Here is a quick recap of what we working on right now in music class:
K – We have already learned how to be great echos for singing and great copycats for movement. Now we are working on performing a steady heartbeat. We read a fun story called “Buzz and Ollie’s Steady Beat Adventure” to practice our musical heartbeat sounds.
1 – We are reviewing our steady heartbeats and performing them on barred instruments. We used a song called “Candy Store” to let student practice performing on xylophones and metallophones with 2 mallets.
2 – Our big focus so far has been on performing “ostinatos’ which are short repeating patterns in music. We recently did a fun song called “Riddle Ree” which uses singing, movement, and playing instruments to work on this skill.
3 – We have been exploring dynamics (louds and softs) in music. As second graders, we learn about forte (loud) and piano (soft/quiet). In third grade we expand our vocab to include mezzo-forte (medium loud) and mezzo-piano (medium quiet).
4 – Students completed their performance of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by singing and performing multiple contrasting instrument parts. Next week, students will evaluate their performance using ipads and a simple rubric.
5 – Students learned to read dotted quarter note rhythms as well as syncopation. We used those rhythms in a 3 part non-pitched percussion piece called “Rondo For Instruments.” We recorded the performance and will evaluate ourselves using ipads and simple rubric next week.