March Music News

March was Music in Our Schools Month! Here’s where you can read more about it!

Composer of the Month: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• 1756-1791

• Nationality: Austrian

• Pieces we’ve studied:

  • Theme and Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

  • Rondo Alla Turca

    • We watched this fun video in K and 1 :)

 

Word of the Week

• Musical - a performance that tells a story with singing, dancing, and acting

• Opera - a performance that tells a story with only singing, no talking

• Theme and variations – a piece of music that starts with one song or tune (theme) that is then changed in different ways (variations)

  • Possible variations: louder/softer, slower/faster, major/minor, higher/lower, different instruments

• Wind family - a group of instruments that makes sound by vibrating a column of air

  • Example: recorder, flute, clarinet

 

Other things we’ve learned:

 

4th and 5th grade have been practicing the notes B, A, G, E, and D on the recorder and working toward playing more challenging songs with accurate pitches and rhythms and good tone quality.

 

2nd and 3rd grade have been practicing for their spring musical, SQUIRM! This play features 4 different characters - worms, spiders, snakes, and bats. Each of these characters has a song, and we have already learned the motions for all of them! After spring break we will start working on staging and speaking lines.

 

1st grade learned the song “Bell Horses” and added an instrument part with the xylophone (practicing good mallet technique and alternating hands) and the glockenspiel (practicing low to high). We have also been practicing aurally identifying high and low sounds. Soon we will learn about the special names that high and low notes have. :)

 

            

 

Kindergarten students also learned “Bell Horses” and performed a simple instrument part to practice good mallet technique. We are also practicing reading patterns with one and two sounds - “pear” and “apple.”

Chorus has been learning more of the music for our concert in June. So far we have learned 5 songs: “Birdhouse in Your Soul,” “Disco Fever”, “La Sopa de Isabel,” “The Power of One,” and “Tongo.” Stay tuned to find out what those and our other songs will sound like. :)

Wishing you a great April! :)