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.
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September 2018
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