Thursday, February 27, 2020

February Newsletter

February brought many fun events through our school. We had assemblies, field trips, and got to make some wonderful music in the music room! Here are some highlights from the music room this month:

Kindergarten: We learned "Nihao Jambo", so now we can say "hello" in 9 different languages. We also learned about Ekaki Uta (drawing songs from Japan). We learned a song in English that taught us how to draw a pig, and now we're learning songs in Japanese that teach us how to draw a fish and a duck. We will perform these songs at Multicultural Night on the stage on March 19th at 6:10pm. Please come to this AMAZING event! Details will be going home next week through the family newsletter so stay tuned.

1st grade: We learned how to play "Bump Up Tomato" on tone bells, and can sing the song while we play it! We are building our first skills as musicians, and having so much fun while doing it. :) We'll learn how to play the song on our pianos next, and then make our first compositions using Mi Sol La.

2nd grade: We are currently playing our Social-Emotional Rhythms game. Students have to listen to a 4 beat pattern and then show the card that matches that pattern, or draw the pattern that they hear (this is called taking dictation, and it's a very fancy music skill!). Once we're done with this game we'll make new compositions using the new rhythms we learned from this game.

3rd grade: We are using boomwhackers as we read notes on the G clef staff! Students are loving using the colorful instruments. We will continue to use boomwhackers as we learn the song De Colores. We will make a video to share at multicultural night of our in-class performance of De Colores. So, if you want to see the video please come to Multicultural Night on March 19th at 6:00pm! I cannot post the video anywhere in order to protect the privacy of our students, so this will be your only opportunity to see it.

4th grade: We are making excellent progress on our recorder karate belts. Most students have signed for their white belt song, and many are working on their yellow belt song. Some are even on the orange belt already (this is AWESOME!). Students have to independently read music on their own to sign for their belts. I do not play the song for them, and they don't get to copy a neighbor. Reading music, internalizing the notation, and then producing sounds on an instrument is extremely hard work and they are doing an amazing job. I am incredibly proud of them :)

5th grade: we are working within FLAT (a composition software) to transcribe our Zimbabwean xylophone arrangement of "Tatenda" (Swahili for "thank you"). Once we have finished entering the notation into FLAT we get to learn how to play this song on the instruments! All students have access to this program via their Edmonds email, and it's totally free! Check it out: https://flat.io/

6th grade: we learned the glockenspiel (bell) part for our end of year song, and are now working on the xylophone part. Students are having to read notation without my help, as I sing and play ukulele while they play their parts independently. They are doing an excellent job continuing to develop their musical independence within the ensemble.