For those of you that are new to GBS, my name is Robert Kennedy and I am the Certified Kodaly Music Educator here at the Gillen Brewer School. During the upcoming open school night, my time with you will be limited to a quick hello to simply put the name with the face so I wanted to take some time here to let you know about myself.
Music has always been a part of my life. I was fortunate enough to have supportive parents and amazing music educators throughout my youth. It started with piano lessons during my formative years, the French Horn in middle school, the bass guitar in high school and then onto other instruments that have been discovered since then such as: guitar, ukulele, accordion, banjo, drums and harmonica. I ended up sharing this love of music and instruments with the children of The Parkside School when I became a substitute teacher in the early 90’s. During my breaks, I would schedule music sessions with the classes, promoting singing and dancing along to the music I remembered hearing as a child. This ended up being the seed of their music program - which was the first of its kind to combine Music Therapy with Music Education. During my employment at Parkside, I became certified as a Kodaly Music Educator at NYU while being mentored at work by one of my NYU music professors, as well as the staff of the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Clinic. Once again, I was fortunate to be surrounded by inspirational music educators. Shortly thereafter, I was given the reigns to be the music teacher and eventually became the head of The Parkside School Arts Department. During my time at Parkside, two teachers decided to start their own school (The Gillen Brewer School) and asked me to come and teach music on my day off. This program grew and grew and I decided to work here exclusively in 2005 and have been here ever since. To learn about the Kodaly Method: https://www.oake.org/about-us/the-kodaly-concept/ To learn about Music Therapy or Nordoff-Robbins: https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/nordoff/therapy Music classes are held on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with each class lasting 30 minutes. This year I was able to add a day to my work schedule so that every class can have music twice a week. The schedule is as follows:
Monday/Wednesday: Twisters, Robots, Orange Justice Monday/Tuesday: Break Dancers Tuesday/Thursday: yet to be named classes of Emmy, Rebecca/Marissa, Hannah Monday/Thursday: Shuffles, Worms, Cha Chas Music appreciation is fostered through carefully chosen folk and traditional songs and musical games from various cultures. These activities support learning opportunities that can lead to a foundation of basic musical terms and concepts. Nursery rhymes, finger plays, composed music, improvisation, singing, instrumental and movement activities, and dramatic music plays are the primary sources used to enjoy music intelligently and support the Gillen Brewer curriculum. The voice and body are used as the main instruments, with singing as the primary musical activity. Elements of music therapy are also incorporated into many lesson plans. Songs and activities typically contain various visual, audio, and physical elements meant to stimulate, serve, and confirm each child’s strength. Children are encouraged to participate in their own way. They can be given the option to sing, improvise, play instruments, show hand signs that represent the words, simply hum the melody, or move their bodies to represent the musical elements. A child’s motivation to participate in music can come from within the activity, whether it is a desire to play in an upcoming "musical game" or get a turn on an instrument. Through group activities such as structured instrumental pieces or musical games, the child becomes invested in the quality of his/her contribution to a musical piece and also the quality of the group’s musical effort and accomplishment. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email me at [email protected] Sincerely, Robert Kennedy Kodaly Certified Music Educator I've been bringing out cases and asking the students what they think is inside. In the last few weeks, they have discovered the violin/fiddle, banjo and accordion. They all had a chance to actually play each of these instruments, as it is important for them to experience what genuine, quality musical instruments feel and sound like. Also, last week, my son's school had two snow days in a row, so he came into work with me and brought a case of his own, revealing a trumpet - on which he played a variety of songs for them.
The Olympic Winter Games provide many opportunities to discuss music. We listened to the "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" and identified the instruments used and how the arrangement makes us feel when we listen to it. The composer is John Williams who is responsible for the music for many movies such as Star Wars and Harry Potter. We also listened to our national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner," which is played during the medal ceremonies.
Here's a simple little song for the younger students in which we pretend to dress up in winter clothing.
The weather outside is brrrr cold... brrrr cold... brrrr cold... The weather outside is brrrr cold... so let's all put on a coat. Simply repeat and replace the last word "coat" with another item. With the older groups, we've also been discussing the musical elements of rhythm and how it is different from melody. We often start out class by "reading" and duplicating (by clapping or tapping sticks) the rhythms such as the ones seen on the chart above. We make and recognize mistakes and correct them - understanding that mistakes are necessary for a musician to learn and improve their skills. This "Rhythm Tree" chart helps us to understand the value of each note. At first we may start out by referring to notes as "short" and "long." Then I let the students know that musicians have names for each rhythm such as "whole/half/quarter/eighth/sixteenth" notes. We experience the duration of each of these notes and also see them in different forms when looking at the music of familiar songs that we sing in class.
This week with the older classes, I brought out a tuning fork. I demonstrated how it creates a tone from vibrating after you strike it. The particular one I used at first vibrated at 440 times a second. I then showed them other sizes of tuning forks and had them predict what sounds they would make after striking them. They discovered that the bigger ones vibrated less per second and therefore created a lower tone. We looked diagrams of how we can distinguish those different vibrations and tones with tiny parts such as the ear drum, hammer and anvil - which are then interpreted by our brain. I then sang, "If I Had a Hammer" to raise their awareness of the upcoming Martin Luther King Day. Music, Science and Social Studies all addressed in twenty minutes.
Someone in my neighborhood was selling a kid-sized electric guitar, so I bought it, fixed it and brought it in to let the GBS kids rock out. (We also discussed how it is same/different than the acoustic guitar that I usually use. ) Well worth the $25: We have been playing a lot of different instruments: |
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September 2018
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