November
We will begin our unit on Peter and the Wolf for November and December.
By studying this piece of music we will be working on many things.
One of which is listening. This piece was written as something to just listen to for the story. This is the way we will experience the story the first time. Using the video below, we will watch an orchestra play the piece, and hear the story through a narrator only. This will allow the children to access their imagination for the characters and the story initially.
We will listen to this story to learn more about some of the instruments of the orchestra.
We will play games related to the characters in the story to explore other concepts like dynamics, tempo, timbre, character and drama.
October
This October we will learn a song for the CBC Music Class Challenge called Pour A Little Sunshine In My Cup. This song also meets our school goal of learning how to be a good friend to one another.
We are also going to learn a piece for Thanksgiving called Turkey Trot. The Turkey Trot is a song with a game, xylophone accompaniment and singing. It will get us moving and singing again this school year. The accompaniment also has a very clear steady beat for us to practice and follow along with.
We may also play some games like Magic Spell that have drama goals and Pass the Broomstick with listening and cooperation goals.
September
We are beginning this school year talking about The Science of Sound.
We will explore vibrations, sound waves, decibels, and the way different materials produce sounds to start our year with curiosity, and some understanding of what music actually is!
Then we will play some simple songs with Orff percussion accompaniment to use these sounds in thoughtful ways. And silly ways!
The songs we will explore are:
There Are No Bananas In the Sky
Alligator Pie
Very silly, fun songs with lots of opportunities for instrument exploration.
We will also do some drama activities as the spookier time of Fall approaches…