General Music have been studying Marginalized Composers.  They started by exploring Akira Ifukube, the Japanese musician who created the first Godzilla Movie Theme.  Students have now moved on to learning about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de St. George, a bi-racial composer from Guadeloupe who was most likely a better musician than Mozart.  In this video, students are sharing a folk song from Guadeloupe that Bologne may have heard in his childhood.  "Papiyon Vole" is about a butterfly and it is sung in Guadeloupe Creole.  Ask your kids about Akira Ifukube and Joseph Bologne.  Better yet, listen to the music of these two symphonic greats!

"Duke's Place" is an early blues/jazz classic by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.  As student sing and scat-sing this song, they are exploring the roots of Black American Music.  Fourth graders are working their way through Black American Music by following the lyrics in "Bridging the Gap" by father-son due, NAS and Olu Dara.  Ask your students about Miles Davis, scat singing, Dizzy Gillespie, Salt Peanuts and how many bars are in a 12-bar blues!

"Duke's Place" is an early blues/jazz classic by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong.  As student sing and scat-sing this song, they are exploring the roots of Black American Music.  Fourth graders are working their way through Black American Music by following the lyrics in "Bridging the Gap" by father-son due, NAS and Olu Dara.  Ask your students about Miles Davis, scat singing, Dizzy Gillespie, Salt Peanuts and how many bars are in a 12-bar blues!

Fourth graders have begun exploring Black American Music.  We use NAS and Olu Dara's "Bridging the Gap" to create the outline for our unit.  The song talks about Black American musicians and styles on which Hip-Hop and other modern music are built.  The first artist named in the song is Miles Davis.  As we begin to study jazz, students learned to scat sing!  After listening to them practice scat singing in this video, see if you can try it at home!

Fourth graders in General Music have been studying Marginalized Composers.  They started by exploring Akira Ifukube, the Japanese musician who created the first Godzilla Movie Theme.  Students have now moved on to learning about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de St. George, a bi-racial composer from Guadeloupe who was most likely a better musician than Mozart.  In this video, students are sharing a folk song from Guadeloupe that Bologne may have heard in his childhood.  "Papiyon Vole" is about a butterfly and it is sung in Guadeloupe Creole.  Ask your kids about Akira Ifukube and Joseph Bologne.  Better yet, listen to the music of these two symphonic greats!