This Week in Music Class

October 6, 2014 By

2013-12-31 18.00.10

This week the grade 7 and 8 general music classes are getting more comfortable with bass clef and starting a new folk song on the pianos! We’ll be learning the melody with the right hand, and the chords with the left hand! We’re also writing a second song. This one will include chords as well!

The 6th grade chorus is hard at work learning about musical terms through the 4 songs currently in our folders! This week we added D.S. al Coda to our list of things we can find and define in our music!

Take a peek at this cool find!! Possible historic find of pages from one of Mozart’s original scores! Written by Mozart himself!

CLICK HERE to read the article

Check out this clip of a portion on the music

Extra Credit: Watch the video and fill out the form below!

Mrs. Kelley

Filed Under: Composers, Extra Credit, Music Class

This Week in Music Class-March 10

March 10, 2014 By

Happy Monday Everyone!!! I hope everyone is up bright and early today… The only good thing about losing that hour of sleep is that it’s a sure sign that spring is finally on its way!!! March is Music in Our Schools Month, and while I was surfing around the web this past week I found this clip. It’s Jimmy Fallon, Idina Menzel, and The Roots singing “Let it Go” from Frozen using classroom music instruments!!! Awesome in so many ways 🙂 I especially love the triangle and the multicolored glockenspiel!!! Check this out:

How much fun was that???!! In other music happenings… In class this week we’re talking about our next composers, and learning our first piano song that has chords… Plus continuing to get those pesky bass clef notes!! Busy, busy week!! For extra credit this week, fill out the form below and tell me what your favorite classroom music instrument is 🙂

Mrs. Kelley

Filed Under: Composers, Interesting Music News, Music Class, This Week In Music Class Tagged With: , , , , ,

This Week in Music Class – February 10

February 10, 2014 By

The snow day last week slowed us down, but just a little bit! We got a late start on our composers, so we’re working on that this week.  Each grade is assigned a different composer, this week we’re learning about:

Grade 6-George Frederic Handel 1685-1759

Grade 7-Antonio Vivaldi 1678-1741

Grade 8-Hildegard von Bingen 1098-1179

There are PowerPoint presentations for each composer which includes biographical information, images, and a video link for music that they wrote. Students then complete a worksheet (and can look up the answers in the PowerPoint).

This week we are also practicing notes on the treble clef, and putting the C-major scale together with both hands.

Thursday and Friday this week will be our first “Folder Check.” Students need to have a folder that they keep here in class which holds all the reference sheets that I give them in class.  On Thursday (for blue day) and Friday (for white day) I will be going through the class bins and checking for folders and papers. Please be sure that students have brought in their folders by then.

This week we’re listening to movie soundtrack music.  Click the picture below to go to a story about a modern-day composer (who just won an Annie Award for his work on the movie Frozen).

DisneyComposerInterview

Filed Under: Composers, Music Class, Music History, Piano, This Week In Music Class Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

This Week in Music Class – November 4

November 4, 2013 By

This week we’re wrapping up our piano skills, and getting ready to start the guitars!! Students will be playing the song “Skip to my Lou” with the melody in the right hand and the chords in the left hand… both together at the same time!! Exciting!!

We’re listening this week to Peter Maxwell Davies Symphony #1. Peter Maxwell Davies is a composer from the UK who was born in 1934.

CLICK HERE for more information about the Symphony that we’re listening to this week.

This week’s Middle School Word of the Week is “Perspective.”

per·spec·tive
pərˈspektiv/
noun
noun: perspective
  1. 1.
    the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.
  2. 2.
    a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.

A great example of perspective would be the first performance of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.”

See the full article here…. In May 1913, Igor Stravinsky debuted his ballet The Rite of Spring. Though it is one of Stravinsky’s most famous works, his creation was first met with harsh criticism, negative reviews, and yes – a riot.

So, from the composer’s perspective, he thought he was writing a ballet that was ground breaking, original and wonderful… While the audience was so horrified and insulted by what they saw that they quite literally started a riot in the opera house!!

Filed Under: Composers, Music Class, This Week In Music Class

This Week in Music Class – October 28

October 29, 2013 By

Well, the time is finally here!!! This week we’re putting the melody and the chords together!! We’re playing the traditional folk song “Skip to my Lou” with the melody in the right hand, and the chords in the left hand!! We’re also still working on note and rhythm reading to help us when we start our own songwriting very soon.

I hope you’ve noticed the new feature over on the right hand side-bar… When students enter and leave music class, there will be music playing. Last week, in honor of the start of the World Series we were listening to “The Red Sox Album” performed by the Boston Pops, and conducted by Keith Lockhart.  Over on the sidebar will be an image from the album and a little information about the composer.  Check it out every week!! There’s also a new page called “Listen to This!” (you can find it on the top menu bar) where I’ll list what we’ve listened to so far this year. This is in addition to the “normal” composers that we learn about through the year.

The Middle School “Word of the Week” this week is Irony. And, as the music teacher, you probably would expect me to link to the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morrisette. Although the song contains more “not-irony” than irony (best count I’ve seen is that she included 11 claims of ironic situations, and 2 are actually ironic)… Maybe that’s the irony… The song called “Ironic” that doesn’t actually contain irony 🙂

Mrs. Kelley

Filed Under: Composers, Music Class, Music History, This Week In Music Class

This Week in Music Class – October 15

October 15, 2013 By

I hope everyone enjoyed their long Columbus Day weekend!!! This is my favorite time of year, starting to get cool out, AND you get foliage!!! We’re so lucky to be in New England!!  This week in Music Class, we’ll be learning more about rhythm and how it works, fitting lyrics to various rhythms and also learning about our next composers!!

This week, our “Word of the Week” at the Middle School is THEME. Theme and Variations is a popular form of music, where a composer takes a “song” or a piece of music, and then changes that song, or music to create a related variation on the theme.  Listen to this recording of American Composer Charles Ives’ “Variations on America” where he took the folk song “America” as his Theme, and created variations based on the tune… How many different versions do you hear?

Mrs. Kelley

Filed Under: Composers, Music Class, Music History