Music Notes

Kindergarten
Sherwood’s youngest students have had a fun few months in music class. They have enjoyed creating movements to different styles of music. We continue to try using the different types of voices, but we mostly focus on using a good singing voice. Students enjoy playing different rhythmic patterns on various percussion instruments, too.

First Grade
The first graders have been hard at work this term in music. We’ve added a new house (La) to music street, and it’s the highest house on the street so far! It lives right next door to the Sol house. We also have learned about quarter rests. Even though quarter rests are silent, they still get a beat! We’ve just added two new words to our vocabulary: “allegro” and “andante.” Students enjoy choosing how fast or slow to sing and play their songs.

Second Grade
Second graders recently finished a wonderful program that was all about fairy tales! What talented students we have at Sherwood! We continue to discover new notes on Music Street and recently met the house, “Re.” Second graders have enjoyed singing some folk songs from around the world and just learned new tunes from the Philippines and from Mexico. We’ve also seen how music can have only three beats per measure, instead of four, and we love conducting songs that have three beats in a measure! We even use batons.

Third Grade
It has been an exciting term in third grade music. Students each received their own recorder and we have been perfecting the technique ever since. Playing the recorder helps us read music on the music staff, and we know the notes B, A, and G. There’s a lot to remember when we play the recorder, like how we keep our left hand on top, we press hard on the holes, and we blow softly; but when we all play together, it sounds really neat! We’ve even done some songs that have harmony parts, where some students play the melody, and others play the harmony.

Fourth Grade
Fourth grade students also have worked on the recorder this term in music. We did a recorder bee, which is like a spelling bee, but with recorder patterns, instead of spelling words! We also wrote our own songs. We started with the lyrics, and then we added the rhythms that went with the lyrics. Finally, we used glockenspiels to see which pitches sounded good with those rhythms. Once we decided, we wrote the pitches down and then notated them on the staff. Now we are all composers! Right now, though, we are hard at work getting ready for the Sing, which is coming up in a few weeks. We are learning American folk songs from different regions of the United States. It should be a good program!

Fifth Grade
Fifth graders continue to  progress on their recorders, as well. They’ve also enjoyed comparing and contrasting different styles of music. When we learned about Romantic music, we heard a Beethoven symphony performed in four different styles! Now we are learning about American music, and have enjoyed listening to ragtime music, dancing the Charleston, learning some swing dance moves, and writing and performing our own 12-bar blues songs.

Sherwood music students have been busy learning new things this September! Here’s a quick synopsis of some of our activities:

Kindergarten
Kindergarten students have been busy creating their own steady beat movements. It’s fun to keep a beat using each others’ motions! They have also enjoyed playing rhythms of the drum, as well as continuing to practice our different types of voices, like singing, speaking, and whispering. Students enjoy using the “microphone” to sing alone to their classmates!

First Grade
First graders have been hard at work this month! Some of our favorite activities include creating our own movements to specific musical events, such as accented beats, and playing a steady ostinato on barred instruments like the xylophone. We reviewed where “sol” and “mi” live on Music Street and always continue to practice reading and singing those pitches. Since we’ve just learned the music words “forte” and “piano,” which mean “loud” and “soft,” we have enjoyed using them in some of our new songs.

Second Grade
Second graders have had a busy month at Sherwood! When we sang the song, “Mother, Mother,” we discovered a new note on Music Street named “do!” We’ve also used glockenspiels, along with our musical ears, to figure out how what notes were in that song. We’ve loved adding some new tempo words, “largo” and “presto” to our vocabulary and it’s fun to see just how fast we can sing certain songs!

Third Grade
Third graders have been busy this year so far! We enjoyed playing “Obwisana,” a stick-passing game from Africa. The cross-rhythms in the song made it pretty tricky– the singing part had four beats per measure, and the stick passing part was every three beats. Luckily, we made it through! Now we’re working on our arrangement of “De aquel cerro,” a folk song from Peru. Each day we add another instrument to the arrangement and it sounds better and better!

Fourth Grade
Fourth graders have enjoyed lots of practice singing and reading pentatonic patterns (they include do, re, mi, sol, and la). They also used xylophones to improvise their own melodies to the speech piece, “Alligator Pie.” Every person’s composition sounded different and they were all so creative! We’ve reviewed the notes, “B,” “A,” and “G” on the music staff and just learned the names of the other pitches on the treble clef. We learned a neat trick to remember the names of the line notes and had fun creating our own memory tricks!

Fifth Grade
Fifth graders have done some practice on reviewing rhythmic patterns as well as reviewing the names of the pitches on the treble clef. After this review, we were all ready to learn our “Can-Can” song on the boomwhackers! It’s been difficult work, since each student is responsible for one pitch of the song. We’ve realized how important it is to have good rhythm! We also know that each member of the class is vital to the composition and that it’s important to work together!

Welcome to the 2010-2011 school year! I’m looking forward to another great year of music-making at Sherwood School. Please check back for updates from the music room, where you’ll be able to find information about what students are learning, as well as information regarding upcoming performances.

Hello, Sherwood! Here are some of the things the students have been learning and practicing during the last few weeks:

Kindergarten
Kindergarten students have continued to practice steady beat, and knowing the difference between beat and rhythm. They’ve also continued to enjoy creating movements to known songs.

First Grade
The first graders continue to practice singing and placing the pitches sol, mi, and la on the music staff. We’re also having fun creating our own music to a poem! We have realized that when we each improvise our own melody, the poem sounds different every time.

Second Grade
The second graders recently put on an excellent production where they sang in seven languages! They learned about some different musical characteristics of different countries, and did a great job sharing their knowledge on stage. We are now learning about musical form, and how different locomotor movements can help show the form of a piece of music.

Third Grade
Third graders continue to work hard on reading and writing pitches on the music staff. We’ve also practiced fitting four sounds into one beat (four sixteenth notes) and have practiced this rhythm with various American folk songs and dances.

Fourth Grade
Fourth graders are putting the finishing touches on their music program, “From East to West.” They’ve worked hard incorporating their knowledge of the regions of the United States into this show and have done a wonderful job singing with expression and excitement.

Fifth Grade
Fifth graders recently finished a unit on jazz. To culminate the unit, students wrote their own 12-bar blues songs and then performed these for the class. The songs were amazing! Many students were really able to portray the appropriate expression for their theme.

We’ve had a busy few weeks in the music room! Here’s a quick synopsis of what’s been happening lately:

Kindergarten
The kindergarten students have been working hard on keeping a steady beat by using percussion instruments and body percussion. They’ve enjoyed creating their own movements to reflect specific musical events, such as tempo and dynamic changes.

1st Grade
First graders continue to practice with the pitches sol, mi, and la. They’re experts at reading and writing those pitches on the music staff! They enjoy music dictation and can’t wait to see what level of difficulty the class can reach each day. We have also been practicing keeping a steady beat in various tempos.

2nd Grade
The second graders are hard at work in preparation for their upcoming performance. They can’t wait to show the audience all their hard work! We’ve worked on musical independence, as the students play parts on the instruments that are different from what they are singing. The second graders have also been learning some musical characteristics of music outside of the United States (in fact, our concert has songs in 7 different languages!)

3rd Grade
The third graders have just begun a new instrument: the recorder! They’ve worked diligently on learning this new instrument. Not only have they worked on dexterity of their fingers, but they’ve begun reading absolute notation on the music staff. They have worked hard!

4th Grade
Fourth graders have recently wrapped up a recorder unit, as well. They recently added a new note to their repertoire! Fourth graders enjoyed working in teams to write a song for the recorder. We’ve also done improvisatory work, as the students create their own recorder piece on the spot!

5th Grade
Fifth graders continue to add to the music time-line and have just finished with the Romantic period. They enjoyed listening to one melody (theme from Symphony #9, by Beethoven) played in several different styles. We listened to each example, and the students were able to compare and contrast the various musical elements, like melody, dynamics, tempo, and instrumentation.
Fifth graders also have finished a unit on instruments of the orchestra, that culminated with their own personal instrument creation. After choosing two instruments from separate families, they were to combine those two into one instrument that used characteristics of both families. These instruments they have created are amazing!

Greetings, Sherwood School! Welcome to the new music room blog! You’ll be able to check back here for updates on the happenings in the music room. I will also post important information, like the dates of upcoming concerts.

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