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

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: 

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! 

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

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

Christmas Time's A' Coming

A sweet little first grader student asked me the other day, a little exasperated, "Mrs. Krejci, WHY does everyone think it's already Christmas??  It hasn't even been Thanksgiving!"  I smiled and told the class, "It does seem like people are in a hurry for Christmas, doesn't it?  Well, in music class, we are working on Christmas songs because when you come back from Thanksgiving, it will be time for our Christmas program.  If we waited until December to start our songs, we wouldn't know them well enough for the program!" 

And, it's true!  We've been working on Christmas music for the last several weeks, mixed in with other lessons.  The 4th graders even have an entire recorder song prepared for the program.  I am so proud of this group this year!  Every 4th grader will be showing off their new recorder skills at our December 11th program.  I've included a video of them practicing the song "Fum, Fum, Fum."  

This is just a brief preview of what's to come at this year's program! We hope to see you and your family at our Annual FPD Christmas Program.  This year's title is "The Angels Celebrate," and it's about how the angels in Heaven remember and celebrate Christmas.  We have two performances on the 11th--one at 1pm and the other at 7pm.  

Turkey and Stuffing

Happy Thanksgiving from the Viking Music Room to your family!  This week with the PK and K crowd, we worked on our singing voices with a fun Thanksgiving solo singing game.  Each child got a turn to play the boomwhacker and sing his or her favorite Thanksgiving food.  We had the usually reponses--turkey, macaroni and cheese--and the creative answers--pizza, salad, blueberries.  It was a lot of fun and made our tummies hungry.  We practice lots of solo singing in order to get our voices in the right spot for singing (our head voice instead of our chest voice.)  I also told the students that they can play this game at home; they don't need me!  See if your child remembers it.  The words are: 

Group: Turkey and stuffing

And pie and the rest, 

Tell us Mrs. Krejci (fill in name)

What you like the best! 

Solo: I like sweet potatoes.  

Group: She likes sweet potatoes.

Here's a video of a Kindergarten class singing and playing a round of the game. Enjoy!