This Week in Music Class – December 2

December 2, 2013 By

This week we’re continuing to build on our knowledge of the guitar. We’re putting the final touches on Skip to my Lou, the song and the chords. We’ve started working on Go Tell Aunt Rhody, the song and the chords.  Students who have a little more experience on the guitar will be continuing on to Paw Paw Patch. Pretty soon we’ll be adding more songs and chords!  The last 2 weeks of December we’ll be learning how to read TAB as well as the notes.

Tis the season to attend winter concerts!! If you get a chance to see live music of any kind during the holidays, please be sure to let me know!! Students who attend outside-of-school live music events can get extra credit for class simply by coming in and telling me about it!! I’m excited to be attending the Celtic Christmas Sojourn this year, plus several other events. It’s so nice to hear live music!!

Middle School Word of the Week: Hemisphere

Want to learn more about the hemispheres of the brain?? And how music fits in?? READ THIS ARTICLE called Music, Rhythm and The Brain.

Hmmm… Where does our ability to play and react to music come from?? Really interesting stuff!!

Happy December Everyone!

Mrs. Kelley

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This Week in Music Class – November 25

November 25, 2013 By

Happy Thanksgiving Week!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful and restful long weekend this coming week.

Good luck Wildcats!!!! I’m sure the game will be a good one (even if the game’s away in Tewksbury this year), and you know you don’t want to miss the fabulous Wildcat Marching Band half-time show!!!

turkeyguitar

(Ha!! found this image at http://www.zazzle.com/susanszoocrew and it made me laugh!!)

We have a short week at school this week… We’ll be reviewing the 6 notes we know, along with the 2 chords, and applying them to a new song (Go Tell Aunt Rhody).

This week’s Middle School Word of the Week is Capital-A city regarded as being of special eminence in some field of activity.

Austin Texas is known as the “Live Music Capital of the World.” It was officially named that in 1991 when it was discovered that Austin hosts more live music venues per capita than anyplace else!!! Who knew??

austin

Mrs. Kelley

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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 – November 11

November 11, 2013 By

First and foremost… This week, with it’s start on Veteran’s Day,  is a time to reflect and thank everyone who does their very best to help protect and keep our country safe. A wholehearted THANK YOU to all veterans for giving your time, energy and lives for our safety and freedoms. Don’t forget the wonderful Veteran’s Day ceremony on our town common on Monday. The High School Band and Color Guard will be there to support our local veterans.

Veterans-Day-image

Next… OMGosh!!!! It’s time for guitars!!! Yeah!!!! Students this week are starting guitar in class (as long as they have passed off on the last piano song) and are very excited to be starting.

guitar2

We use  Fender Squire 3/4 size acoustic guitars with nylon strings in class. We have a  classroom set of guitars (that I just restrung) that we use, students will use the same guitar every class, and each student has a guitar in hand to use.

There are a very few students who have not yet played their piano song. They must finish the piano unit before moving on to guitar. I am available before school most days starting at 7am if they want to come and play their song for me.

One more thing… This week’s word of the week at the Middle School is hierarchy.  HERE’s an interesting article about the hierarchy of the music industry!

Mrs. Kelley

 

Filed Under: Music Class, This Week In Music Class

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

Wildcat Music in the News!!

October 23, 2013 By

Check out radio station WROR, 105.7’s Marching Band of the Week!!! Our very own (and very awesome… with the BEST COLOR GUARD EVER, even if they’re not on the video)… Wildcat Marching Band!!!! Yeah!!!

Extra Credit: Come and tell me what instrument the radio host learned to play while with the Wilmington Wildcat Marching Band 🙂 and you’ll get extra credit for watching the videos 🙂

Filed Under: Announcements, Extra Credit, Interesting Music News

This Week in Music Class – October 21

October 22, 2013 By

We’re putting rhythm and melody together this week!! Wow, that’s gonna be fun!!  By the end of the week we’ll be playing a traditional American folk song on the piano with the right hand (the melody) to prepare for chords next week!!! That is like, the most amazing and exciting news ever!! Right??? Hmmm, can you tell that the LA Word of the Week at the Middle School is HYPERBOLE… If you’re listening to music, you certainly won’t have to listen for very long to hear hyperbole in the lyrics!!

What is Hyperbole?

hy·per·bo·le
hīˈpərbəlē/
noun
noun: hyperbole; plural noun: hyperboles
1.
exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally.

Check out this video for how hyperbole is used in lyrics 🙂

Mrs. Kelley

Filed Under: 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

This Week in Music Class October 7

October 7, 2013 By

Whew! Bass Clef!! Students this week will be continuing to get familiar with note names on the Bass Clef, but that’s not all!! This week we will also be learning about (or reviewing, depending on the grade) rhythms and how they work within a song. This week we’ll be talking about quarter notes, eighth notes, half notes, and their corresponding rests!

Check out this video as an introduction to rhythm

Filed Under: Announcements, This Week In Music Class
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