I'm looking forward to renewing the musical moments with the students this fall. During the first week or so, I will be reviewing the expectations of the music room, singing familiar songs, and also singing other songs that help the students acclimate themselves to new groupings. Remember, if you hear your child singing a song lyric or melody that you don't recognize, please email [email protected] and I will clue you in as to what it may be.
Spring brings real bunnies to one of our classrooms to study, so what a great opportunity to jump into Farmer Robert's garden and steal his fruits and vegetables. The students use their singing voice when they identify what they are going to take back home to their rabbit hole. During the month of March, I sang a song "The Alley Alley O" in which the students hold hands and move around the room - pretending to be a great big ship. This coincided with the concept of immigration and St. Patrick's Day. Each student got a chance to be the "Captain" of ship to lead their peers in navigating the waters of the ocean safely and responsibly. Extra points for those who led musically, paying attention to walking the beat of the song.
February was Black History Month and I often sing an African-American version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." Here is a recording of when I sang it with the Lilypads. The song helps reinforce basic beat and the concept of low, medium and high notes. Notice during the second verse how I mistakenly sing "someone has eaten mine up" instead of "someone has broken my chair." One student hears this and tries to correct me as I unknowingly move on to the next verse.
This week, I sang some songs with our students that related to love and caring. "You Are My Sunshine" is a song that has been sung within many families throughout the years. In class, I played the melody on the harmonica to see if anybody recognized the song. Invariably, in each class, someone started singing the song and recalled that their parent or other family member sang it to them at one time or another. I recorded the Battleships after they all started singing along - some even adding vibrato:
One exercise that I do from time to time, is to sing a song and have the students dance with each other. But before starting, I let them know that by the time the song is over, they will have taken a turn dancing with every student in the class. They are prepped by letting them know that there will be some students that you prefer to dance with, and others that may not be your first choice - but each turn will be short and you will think about how your approach and reaction affects how other people feel.
There are spontaneous moments in music class when a student feels confident and decides he/she would like to get up and sing in front of his/her peers. Typically, a student will choose to sing a song with familiar lyrics and melody. Occasionally, improvised songs just come out. Here is an example of a 6 year old in one of our classes singing about what is important to him:
We have staff members who are also musicians that I will ask to bring their instruments in and play for the students. Dylan brought in his flute for the Battleships, demonstrated how to put it together and also played a video of a performance with a group of other flautists. Thanks, Dylan!
This week, we sang songs about Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. This leads to a lively discussion about this tumultuous era that I encourage the students to continue at home. Here is a recording of one class singing, "Sing About Martin":
Through music, our students can raise their awareness of different traditions that people observe this time of year. Some families celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, while others may not celebrate any particular holiday. Below are several songs we focused on in class. While listening to the music, we emphasized musical elements such as tempo, instrumentation, and melody. |
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September 2018
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