A look inside Music at FPD

A look inside Music at FPD

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Making Your Own Stick Station

We had such fun playing with the Stick Stations the last two weeks of the school year!  I talked with the kids about how they can make their very own Stick Station out of items they have at home.  It would be a great summer time music project.  




Make Your Own Stick Station!

Here are some ideas that we brainstormed for each component: 

Crash Can--class set made of #10 metal food can covered in duct tape with a foam circle on the bottom.



Suggestions: plastic boxes (Rubbermaid), pots (with permission), shoebox, can, real drum

Tambourine

Suggestions: Jingle bells, homemade shaker (empty water bottle with beads/rice), maraca, metal object, baby toy with jingles, or order a mini tambourine from Amazon.  

Drum Sticks

Suggestions: Pencils, wooden sticks, crochet hooks or knitting needles, wooden spoons, or real drumsticks. 


Beat Board--class set uses a small, plastic cutting board from the Dollar Tree


Suggestions: plastic or wooden cutting board, an old book, piece of heavy plastic, a cookie sheet, heavy cardboard.  

Using the Stick Stations

There are lots of fun ways to use the Stick Stations.  Such as: 

  • Create patterns using long and short sounds and rests.  
  • Play a pattern and experiment with different items in the Stick Station. 
  • Experiment with musical opposites
    • Can you play loud?  Can you play soft?  Can you play high sounds? Can you play low sounds?  How about fast and slow?  
  • Turn on a favorite song and play the steady beat on different stations!
Here are some great musical selections to play the steady beat to!  (Note, the links are to Youtube videos). 

The Can Can by J. Offenbach
Washington Post March by J.P. Sousa
William Tell Overture by Rossini 
Sing, Sing, Sing featuring Benny Goodman

Monday, May 18, 2015

Recycling and Drumming

I asked the lunch room back in February to save a bunch of #10 cans for the elementary music room.  After maternity leave, I returned with a fresh supply of drumming kits called Stick Stations that feature those cans—cleaned out and taped in fluorescent duct tape!  The kids are having a blast with them! And, we got to help the environment by recycling.  

A music teacher from Orlando came up with the idea for the Stick Stations and published a book called KidStix.  We've used the Stick Stations and some of the activities from the book in every grade, 3K-4th, in the past week.  It's been a fun way to review rhythms and preview next year's music classes.  

A fun summer project would be helping your child create his or her own Stick Station at home.  You can use any type of can, container, box, pot, etc. for the Crash Can, some jingle bells would work for the tambourine, any flat, hard surface would work for the beat board, and even pencils work as drum sticks.  Be creative and see what you can create!  You are welcome to email me pictures of your homemade Stick Stations in action!  

We'll also use the Stick Stations some in my "Drumming Up Fun!" Summer Camp through the Center For Discovery.  Sign up your rising 3rd-5th grader for this fun class the last week of July! 

Sticks Stations with Crash Can, Tambourine, Beat Board, and Drum Sticks


2nd Grade playing on the Stick Stations.  The Crash Cans have a piece of foam taped to the top.


IN CASE YOU ARE CURIOUS...

Mr. Krejci, Calder, and I are doing great!  Calder's Grandma (my mom) has been staying with us to help take care of him.  He is 14 weeks old, is just learning to hold his head up, grunts a lot, and loves to listen to music!  He is a sweet, happy baby and we are so thankful the Lord picked us to be his Mama and Daddy.  Here's a picture of him at 13 weeks :) 

Calder Elias Krejci 05.11.15