Friday, May 21, 2010

Air - Part 2 Complete

Hi recorder ensemble. As discussed here's the second part of Air. Try to work on this and don't forget about the special rehearsal on Tuesday afternoon!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Recorder Ensemble - "Air" (B part)

Recorder cats -- since the second and fourth phrase of "Air" are so similar to the first 8 measures, I'll move right along to the middle section -- what we'll call the B part. This is the part we worked on in class. You should be able to follow along with the music I gave you. The pitch pattern is A-G-A-B-B C-B-C-D A-G-A-B-B C-B-A B-C

Listen to the recording a few times and then try to play along with the metronone.

Kindergarten Week 4 -- Dynamics, Tempo & Pitch


Some student work from Week 3 -- nicely done!

This week kindergarteners had an opportunity to explore the ways the same piece of music can be changed by making it louder or softer, faster or slower, higher or lower in pitch. We call these different ways of playing the music variations and they help keep music interesting. We also spent some time talking about how to use symbols to tell us how to play -- a prelude to note reading.

Homework -- dynamics worksheet

First Grade Week 4 -- Melody and Contour


This week we continued our study of how musical instruments work by focusing on the roll that size and tension play to determining pitch. The kids learned that the shorter, smaller or tighter a vibrating surface was the higher the pitch tended to be. It is from the relationship of highs and lows that the concepts of melody and scales developed.

The kids then got a chance to try the concept out by using the Orff xylophones for the first time. They concluded by constructing a piece of music and movement around the song "All The Leaves Are Falling Down", using scarves to represent the leaves. Very beautiful!