–By Shelley Irvin-Kent, Music Teacher
We start a new Secret Song this week! Secrets revealed next week and in your next Holler!
Kindergarten students are currently practicing a steady beat to No. 18 of Brahms’ 21 Hungarian Dances.
Listen here and ask your child to show you the steady beat.
Kindergarteners are also working on singing the French song
Fais Dodo.
Fais dodo, Colas, mon p’tit frere,
Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo.
Maman est en haut, elle fait du gateau,
Papa est en bas, il fait du chocolat,
Fais dodo, Colas, mon p’tit frere,
Fais dodo, t’auras du lolo.
First graders are practicing newly presented notes ta (quarter note) and ta-di (two barred eighth notes). We’re reading, writing and composing patterns with ta and ta-di. We’re also learning
My Roots Go Down - you can hear
one version of the song here.
Second grade students have recently learned about 2/4 meter. For the last two weeks, we’ve added bar lines and the time signature to a folksong from St. Thomas,
White Sails on the Sea. Ask your child to sing it for you!
Third graders are preparing to learn a new note by singing and playing the game to folksong
The Closet Key.
Fourth graders are practicing melodic patterns with solfa and rhythmic patterns with rhythm fingers. We recently started learning a round by the Hungarian composer Lajos Bardos,
Autumn Canon. Ask your child to sing it for you!
Fly, fly, fly,
The leaves take leave of the branch,
Breezes are strong, winter is coming...
Fifth graders are headed to the House of Blues in Boston for the
Blues SchoolHouse on Tuesday, November 25. At the performance, we’ll hear the evolution of blues music from field hollers and work songs to spirituals, blues, jazz, hip hop and rap. We’ll hear music by Ma Rainey, Jimi Hendrix, Mary J. Blige and Michael Jackson. Parents, share the music you listen to along this trajectory with your children!