Thank you for the awesome support at home with theory and music listening! Homework: pp. 10–11 Students match each bug to its musical note. Umburra Learning to anticipate a beat and feel the beat internally is necessary when developing little musicians. The Umburra game helps us to do just that! Practice it at home when you are "playing" with your students. Playing Skips on the Bells! We are learning piano skills when we play skips on our bells. Even though the students don't know it, what we learn on the bells will transfer directly over to the piano. It's better to sight read using "relationships" like steps and skips because it reduces the processing your mind has to interpret when reading notes. Plus, we can do it BEFORE they learn note names. It's brilliant! Rhythmic Notation Today in class we added another layer of knowledge using our bugs! We saw that our musical bugs match with musical rhythms!! It was a great ah-ha moment and musical discovery for your student. They each got their own bug and matched it with it's rhythmic representation. We have a great article on subdividing. Check it out here!
Listening to the music can spontaneously include doing some of the actions too! For instance, if you hear the song Umburra, sit down and pick an object to pass around on the beat. If you are practicing Bill Grogan’s Goat, have your student clap 4 times or nod their heads 4 times, between each line, etc. The more senses you use while "playing" the more your student will internalize. Let your student pretend "teach" a Let's Play Music class to you, their siblings, or stuffed animals. This is great music practice and it's FUN for them! Just a reminder that parents come next week. We are learning lots of new songs very quickly! Make sure the music is being played daily in your home. Even while the kids are playing and/or not really focusing on the music itself, they will internalize what is happening in the background. In case you need some help remembering the chords in pieces, there is a reference in the "Noteworthy" section of the homework to remind you which color matches with which pieces. Homework: pp. 8–9 Students color the triangles to show which chord it is based on their pieces. Jungle Rhythm Today when we played Jungle Rhythm, we moved to a steady beat, divided, and subdivided a beat — and it was all done through play! Your students didn't even realize they were subconsciously learning how to perform rhythms. Now this is how music should be taught! Bill Grogan's Goat This song has great musical value. We feel the beat and clap on the internal (non-sung) beats. Every time we "play" this activity the students are internalizing how to organize rhythm into time. This is a very complex musical skill, but can be done at such a young age! I've Been to Harlem Teaching the ear to hear and distinguish between ‘happy’ (major) and ‘sad’ (minor) chords is our objective of this song. We can teach a child to compose their own music based on how they are feeling and how they want the listener to feel. This concept builds sensitive music listeners and caring intuitive individuals. Yep, music actually teaches life lessons and builds character! Identifying minor songs is a majorly important skill! Read why here...
Also, watch this video with your student about major and minor! Please be on time to pick up your kiddos! It's very cold outside now, so please be prompt. Remember that our ‘sol la ti do’ pattern is played on the lower case letter solfege when playing on the bells. ‘sol’ is the big red bell and then step up from there. Next month we will start enrolling for fall classes. If you have friends or family that you want on my waiting list, please let me know ASAP so I can get their information before I begin open enrollment up to the general public. Homework: pp. 6–7 Students color the line and space notes of a major scale. Can't Bug Me! It's fabulous how we are learning to ‘read’ bug rhythms from pictures — we mixed up the order of our bugs and they still clapped them correctly! That means that they are internalizing the rhythm of each bug. Fantastic progress! Bill Grogan's Goat This week we introduced a silly story about Bill Grogan's goat. This silly song will soon teach us about a new rhythm - the whole note. While we won't label it just yet, we'll practice feeling it and counting it. Grab a basketball and use the Let's Play Music bugs to PLAY a game with the ball after you watch this video!
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Clara McDonaldAs a music educator of 25 years, my passion is infusing others with music! Archives
May 2023
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