It has been a while since I have posted here, and I apologize for that. Concerts are so all-encompassing for a music teacher! And then it was Spring Break! I had a productive and restful break, so I am ready to move on now for the rest of the spring. I hope everyone feels the same.

The Kindergartens are going to be mostly exploring the concept of HIGH AND LOW.

The grade ones will be working on movement and reading and playing in simple SOLFEGE.

Grade 2/3s are also playing xylophone, starting to learn how to read music notation and translate those skills onto an instrument.

Grade 4/5s are doing the next level of RECORDER HEROES.

Grade 6/7s are doing a research project on a musician/humanitarian/minority artist.

Our concert play is set in the 1980s. We are collecting some things to use as props and costume pieces in our concert. If you can lend them or donate them, they would be greatly appreciated. If you would like your items back after the concert, please make sure you put your name somewhere on the items.

We need some landline phones that would have been used in the 1980s.

We also are collecting costume pieces like:

legwarmers
parachute pants
bangles
necklaces
belts
exercise headbands and wristbands
neon coloured clothes
sunglasses
fanny packs
gold chains (fake of course)
any clothes that have a vintage 80s look to them
feminine blouses

These can be dropped off at the music room or at the office.

Thank you!

Hello Armstrong Community!

As you may have heard from the students of Armstrong, we are busily preparing for a Concert which will take place on March 1st and 2nd.

Odd Divisions will perform on March 1st. Even Divisions will perform on March 2nd. Exceptions to this rule are that Division 20 will perform on March 1st and Division 19 will perform on March 2nd.

If you click on the links above for your child’s grade group, you will see the dances and musical numbers each class is starting to prepare. You can use these videos to begin practicing for the concert at home.

Our concert will be in the form of a musical play. The students in grade 6 and 7 have had the opportunity to sign up to be in the cast and have met a couple of times and gotten their scripts.

The rehearsal schedule will be as such:
We will rehearse on Thursdays and Fridays at lunchtime, starting in the music room.
On February 13th and 15th we will practice after school from 3:00 until 4:30pm.
On February 22nd and 27th we will practice from 3:00 until 5:00 for a full run through and a technical rehearsal respectively.

Please always communicate with Ms. Karlson if your child will not be able to attend one of these rehearsals if they are in the cast.

Other opportunities to help with the concert will come up in the next few weeks for the students. And if any parents want to help with costumes or sets, please email Ms. Karlson at sonja.karlson@burnabyschools.ca

In other news, Carnaval – the Quèbec Winter Festival – will be held at Armstrong the week of 23rd. The entire school is learning the song “Bonhomme, Bonhomme” to sing at the assembly that will kick off this festival. You can practice “Bonhomme, Bonhomme” with the video below:

Happy Holidays from all of the teachers at Armstrong, and from me, Ms. Karlson!

It’s been an unusual Fall for the kids in music class compared to the last two years.

We are able to join together in activities that were not allowed to us through covid.

I want to reiterate for anyone who was not able to come to any performances this December that performing for a live audience is now an unusual experience for the children. The last assembly or concert we did was in 2020! This fall has been full of assemblies and sharing and performances. The children have less experience in these situations, and are therefore more nervous – as is to be expected. I myself and trying to get used to planning for these performances and follow them through, and that is another shift of mind-set for me. I have been shifting and shifting through these past three years of a pandemic, and another shift back to “normal” with children to whom a live performance is unusual is another mind-shift. There is a large learning curve that comes with learning performance skills when one has never or rarely been to a performance!

And I am sure it is a shift for parents as well. There was so much enthusiasm from parents to see their children sharing their gifts on a stage. It was lovely to have the opportunity to give that gift to parents who want to see their children succeed and perform.

And we have been slowly teaching the children how also to be an audience in a live performance. Knowing how to behave in a live performance is foreign to most of our students now. I thank all of my fellow teachers and the parents who were such great audience members through our last few performances. As I said at the Mall and at our December assembly, the kids really need the support and encouragement that was provided by those attending. Being patient and kind and unconditionally supportive is a great way to model the behaviour that makes a great audience great. People can really shine when the audience demonstrates positivity and “takes what is given to them” with enthusiasm. This is something I teach the children. Know that performance decisions are made for a reason. Mistakes can be made and forgiven. The performers are doing their best. Bad audience behaviour will just throw off the performer and make the performance worse. Unconditional support will make it better.

I hope parents, the other students and my colleagues will continue to demonstrate this in the future so Armstrong kids can enjoy performances for the rest of their lives and make us all proud to have modelled this life-skill to them.

Unfortunately, Armstrong students did not make it in to the top ten in the CBC music class challenge. But some Burnaby schools did! Congratulations to Capitol Hill Elementary, Glenwood Elementary, Marlborough Elementary and our neighbour – Second Street! Second Street got two top ten slots! Capitol Hill got in three! Amazing job to my colleagues, Burnaby music teachers!

Here is the link to see the top ten list in each category.

https://www.cbc.ca/music/events/canadian-music-class-challenge/canadian-music-class-challenge-2022-national-top-10s-revealed-1.6668881

Also, Divisions 12 and 15 will be carol singing at Lougheed Mall in front of London Drugs on Thursday, December 15th at 1pm.

Divisions 11, 13 and 14 will be carol singing at 2pm that day.

And our December assembly will be hosted by the grade one classes. It is on December 16th. There will be much sharing of learning and music by many classes. I hope families can join to share in their children’s music making.

Ms. Karlson is looking for performers for the Winter Wonderland walk-through on Tuesday, December 13th. Email her if you are interested at sonja.karlson@burnabyschools.ca

And lastly, grade six and seven students can sign up to be actors in our Spring Concert. Rehearsals will begin right away in January during lunch hours on Mondays and Thursdays. The performance will be on March 8th and 9th. Scripts will be handed out the first week of January and we will cast the play during the second week, so make sure you are serious if you sign up!

Our videos are now up online on the CBC Music Class Challenge YouTube page. Check them out using these links:

We are and will be singing songs in many languages. Singing is the act of making musical sounds with one’s voice. We are able to sing in languages in which we don’t necessarily speak. I teach the children to make the appropriate sounds with their voices to pronounce the words correctly. I also teach them the meaning of what they are saying. But, singing in other languages does a few things for us.
1. It teaches us empathy for others trying to sing in our native tongue
2. It teaches us about the sounds other languages make that may not be in our language
3. It “evens the playing field” for our ELL kids
4. It exposes us to more music from other countries, cultures, times in history, etc.
5. English is often a difficult language in which to sing because of our hard consonant sounds, diphthongs and ugly vowels. Other languages lend themselves better to proper singing technique

Here is “O Canada” in French. All of the classes except the Kindergartens have been learning this song. We sing it in French at every assembly. Maybe you would like to practice it at home? Did you know that the original song was only in French?

And our listening program this year will focus on French as we are a bilingual school. Vive le français!

Welcome back to a new school year!
“Music Class” is always a mixture of learning in the performing arts. Music encompasses dramatizations of the music we are learning, movement to express the music, and performance skills that translate into any performance situation. I like to think of myself as a performing arts teacher, and not just a music teacher. I will be teaching Drama, Music and Dance in integrated ways throughout the school year to all classes, and will be reporting on the students’ learning in all of these areas.

The expectations in my class are that students are as attentive as they can be, and put effort into all of the activities in my class. The learning can only happen when kids engage with the arts. I will create fun and engaging activities that challenge the students and offer useful learning goals. The students need to meet me halfway. We can have a lot of fun exploring the arts together. When children are excited about playing in the realm of the arts, exciting things can happen! We can create amazing artistic experiences together. When children come with a poor attitude and are not willing to learn, everyone in the room can get frustrated.

I realize that families have different comfort levels with the performing arts. Some families do artistic activities daily and those children are very willing to engage with arts activities. Other families are more reluctant and exploring the arts can feel more uncomfortable for the members of that family. I offer a space where everyone can feel safe and welcome to try out artistic activities with an educated teacher to guide your child through the basics of any art form. Encouragement from home can go a long way in helping your child open up to exploring artistic activities, even if you yourself are not learned in that realm. Elementary school arts offers a introduction to the possibilities of creativity and artistic activities people can engage with throughout their lives. My job is to open those doors to the children so they can choose their interests and possible passions for their creativity. Yours as a parent are to support them through that goal. The children will find what interests them and what they want to pursue. A positive environment will make them brave.

The only expectation I have is that they TRY and ALLOW OTHERS TO TRY. If a child is unwilling to try or is preventing others from trying, I will make contact with a parent to help adjust the mindset of their child so we create and maintain that safe space for the other children in the building to try as well.

I’m excited to introduce your children to some wonderful artistic activities this year and have amazing performing arts experiences!

A new program has been launched for the City of Burnaby to get instruments into the hands of people who may not be able to afford it.

Here is a link to the website where you can apply:

https://www.burnaby.ca/recreation-and-arts/programs-and-activities/arts-and-heritage/harmony-for-all

I know many of our students at Armstrong are interested in playing instruments more at home and in taking at home lessons. This will make practicing an instrument possible for a lot of our families.

Email me if you need a referral to the program – you need one from either a music teacher or a school administrator. Anything I can do to help, I will!

email me at sonja.karlson@burnabyschools.ca