First grade- As we continued to practice audiation of Sol-La-Mi, we have played "The Mill Wheel," creating wheels in groups of 4, moving at fast and slow tempi. We will be learning about "question and answer" when we sing the playground favorite "Pizza, Pizza," and the guessing game, "Little Tommy Tiddlemouse." Towards the end of the month, we will be working towards playing songs we know on the Orff instruments without any help from the teacher. Ms. Hunter told the story of the Tortoise (whose name was Largo), and the Hare (whose name was Allegro) to introduce the musical terms for fast and slow. We are doing movement activities to show the difference between Largo and Allegro in music.
Second grade- We continue to practice Mi-Re-Do, but there seems to be some songs with notes that are higher than Mi! We will find out what that high note is called in a few weeks, but for now, we are playing simple borduns (two-hand patterns) on Orff instruments to accompany the songs "Fais do do," and "Cobbler." We read the story of "The Cobbler and the Elves," and added instruments to represent the characters, and added "Fais Do Do" and "Cobbler" to represent actions in the story.
Third grade- The third grade expert-rhythm-readers are moving on to reading melodies with solfege. They have been able to successfully transfer rhythms to Orff instruments, and are now learning how to play "Rocky Mountain" using solfege and rhythmic notation they built with straws. They were able to play the classic Orff-Schulwerk piece "Ding Dong" with 3 layered patterns, while singing, and while some students moved around the room with a scarf movement pattern. It was very impressive!
Fourth grade- After a FANTASTIC first performance, fourth grade is using January as a skill-building month before starting on spring repertoire. In general music, we are becoming re-acquainted with the Orff instruments and proper playing technique, and also reviewing how to read musical notation with solfege. In chorus, we have been focusing on good breathing technique for singing, and moving while singing in 2 or 3 parts.