Major and Minor

October is a great month to talk about minor music, with the dark evenings, cooler temperatures, and the falling leaves twirling about.   Major keys, just like the Major Leagues in baseball, are much more important in the musical world, but minor keys have their place! Songs in minor keys have a sound of sad, unsettled, or even a little spooky. A great example of a minor piece is Johann Sebastian Bach's "Toccata in D Minor" for organ.  Look it up as a family and set the mood for October! 

Third graders worked very hard on an Orff arrangement of a song called "Pass the Pumpkin."  This is a minor key song, so the "spooky" sound is from the musical tonalities.  They played a passing game and added players to the instruments.  Here are two videos of a third grade class playing and singing!  Again, they are accompanying themselves with the instruments as they sing.  Oh yes, and everyone in the class got to play every part!  With the Orff process, everyone learns every thing.  Enjoy!