A look inside Music at FPD

A look inside Music at FPD

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Even More Bow Wow Wow

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about the song and game "Bow Wow Wow" that we've played in 1st grade this month.  At the time, I only had one class videoed.  Since then, the other two classes have gotten to make their video version.  So, posted below, are Mrs. Kross's class and Mrs. Hooper's class.  Enjoy! 

Mrs. Kross's 1st Grade Class
Mrs. Hooper's 1st Grade Class

Friday, January 23, 2015

Recorder Song for Grandparents' Day

Our 4th graders are hard at work on a brand new song for Grandparents' Day.  Our theme this year is Patriotic Music, so we are learning a jazz standard called "When the Saints Go Marching In."  Jazz is a type of music that was first developed in America--what's more patriotic than that? 

Here is a video of "When the Saints Go Marching In" played by a jazz band with Louis Armstrong on trumpet and vocals.  Louis Armstrong is one of the best known jazz musicians from America.  He is famous for playing trumpet.  Legend has it that he earned his nickname from the unique way his cheeks puffed out when he played.  Some people thought it looked like his mouth was a satchel (a bag), so they started calling him "Satchel Mouth", which was shortened to "Satchmo," a nickname he is still recognized by.  


For the link to the song,4th graders can look under the "Recorder Resources" tab on this blog.  

Here are the two new notes 4th graders are learning: 







Friday, January 16, 2015

Bow, Wow, Wow

In 1st grade, we are practicing our rhythms of ta, ti-ti, and rest.  We've learned that rhythm is the "way the words go" in a song.  Here's a peak at the song we learned called "Bow, Bow, Wow" written in rhythmic notation.  The 1st graders are able to clap and read these rhythms: 





Next, they learned a partner dance game that goes with the song.  They actually switch partners while they sing the song.  Here's a video of a class playing and singing.  I told them that they do not need me to play.  As long as everyone has a partner, they can do this game on their own! 





Tuesday, January 13, 2015

In the Hall of the Mountain King

In 3rd grade this week we reviewed a stick passing game from back in the fall.  It's a game we play to the piece "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg.  He wrote this music to go with the Norwegian play Peer Gynt.  In this piece, Peer, a young boy (who has a hard time following directions) is trying to escape a cave full of trolls!  The music gets louder and faster.  We learned the terms crescendo (to gradually get louder) and accelerando (to gradually get faster.)  We talked about a car's accelerator helping a car get gradually faster. 

We also watched a video of an orchestra playing this piece, as we are studying instruments of the orchestra.  Here is a link to a live performance of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by the Berlin Philharmonic. 


And, here are videos of each class playing the stick passing game to the piece. 



Mrs. Brittain's Class



Mrs. Blizzard's Class


Mrs. Justice's Class

Friday, January 9, 2015

Welcome Back with Sasha, part 2

Hard to believe that we are already in January 2015!  We are getting back into the swing of things in the Viking Music Room.  The 4th graders learned the Russian folk dance "Sasha" this week.  (The 2nd graders learned it back in the fall.)  We talked about how this dance is a "mixer"--you don't keep the same partner, and often times this dance is done at the beginning of events as an ice breaker.  We talked about how important it is to mix things up. For example, if I don't mix my cake batter, the cake will taste gross! :)  Enjoy some videos of each 4th grade class doing "Sasha" this week! 

Mrs. Bryant's Class


Mrs. Rabun's Class


Mrs. Thigpin's Class