Your Child's Precious Music Time

This year is a music study year in District 11.  That means we are taking a look at our curriculum and asking important questions about what works, what is important, and what we would like to change.  At the first meeting, we discussed music instructional time across the District.  Here's what we discovered:

There is currently:
36 hours a year for elementary instruction
75 hours a year for middle
150 hours a year for grade 8
255 hours a year for HS

In one year of high school there is more instruction than in 5 years of elementary.  One year of instruction in grade 8 is as much as 4 years of elementary. These numbers are amazing!  Imagine trying to teach a subject in a little less than a 40 hour work week.  As I told the kids, I see you as much the entire year as your classroom teacher gets to see you every week.

American Educator Article

This month in the American Educator Magazine the cover story is all about "Why Music is an Essential Liberal Art". It's a fantastic article about why music is improtant in EVERY child's education and how it's being neglected in the educational system. I urge all of you to read this article!

Here is a small exerpt from the article:
"Why should young people study music? One answer presents itself on the basis of what I have said so far: Music has a central place in the lives of young people. For many, music is their life. Teaching music to the young is therefore much more than conveying historical information and technical facts, or helping students develop their musical talent. It is more than the effort to make them competent and aesthetically refined. In getting young people to engage in a serious study of music, we are giving them an opportunity to know themselves better by becoming more precisely aware of the amazing power that music has over them. Also, as we shall see, we are giving them an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the natural world—and of our connection to it—by becoming more aware of the mathematical order that underlies music."

1st Grade Assignment

1st Grade Parents should receive a Green letter this week about a music assignment that I have given your student. Your student will need to perform the 4 poems for you or someone at home while keeping a beat. Please make sure you sign and put your child's name and CLASSROOM TEACHER on the form and return it to school.

Also, I have noticed a mistake in one of the poems. Please use this version of Oliver Twist:
Oliver Twist you can't do this,
So what's the use of trying,
Touch your knees, touch your toes
Clap your hands and away we go!

Thanks for your involvement in your student's music education!

2nd Grade Assignment goes home

This week and next, your second grader will be bringing home a music assignment.  It's a quick performance opportunity that will allow you to see what they are doing in music class.  You will recieve assignments like this periodically throughout the year.  This assignment asked the students to compose a 16 beat rhythm composition.  Please listen to them perform it for you and check off the three items on the letter that came home.  It needs to be signed and returned to me by October 18th for full participation points.  If you need a new copy of the letter, you can download it here

Week Two Comes to a close

Here it is Friday of Week 2 already!  In Many ways it seems like we never left.  I am impressed with how much stuff the kids remembered over the summer.  Now we can start building upon that knowledge and learning more stuff.

1st Grade has been working very hard on keeping a beat while singing, saying poems, and listening to music.  They also have started learning about elemental form (patterns in music) and splitting things in half (both of which are math concepts taught in their classroom). 

2nd Grade has been reviewing the new concepts they learned last year such as quarter note and 2-8th notes and Sol & mi.  Next week we will be extending this learning to include writing, reading and improvising with these things

3rd Grade has been exploring movement with props in preparation for improvisation later on in the year.  They also have been taking rhythmic dictation of 8 beats and writing the rhythm of known poems on their own.

4th Grade has been extending their vocabulary of movement/dance terminology and created dance sentances which were performed in class.  In addition to that, they also reviewed rhythms and took 8 beat dictation and wrote down known poems. 

5th Grade reviewed a song from last year and played it on the barred instruments as well as writing down rhythms from last year.  Next week they will be improvising with the song "who has seen the wind" on the recorders. 

First day of School!

Today is the first day of school, and as I sit here waiting for the first class to arrive, I am energized and excited about the prospects of a new year.  This summer I finished Level 2 (out of 3) of my Orff-Schulwerk training and I am now trying to process all the new information and put it into my classroom this year.  It is a daunting task!  But the ultimate benefit will be the students as they become more creative this year and hopefully more knowledgable.

Don't forget to bookmark this site so you can return to it often.  I will try and update it once a week to let you know what is going on in the music room.  it's s fun place!  Happy First day of school!

A wonderful Two weeks

It has been an exhausting, but amazing two weeks here at Jefferson.  Last thursday was the second grade demonstration concert and the week before was the Jefferson Choir Concert.  Both events went VERY well.   The choir did an amazing job at their concert on April 27th.  I am continually amazed by this group of musicians and am sad to be losing so many this year as the fifth graders graduate to Middle School. 

The Second Graders also had a chance to shine this past week.  During their demonstration concert they showed their parents and others the amazing things they had been learning that year.  I was so proud of them all and the wonderful job they did!  I hope that many of you were able to attend.  I hope soon to have a few pictures up on the website of this presentation, so if anyone out there has 2 or 3 really nice photos they would like to share with us, I would love to see them. 

Choir Concert Next week

Next week on Thursday April 27th at 7:00pm the Jefferson Choir will be performing in the Gym.  They have been working very hard and are sure to put on a great show.  

Parents of choir members, a note went home today about reherasals next week along with a permission slip for the Choir festival at Eisenhower.  Please get this permission slip back to me as soon as possible and take note of the time change in rehearsals next week. 8:15am instead of 8:30am.  Thanks for everything you do!

4th Quarter already

Wow, I can't beleive that it's 4th quarter already. This year went by so fast! Each year I have more and more fun with my studnets and we create better and more advanced music. My main project this year was to create a grading rubric to go along with the report cards. It is almost finished. WHen it's done I will put it on the Music website for all to see. That way you will know and understand how I grade in the music room. Be looking for that sometime towards the end of the 4th quarter.

Jefferson choir
The choir is still going strong at 75 kids!!! This is probably the best year yet! I am very excited to share our music with you on April 27th. The choir is actually singing in 3 parts this year! Not just 3 part cannons but 3 different harmony parts. Way cool!

No Choir March 14

Due to Mr. Weller being ill there will NOT be choir rehearsal on Tuesday March 14th.  

Recorder songs now online

Students can now download the music for their recorder karate songs.  Only the first 4 songs are up right now, but soon all the songs will be available.  I hope this will help cut down on copying costs as the packets get larger and larger and more expensive to reproduce.  Let me know if you have any questions about downloading these songs.  They are in .pdf form so you will need an acrobat reader  Enjoy!

The Songs we sing

Ever wonder about a song that your student has been singing or he/she can't remember the words for? There is a VERY cool website that has a searchable index of most of the folksongs we do in class. It's The American Folksong Collection developed by Holy Name University...one of the most renound Music Education schools in the country. Check it out! By downloading a simple plug in called Sibelius Scortch, you can hear the songs right on the webpage. If you have questions, or problems, let me know. Enjoy!

This week in music...

1st Grade - is learning more about So-mi melodies.  We are singing, reading and soon will be playing them on xylophones and metallophones.  Also they just learned about the quarter rest.  

2nd Grade - continuing to read, play, and sing pentatonic songs and melodies.  Today we will be improvising our own melodies and writing them down using the words to our song "Mr. Rabbit"

3rd Grade - is adding low la and low sol to their penatonic scale.  Now we are able to sing songs in minor and have added new ideas to our bag of ostinato tricks.  We also leanred a dance from Isreal called Te Ve Orez (tea and rice).  It is a social dance that involves quick steps and partner switching.  

4th Grade - is doing great work with the recorders!  They can read GAC'D' off the staff with no problem and we have just added B this week! We also leanred a dance from Isreal called Te Ve Orez (tea and rice).  It is a social dance that involves quick steps and partner switching.  

5th Grade - began recorder testing this week.  I use the Karate method of testing where students can earn belts I hope to have more information on this site soon.  5th grade is also learning the Isreli Dance and having lots of fun.   

New website section

I have just added a section on the music website that deals with recorders and what we do with them in the music room.  Included is a list of songs, and a grading rubric.  There will be more added to this page as time goes on, but take a quick look at it to see what your child is doing with his/her recorder.  

Wonderful Jefferson Students!

I'm sure by now, you have heard about the excitement in the music room.  2 weeks ago there was a break-in in the music room.  The theives broke a window to get in and managed to take a few things and make a huge mess.  A few personal items were taken, but the rest the school's insurance will replace.  The students at Jefferson have been amazing!  I recieved many cards and letters and pictures with apologies from students saying how sorry they were about what happened.  The best gift was from a 5th grader who wrapped up her own guitar and gave it to me as a replacement for the one that was stolen.  Such a wonderful heart in that student.  Happy friday everyone.  

End of Second Quarter

Well, the second quarter has ended and half the school year is over already. Here are a few highlights from quarter 2:

1st Grade
We just started learning about sol and mi, our first notes on the staff, and we are able to read high and low sounds off of a 1-line staff both playing and singing the sounds. We also are continuing to work with quarter and 8th notes.

2nd Grade
Second quarter was a very full quarter for us. We learned a new note "do" which has given us so many more songs to learn and pretty soon we will be adding "re" to our scale. Using a new song "who's that tapping at the window" we learned all about the half note, ties, and used our new house "do". Also, we have done some improvisation, filling up 8 beats of music with rhythm.

3rd Grade
In 3rd grade we have been hard at work listening, singing, and moving to different meters in music. Meter is all about how the music feels. Sometimes music can be felt in groups of 2 and sometimes in groups of 3. We have also been improvising on the Pentatonic Scale (DRMSL) with our song "cat's sleep".

4th Grade
Recorders, Recorders, Recorders..although we have not learned too many actual songs, 4th grade has been hard at work learning A C' D' the first 3 notes on the recorder. we have started slow to allow everybody the chance to understand how to make a beautiful sound.

5th Grade
Counting music, reading off the staff, and improvisation are all excitiing tasks that 5th has been doing this quarter. Next we will be adding low E and D to the recorder and learning new songs.

Jefferson Choir is shaping up

To date I have 68 kids signed up to sing in the Jefferson choir!! Almost 20 more than last year. I am very excited to see the rise in interest and I am anxious to get started. Speaking of starting, don't forget that choir starts next week on tuesday right after MLK day off. Be at school a little before 8:30 so that we can get started right away.

First entry and Choir applications go home

This is the first post in what I hope will become a dialoge between me and parents and students. It is called a Weblog or blog for short. I think it is a fun and quick way to give out information and for you to see what is going on in the music room each week.

I am sending home the application for the Jefferson choir today. The choir is for 4th and 5th grade students and you can find out more about it at the Choir page. These forms are due by January 13th