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 18

November 18, 2013 By

What a fun week we had getting to know the guitars!!  We can now play any of the “BAG” songs… Like Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hot Cross Buns, etc… AND we can play the traditional American folk song “Skip to my Lou.” We even started learning the G and D7 chords! Whew!! We’re moving right along!! Here’s answers to a few Frequently Asked Questions I got this week…

  • If students have an acoustic guitar at home, they certainly can bring them in to play for class, but they would be responsible for them. They can leave them in the class through the day, but I can’t guarantee that they will be safe getting on and off the bus with them.
  • If you have an acoustic guitar at home that needs to be tuned or re-strung, I’m happy to do that. Just send in the guitar with a new set of strings and I’ll have it done the next day.
  • Electric guitars are not allowed in class (for obvious sanity and hearing-health reasons!!).
  • If a student is left handed, we will still be playing right handed. We do not currently own (as a school) any left handed guitars, and they are not the same.  The good news is that most of the really dextrous work on the guitar happens in the left hand, so it will actually be a little bit easier for you!! Mark Knopfler, BB King, and Joan Jett are just a few examples of well known lefties that play normal right handed guitars.

 

This week’s Word of the Week is Artifact…

Take a peek HERE at photos and an article about what is considered the oldest example of a full sized guitar. Attributed to Belchior Diaz, a Portugese builder who probably made the instrument around 1590. This is a cool, 10 string ornate guitar which has had some repair, but is in fabulous condition, especially when you consider its age!! Here’s a picture of the guitar’s owner playing the guitar!! The guitar has made the rounds touring to various museums, but it’s nice that it gets played occasionally as well!

oldestguitar

Mrs. Kelley

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

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