Students have continued exploring layering rhythm over steady beat by creating loops at Incredibox.com. We discussed possible uses for the created loops, and continued discovering the benefits and challenges of publication and copyright. You may find our published work here, or by searching for CouncilGroveMusic at bandcamp.com.
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Upon returning from winter break, Council Grove Elementary Music students are reviewing steady beat and practicing layering rhythms over the steady beat. As the students may tell you, the steady beat is the heartbeat of music, while rhythm is the way we arrange sounds over the steady beat. We have continued this exploration through both creating and performing. Students have used Incredibox (available online at Incredibox.com or as an app for iPhone or Ipad) to create fun mixes using a variety of rhythms, effects, and melodies over a steady beat. They also learned the song "Who Has Seen the Wind", and arranged it using drums as a steady beat, xylophones playing a bordun, and voices singing the melody. Check out the Gallery for more pics of us at work creating!
This week we have been exploring ways in which music helps tell story. Students have experienced Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride" discovering how the instruments used in the piece help tell the story of a sleigh ride. We then collaborated to create an arrangement of "Jingle Bells" that helped enhance its story. Below is the recording of "Sleigh Ride" we investigated. In the recording, you will be able to hear temple blocks making the sound of horses hooves, a slapstick making the sound of the whip, and a fun , jazzy trombone lick toward the end (as well as a trumpet neighing like a horse!). Hand your kids some bells (or pots and pans!) and invite them to show you steady beat while you're listening
We are also enjoying the talents of a special guest. Mrs. Essmiller's daughter, Kennedy, is spending some time in the music classroom while home on college break. This week she has demonstrated bass guitar, and provided live accompaniment for Mrs. Pennock's class as they sang their original blues composition, "Mrs. Pennock's Class Blues".
Mrs. Pollock's PreK class opted to orchestrate the song "Jingle Bells" with ukelele, electric bass, vocalists, and, of course, jingle bells!
We listened to a reading of "The Nutcracker", and discovered that Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky had written a piece of music which helped tell that story! Students used body percussion to identify form in music as they listened to the recording below of "March of the Toy Soldiers" from The Nutcracker Ballet. Have your kids show you!
Even wound up and excited for winter break, we are managing to accomplish much as we explore story and form in music. Just for fun, we've treated ourselves to the Pentatonix tune found below. Enjoy!
CG Elementary students are participating this week in the Hour of Code, a broad initiative designed to expose students of all ages to computer programming. The step-by-step, "what happens next", type of thinking required for computer programming is similar to that required for creating music. The older kids practiced coding with the "Moana" and "Minecraft" tutorials, while the younger ones experienced "Find the Puppy" and an unplugged tutorial in which they helped the Flurb find the Fruit. They all caught on quickly! They will be great creators. Follow the links below and have your students show you how great they are at this!
"Moana" Coding tutorial "Puppy Adventure"
This week Council Grove Elementary music students will be experimenting in labs (centers) to "synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make music". Students will discover, explore, and identify elements of the piano keyboard, and apply that knowledge to the performance of "Jingle Bells". Below are a couple of the resources students will use to facilitate their exploration. The "Wheel Decide" will be used to randomly generate pitch names to be identified on our class clothespin keyboard. The worksheet will be completed to guide students in identifying notes needed to play "Jingle Bells" on the piano keyboard and xylophone.
Today's classes continued working on their blues tunes. Below are some of the lyrics created by one of the third grade classes. We improvised tunes with the lyrics using the Bb Blues Scale over the backing track below. Try it!
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Below are some of their lyrics. Student's creative work is shared according to the Council Grove Music Classroom Copyright on a per project basis. Students own their creative work, and may allow their work to be shared with their name, shared without their name, or not shared.
CG Elementary Music Students are singing the blues! Using the form AABA over 12 bar blues backing tracks, students are creating lyrics describing events in their day and improvising short blues riffs on which to sing them. Below is a video of one of the kindergarten classes who felt they could have made better choices at recess. Students sang the "head" twice, improvised one chorus, and closed with the "head". You may notice some fidgets--hard to stand still when you're singing the blues! Enjoy "Mrs. Pennock's Class' Blues".
Upper elementary students have been creating and notating short body percussion compositions. They improvised using claps and pats, arranged their improvisation over eight steady beats, and notated their compositions on a two line staff. They were then given the option to "class copyright" their work, choosing to allow it to be shared with their name, shared without their name, or not shared. Below are some of their performances.
Students took inspiration from the Stomp performance seen below.
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#CGRocksCome see the world through the eyes of Council Grove Elementary Students! Archives
January 2017
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