Our May composer of the month was Dr. Ysaye Barnwell. Dr. Barnwell is a native New Yorker, but currently lives in Washington, D.C. She was born in 1946 to a professional violinist (father) and registered nurse (mother). She started taking violin lessons at the age of 2 1/2, but went to college for Speech Pathology, not music. As a 34 year member of the singing group Sweet Honey in the Rock, Dr. Barnwell performed, recorded albums, did sign language interpretation at concerts, and composed and arranged music. She retired from Sweet Honey in the Rock a few months ago to pursue other projects- more composing, writing another children's book (she has already adapted 2 of her songs into books), doing voice-overs, and leading workshops for adults to further group singing in the community. We also talked about how most of her pieces are written only for voices, and the voices often imitate instruments. You can listen to "Wanting Memories," and "We Believe in You," by clicking on the titles of the songs.
First Grade: We focused on timbre (which is the sound of instruments that allows us to distinguish one from another) with the "Instrument Mystery Game," and discussed how music can tell a story without any words at all. During NJASK week, we started watching Tchaikovsky's ballet, "The Sleeping Beauty," and continued to watch some excerpts from the ballet to finish the story. Ask your child about how the dancing matched the music in terms of tempo, mood, texture, and storytelling. I brought in pointe shoes to show the students how the female ballet dancers dance all the way on their tip-toes. (And we discussed why it isn't a good idea for 1st graders to do it!) We also finished up a few "rain games" from April.
(Some clips we watched- Fairy Variations, Rose Adagio, Puss in Boots Pas-de-Deux)
Second Grade: We continued to reinforce pentatonic solfege (Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La) and reading and writing rhythms with "Frere Jacques," "Matarile," and "I Bought Me a Cat ." We also discussed harmony in music using ostinati (repeated melodic or rhythmic patterns). We played ostinati on Orff instruments and created some with body percussion, and movement. We also used NJASK week to start an engaging unit on how music tells a story. We started watching Mozart's famous opera, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote), after reading one of my favorite books, Bantam of the Opera by Mary Jane Auch, as an introduction to Opera. Each week we watch short excerpts from the opera and different melodic ideas and storytelling techniques are highlighted. The second graders are excited to see what will happen next!
(The version I took clips from is a production of l'Opera Nationale de Paris.)
Third Grade: This month we have focused on meter and time signature. When you see two numbers stacked on top of each other at the beginning of a piece of music, that is the meter, or time signature. It is not a fraction! Ask your student what the numbers in the time signature represent. We played "Mabel Mabel, Set the Table" in triple meter, and worked on the clapping game "Four White Horses" in common time, and have just started "Tideo," which is in duple meter. We unfortunately missed a week in some classes, due to NJASK testing, but in those that did have music class read the story of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
Fourth Grade: We have continued working hard on our instrumental and dance pieces for June's concert. We have had a few dress rehearsals in which students have been singing together in 2 and 3 parts (as a combined grade level force), and have been practicing accompanying each other. With practice and some small changes, we have got some great music in store for our audience!
First Grade: We focused on timbre (which is the sound of instruments that allows us to distinguish one from another) with the "Instrument Mystery Game," and discussed how music can tell a story without any words at all. During NJASK week, we started watching Tchaikovsky's ballet, "The Sleeping Beauty," and continued to watch some excerpts from the ballet to finish the story. Ask your child about how the dancing matched the music in terms of tempo, mood, texture, and storytelling. I brought in pointe shoes to show the students how the female ballet dancers dance all the way on their tip-toes. (And we discussed why it isn't a good idea for 1st graders to do it!) We also finished up a few "rain games" from April.
(Some clips we watched- Fairy Variations, Rose Adagio, Puss in Boots Pas-de-Deux)
Second Grade: We continued to reinforce pentatonic solfege (Do, Re, Mi, Sol, La) and reading and writing rhythms with "Frere Jacques," "Matarile," and "I Bought Me a Cat ." We also discussed harmony in music using ostinati (repeated melodic or rhythmic patterns). We played ostinati on Orff instruments and created some with body percussion, and movement. We also used NJASK week to start an engaging unit on how music tells a story. We started watching Mozart's famous opera, The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote), after reading one of my favorite books, Bantam of the Opera by Mary Jane Auch, as an introduction to Opera. Each week we watch short excerpts from the opera and different melodic ideas and storytelling techniques are highlighted. The second graders are excited to see what will happen next!
(The version I took clips from is a production of l'Opera Nationale de Paris.)
Third Grade: This month we have focused on meter and time signature. When you see two numbers stacked on top of each other at the beginning of a piece of music, that is the meter, or time signature. It is not a fraction! Ask your student what the numbers in the time signature represent. We played "Mabel Mabel, Set the Table" in triple meter, and worked on the clapping game "Four White Horses" in common time, and have just started "Tideo," which is in duple meter. We unfortunately missed a week in some classes, due to NJASK testing, but in those that did have music class read the story of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
Fourth Grade: We have continued working hard on our instrumental and dance pieces for June's concert. We have had a few dress rehearsals in which students have been singing together in 2 and 3 parts (as a combined grade level force), and have been practicing accompanying each other. With practice and some small changes, we have got some great music in store for our audience!