5/6 students had a great time visiting Oz's Music Environment this week, gaining exposure to brass instruments. I unfortunately missed a golden photo opportunity: we had Danny on French horn, Aristea on bugle, Isobel on alto horn, Cory, Mikey, and Saul on on trumpet/cornet, Atty on trombone, and Trent on baritone. After practicing their buzzing embouchures, they were able to make a marvelous racket. With conducting and coaching from Oz, they were able to use their previous recorder experiences to help them articulate notes and follow conducting signals. They even played the rhythm to "Hail to the Victors" and sight-read some other rhythms. Students rated this trip an overwhelming thumbs up, and we may return to give kids a chance to try other instruments.
Many thanks to Steve Oz for providing this experience, and to Mr. B for offering to chauffeur us there and back again.
The entire K - 2 crowd will be going to Hill Auditorium to see Sweet Honey in the Rock on Friday. This trip complements our Migrations theme perfectly, as we have been listening to and learning music related to African American migrations. K-2 students have learned to sing one of Sweet Honey's songs, "All for Freedom," and all grades have been discussing how music helped migrating people to express their emotions at leaving home, as well as to remind themselves of home.
In other news, this blog post was typed by my right hand alone, as my left arm was broken in an unfortunate incident with some ice while walking my dog this weekend. Full recovery is expected, but I won't be able to properly demonstrate instrument playing for a while, and may have to miss some days this week.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Musical Maps
In January, we took the opportunity to explore various ways that visual and kinesthetic maps could improve our understanding of music. First through sixth graders all enjoyed discovering how "listening maps" were related to various pieces of music, especially the second movement of Haydn's "Surprise" Symphony. Listening maps are a visual tool to help music listeners hear and remember the salient features of a composition without having to be able to read music notation. At the same time, it prepares students for reading music notation. Students loved the folk story about the musical "surprise,"a fortissimo chord placed in the middle of the traditionally quiet and soothing second movement: Haydn put it there to wake concertgoers that had fallen asleep. Unfortunately, Wikipedia says Haydn denied the story in his old age. Students went into the symphony in more depth depending on age and interest (the 3/4s could not get enough). We compared the listening map to the musical score, picked out notation examples we recognized in the score, and eventually came to a greater understanding of how the musical score translated into the music we heard. We also used the listening map as a more traditional map and walked along the path it charted while listening to the music.
Relatedly, we also tried some Dalcroze movement and singing techniques I learned from David Frego at a music conference I recently attended. Students used the classroom floor to physically map the auditory difference between pitches. Each student chose a spot on the floor to represent the starting note of a song or scale, then chose another place forward or backward for each note, depending on the pitch's distance and whether it was higher and lower. We then sang through songs or scale patterns, stepping on each "note" as we sang it. The 5/6s especially benefited from this technique; I heard tuneful singing from some otherwise reluctant singers. Also, it helped fidgety students to productively use their energy while singing.
First and second graders also learned how to map rhythms using popsicle sticks and written notation to communicate rhythmic patterns to their classmates. Fifth and sixth graders were given a similar task: to compose and notate a variation on a given theme to share with classmates. Many students were excited about improving their knowledge of treble clef notation for pitches sung or played on the barred instruments. I am hoping they will be able to use this improved knowledge to notate songs they composed through vocal improvisations earlier in the month.
Relatedly, we also tried some Dalcroze movement and singing techniques I learned from David Frego at a music conference I recently attended. Students used the classroom floor to physically map the auditory difference between pitches. Each student chose a spot on the floor to represent the starting note of a song or scale, then chose another place forward or backward for each note, depending on the pitch's distance and whether it was higher and lower. We then sang through songs or scale patterns, stepping on each "note" as we sang it. The 5/6s especially benefited from this technique; I heard tuneful singing from some otherwise reluctant singers. Also, it helped fidgety students to productively use their energy while singing.
First and second graders also learned how to map rhythms using popsicle sticks and written notation to communicate rhythmic patterns to their classmates. Fifth and sixth graders were given a similar task: to compose and notate a variation on a given theme to share with classmates. Many students were excited about improving their knowledge of treble clef notation for pitches sung or played on the barred instruments. I am hoping they will be able to use this improved knowledge to notate songs they composed through vocal improvisations earlier in the month.
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