Fun Friday: Recorder (& Spring Concert)

It's Spring Break!!!!  Time to relax and have some fun.  To kick off the vacation I have a very fun video that makes me smile every time I see it.  It is full of instruments we have right here in the Music room at Wardlaw-Hartridge!

You might even notice around 2:30 that QuestLove tries to play the recorder.  He must not have learned about it in 3rd grade because he tries to play it upside-down! Our 3rd graders know better than that!  In fact, our 3rd graders are working on their first note, "B," right now.  You can see the chapter of their recorder book right here.

One more thing before I sign off for the next two weeks...

SPRING CONCERT!

It is that time: concert season.  All of the classes are hard at work learning their music.  I emailed all of the parents with a link to their student's concert prep website.  If you did not receive the email or accidentally erased it never fear!  At the top of the sidebar to the right you can see links to the practice pages for each grade level group. Click the link and sing, sing, sing!!!

Fun Friday: Sing Along!

You will notice at the Spring Concert in May that there are a number of selections from Sesame Street. I have to admit to loving that show. So many wonderful musicians have had an opportunity to perform on Sesame Street. What a dream it would be to sing there!

Inman Avenue is a bit far from Sesame Street, but we can still sing the songs that have made the show so wonderful. In Kindergarten Music this week, we sang a song that is a particular favorite of mine. It is an echo song called "Sing After Me." It has appeared on the show a few times, each time it is performed by a slightly different cast. Grover has sung the song with Elmo. Ernie and Elmo took a turn at the song. The great Marilyn Horne sang the song with Ruth Buzzi. WOW! My favorite, and the version that I played for the students in class, is the performance by Grover and Madeline Kahn. The kids were rolling with laughter and trying so very hard to echo what Ms. Kahn did while singing. It was a moment of pure, joyous musical fun.

Check it out. Sing it at home!

So tell me, What is your favorite song from Sesame Street?

Listening and Writing

It is important for students to not only perform music, but to be able to describe what they are listening to.  This is a for of musical analysis that is appropriate for the elementary school years.  Students at all grade levels are doing listening activities in Music in the weeks leading up to Spring Break. Some classes are completing listening journals in which they answer questions about what they hear in the music being played. Other classes are creating lists of adjectives that describe the music.

In 3rd grade the students listened to the song Bashana Haba'ah.

They wrote their list of adjectives and inputed the words into Tagxedo to create word clouds.  Check out these slide shows of the words that the music inspired.

Fun Friday: Song Alert!

Happy Friday!

This week I am bringing you a song alert. This is when I will share a song or songs that I find to be excellent both musically and thematically. Sometimes it might just be a song that makes me smile. Other times it may be a song that is educational. Today it is all of the above!

One of my favorite bands from my teen years was They Might Be Giants. Over the past five to ten years they have been recording albums of music for children: Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and Here Comes Science. All three are fantastic. This is music for kids that even the parents can love. Not sure you believe me? Check out this video!

The videos for the songs make the songs even more informative, like this song about the periodic table.

So put on some music, jam out, and learn something new!