Our Weekly Info: | This week, we will continue another VERY Special Composer of the Month unit! Instead of honoring one composer for March, I'd like to open the floor to the students to help me celebrate Women's History Month and salute all of the wonderful contributions women have made to the world of music! For March, students may choose ANY Female composer or musician to compete their Composer of the Month Project! Student work will be displayed don the music website and on a bulletin board outside of the music room :) Congratulations to: Zane (K), Grace (1), Selene (2), and Coco (2) for being the FIRST STUDENTS to learn about a famous woman in music!! Who else will join them and bring in their "Composer of the Month" sheets?????? I can't wait to see what you have learned! Check your child's go home folder for this month's composer fact sheet as well as the directions for how to become a "music detective" and have their work featured on the Music Website! |
General Music:
This week, students will continue their journey through the world of music...highlighting a special focus on traditional Irish music, instruments, dance, and culture as we celebrate St. Patrick's Day together on Thursday, March 17th! Students will be watching videos of traditional Irish music, sampling traditional Irish instruments, and learning a bit of Irish dance! We'll be celebrating ALL WEEK so don't worry if you don't have music class on St. Patrick's Day....this week, it's St. Patrick's day EVERYDAY in the music room!!
**Pre-K 3 and 4 continued using our "Hello Routine" songs and many of us can already sing along! We're working on rhythmic and melodic passages and echoing them when Mrs. Kamp goes first. So far, we've explored "do," "mi," "sol," and "la" and are continuing to experiment with "re" and "fa" in our singing echoes and ta (quarter note), ti-ti (eighth note), shh (quarter rest), and alligator (sixteenth note) in our rhythms but we're adding more all the time! Then we'll be taking a break from our regularly scheduled music activities to sing, dance, and play our way through Irish culture in celebration of St. Patrick's Day! There'll be instruments to listen to and try, Leprechaun songs to sing, dance moves to watch and try and soooo much more! Be sure to ask your children to share a bit of what they learned with you!
**Kindergarten continues to use our "Hello Routine" songs and many of us can already sing along! We're working on rhythmic and melodic passages and echoing them when Mrs. Kamp goes first. So far, we've MASTERED "do," "mi," "sol," and "la" and are continuing to explore "re" and "fa" in our singing echoes. We can even sing the patterns if Mrs. Kamp only gives us the first sign!!!!! We're continuing to work with: ta (quarter note), ti-ti (eighth note), shh (quarter rest), and alligator (sixteenth note) in our rhythms but we're adding more all the time! Then we'll be taking a break from our regularly scheduled music activities to sing, dance, and play our way through Irish culture in celebration of St. Patrick's Day! There'll be instruments to listen to and try, Leprechaun songs to sing, dance moves to watch and try and soooo much more! Be sure to ask your children to share a bit of what they learned with you! We'll also be starting each music class with a body percussion activity to correlate with our salute to Women in Music for Women's History Month!
**First Graders are taking a break from our regularly scheduled music activities to sing, dance, and play our way through Irish culture in celebration of St. Patrick's Day! There'll be instruments to listen to and try, Leprechaun songs to sing, dance moves to watch and try and soooo much more! Be sure to ask your children to share a bit of what they learned with you! We'll also be starting each music class with a body percussion activity to correlate with our salute to Women in Music for Women's History Month!
**Second Graders will be back on schedule moving on to begin their Purple Belt song, "Acka Backa." Students will continue working with the notes of: B, A, G, and E!!!!! We'll be reorganized all of the pitches into different patterns and adding in some new rhythmic concepts including eighth notes (ti-ti) to play a completely different song! Parents, you can find more information about the recorder program HERE along with some helpful links for at home practice :) We'll also be watching a video of a REAL Recorder Ensemble to show us how the recorder can grow past the elementary music classroom doors! It's sooo cool to see how our beginning instrument transforms to play such beautiful music if you stick with it long enough :) Then we'll be taking a break from our regularly scheduled music activities to sing, dance, and play our way through Irish culture in celebration of St. Patrick's Day! There'll be instruments to listen to and try, Leprechaun songs to sing, dance moves to watch and try and soooo much more! Be sure to ask your children to share a bit of what they learned with you! We'll also be starting each music class with a body percussion activity to correlate with our salute to Women in Music for Women's History Month!
**Third Graders are taking a break from our regularly scheduled music activities to sing, dance, and play our way through Irish culture in celebration of St. Patrick's Day! There'll be instruments to listen to and try, Leprechaun songs to sing, dance moves to watch and try and soooo much more! Be sure to ask your children to share a bit of what they learned with you! We'll also be starting each music class with a body percussion activity to correlate with our salute to Women in Music for Women's History Month!
Performance Music
Band Classes:
Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Grade Band are also continuing on a journey through the world of classical music this month! We will be listening to a series of short classical excerpts and then discussing them as a class. You can tune in and listen along with us here (we're on Video 027 this week and will be taking a look at "Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss Jr.! Some of the videos look blank on our website, but if you click the "Youtube" icon on the bottom of each video you will be re-directed to the correct place :)
NYSSMA has begun!! Students from grades 4-6 are beginning to prepare to participate in the NYSSMA state solo festival as it makes its return from a COVID hiatus! I'm so excited that so many students wanted to try learning a solo, three major scales, and perfecting their sight reading skills to share with a judge at the Westhampton Beach High School NYSSMA Festival coming up on April 11th! Parents, please help your student practice their NYSSMA solo AT HOME as LOTS of extra practice will be necessary for students to do their very best at the festival :)
PLEASE REMEMBER TO COMPLETE YOUR MANDATORY WEEKLY PRACTICE TRACKER GOOGLE FORM. Forms are located in your Music Google Classroom and are due EACH SUNDAY NIGHT (although you can submit whenever you are ready.) YOU ARE EXPECTED TO PRACTICE FOR A TOTAL OF 40 MINUTES PER WEEK and should aim to practice AT LEAST 3 Days a week. THESE FORMS AND THE MINUTES WE ARE TRACKING ARE PART OF YOUR GRADE!!
Fourth Graders will be continuing our work with the first FIVE notes on our instruments! isn't it AMAZING how many different songs we can learn using only 5 notes! We will be working towards mastering pages 9 through 11 of our Band Brilliance Method Book and will be reviewing pages 7 and 8!! Remember to focus on your rhythm and counting as we've added whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes and their corresponding rests at this point so the rhythms are getting much more interesting. If you need extra time working with rhythm you can always turn to the rhythm challenges on page 32-33 of the Band Brilliance Book.
We will also be continuing work on the Band Karate Challenge ORANGE BELT in our lessons this week. Try and complete the vocabulary and notation portions of your White Belt and Yellow Belt Sheets before your lesson :) Students who have already completed their Yellow Belts will be receiving their sheets to begin the Orange Belt level this week!!! Be sure to ask your child what that's all about! They're going to be excited to share!!
** Fifth and Sixth Graders
PLEASE REMEMBER TO COMPLETE YOUR MANDATORY WEEKLY PRACTICE TRACKER GOOGLE FORM. Forms are located in your Music Google Classroom and are due EACH SUNDAY NIGHT (although you can submit whenever you are ready.) YOU ARE EXPECTED TO PRACTICE FOR A TOTAL OF 40 MINUTES PER WEEK and should aim to practice AT LEAST 3 Days a week. THESE FORMS AND THE MINUTES WE ARE TRACKING ARE PART OF YOUR GRADE!!
Concert Band members will be continuing to work on the repertoire for our Spring Concert heading your way in late May!!! At this point, you should have almost completely mastered "Boot Scootin Barn Dance," "Royal Crown March," "Dr. Rock," and "Big Rock Candy Mountain!" We will also be continuing the Band Karate Challenge in our lessons this week.
BEGINNING BAND (FOURTH GRADE)
CONCERT BAND (FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES)
Chorus Classes:
Students in our Third through Sixth Grade Chorus will be continuing to work on the repertoire for our upcoming Spring Concert headed your way in late May!!! We'll be learning some songs to perform all together and some selections that will be voted on by the students of each grade for performance by their grade only! Students are encouraged to share ideas for song selections with Mrs. Kamp through email, google classroom, or by writing them on papers and passing them to her during the school day!! Please remember our rules about "school appropriate" repertoire and help me find some fantastic selections incorporating your voice and choice into the music program!!!!
We're building our teamwork skills as we work together to become STAR Singers and fill Mrs.Kamp's class pom-pom jars! How long will it take your class to earn another "STAR Singers Day??" Remember.....the challenge gets harder each time now that I know what AMAZING work you can do!
I thought it might be fun to explore the singing and its importance to people around the world as part of this year's Choral Program in grades 3 - 6. Each week, the children will be watching a SHORT youtube video of a different singer or singing group from somewhere in the world or somewhere in time. We'll be watching, listening, and then pairing and sharing with a partner to discuss our thoughts about the performance. Older students will also be keeping a "listening journal" to express a few short sentences about their throughs on the performance.
Interested in seeing where this exploration will lead us?? Check out the "action" as HERE as I'll be adding the video of the week each week :) Can you figure out how this choral work connects with our larger focus on St. Patrick's Day this Week??
String Classes:
Parents and parent involvement is an essential part of a students success in music, particularly in the Suzuki style of teaching. Although we can't have parents attend each and every one of our class meetings, it will be very important for your child's success that they begin practicing at home and that they see you excited and enthusiastic about all of their violin playing.
As we begin our journey through learning to play the violin, I thought it might be fun to explore the violin (and other string instruments) "in action." Each week, the children will be watching a SHORT youtube video of a different string performer from somewhere in the world or somewhere in time. We'll be watching, listening, and then pairing and sharing with a partner to discuss our thoughts about the performance. Older students will also be keeping a "listening journal" to express a few short sentences about their throughs on the performance.
Interested in seeing where this exploration will lead us?? Check out the "action" as HERE as I'll be adding the video of the week each week! Did you notice a connection between this video and our larger celebration of St. Patrick's Day this week?
** Pre-K 4 Violin, WELCOME TO "TINY TWINKLERS!" Pre-K 4 students will begin their journey into the world of violin this week!! In the FIRST EVER "Tiny Twinkler's Violin Class," our Pre-K 4 students will be introduced to the violin and begin learning the skills they will need to eventually play the real instrument (hopefully before the end of this school year!) We'll be listening to violin music, learning the parts of the instrument, watching some performers, and building our muscles so that we can hold the violin and bow! We'll also be beginning work on our "box violins" which we will learn on until we're ready to safely and carefully try the violin!
** Kindergarten Violin will continue learning how to hold our bows, balance our violins, and control our bodies so nothing falls down! Be sure to ask your child about some of the song activities we've learned including: Up Like a Rocket, The Grand Old Duke o f York, and The Wheels on the Bus. We're also learning all of the parts of our violin......you can quiz us at home if you check the class violin page HERE. We're working on holding position and posture. We've also been working on playing pizzicato (plucking the strings) on our open strings and learning "The Monkey Song" and "The Ant Song." We'll continue playing these songs pizzicato, as well as adding the bow to try our hands at playing "arco!!" We're also hoping to try out a brand new song...."G-D-G STOMP!"
** First Grade Violin will continue learning their new warm up song! We'll also be working towards moving our violin hand off of the shoulder of the instrument and back to the scroll so we can add our fingers to the strings and learn even more songs! We're continuing working on "Elephants and Frogs" on the E string using the open string and finger number 1 and are learning that the pitch of the string changes as we add each finger. You can play along on your box violin at home if you check the class violin page HERE. We're also hoping to try out a brand new song...."The Kangaroo Song!" We've added some color coded stickers to help us with fingering on the strings....we're super familiar with the colors of Mr. Rob's desk bells, so Mrs. Kamp thought it might be interesting to see what happens when we combine those colors with our violin studies....stay tuned to see our progress as this little finger experiment plays out :)
** Second Grade Violin will be busy working on adding your fingers to the E string to play The Kangaroo Song and Elephants and Frogs. We will be continuing to work out of the Strictly Strings Violin Method Book this week as we start looking at the written notation to accompany our earlier Suzuki style training!! We're looking at pages 8 and 9 in the book combining note reading and finger moving on the E string :) Be sure to get out those practice pets and work with them to build your violin skills and fill in those practice journals! You can practice at home if you check the class violin page HERE You might have noticed that we've added some color coded stickers to help us with fingering on the strings....we're super familiar with the colors of Mr. Rob's desk bells, so Mrs. Kamp thought it might be interesting to see what happens when we combine those colors with our violin studies....stay tuned to see our progress as this little finger experiment plays out :) Second Graders have been invited to join the older students and complete practice trackers each week to record their at home practice with their violins! As part of the "Building Blocks for Success" students receive a Lego brick for every 10 minutes they spend practicing throughout the week. More information can be found in your child's Music Google Classroom Assignments Tab.
** Third Grade Violin This week we'll continue working inside our Strictly Strings Method Book. We'll review open string notes and our CRAZY string jumping this week! We're working on pages 18 and 19 in the book.....learning to read the notes of the treble staff while we add our fingers to the D string. We're continuing with the Four String Warm Up, but have also added a new warm up working with different rhythms and patters on the open strings! You can help us with some at home practice HERE We're also embarking on a new journey with our violins...VIOLIN KARATE!!! This week, we will continue on our Karate journey and begin to build towards earning our Yellow Belts!!!! You might have noticed that we've added some color coded stickers to help us with fingering on the strings....we're super familiar with the colors of Mr. Rob's desk bells, so Mrs. Kamp thought it might be interesting to see what happens when we combine those colors with our violin studies....stay tuned to see our progress as this little finger experiment plays out :) Second Graders have been invited to join the older students and complete practice trackers each week to record their at home practice with their violins! As part of the "Building Blocks for Success" students receive a Lego brick for every 10 minutes they spend practicing throughout the week. More information can be found in your child's Music Google Classroom Assignments Tab.
** Fourth Grade Violin This week we'll continue working inside our Strictly Strings Method Book. We'll review open string notes and our CRAZY string jumping this week! We're working on pages 18 and 19 in the book.....learning to read the notes of the treble staff while we add our fingers to the D string. We're continuing with the Four String Warm Up, but have also added a new warm up working with different rhythms and patters on the open strings! You can help us with some at home practice HERE We're also continuing our journey .VIOLIN KARATE!!! Now we're on to working towards that Orange belt!! Can we master the new song??? You might have noticed that we've added some color coded stickers to help us with fingering on the strings....we're super familiar with the colors of Mr. Rob's desk bells, so Mrs. Kamp thought it might be interesting to see what happens when we combine those colors with our violin studies....stay tuned to see our progress as this little finger experiment plays out :)
** Fifth Grade Violin will be continuing on inside the Strictly Strings Method Book. We'll review open string notes and our CRAZY string jumping this week! We're working on pages 18 and 19 in the book.....learning to read the notes of the treble staff while we add our fingers to the D string. We're continuing with the Four String Warm Up, but have also added a new warm up working with different rhythms and patters on the open strings! You can help us with some at home practice HERE You might have noticed that we've added some color coded stickers to help us with fingering on the strings....we're super familiar with the colors of Mr. Rob's desk bells, so Mrs. Kamp thought it might be interesting to see what happens when we combine those colors with our violin studies....stay tuned to see our progress as this little finger experiment plays out :)
Stay tuned for more information right here each week :)
Mrs. Kamp :)