Week Ten: 5/26-5/29
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The Woodwind Family
After visiting the Cincinnati Music Hall and reviewing the families of the Orchestra with the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten, you should feel like an expert on the four families in the Orchestra. This week, we are going to begin learning about a very special composer. You may not know his name, but I bet you can recognize a lot of the music he has written! John Williams is an American composer. He has written all kinds of music in his lifetime, but is most famous for the nearly 80 film scores he’s composed. This week, we’ll explore the music he created for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. He is very skilled at creating memorable themes and this one is no exception! A theme in music is the big idea, just like the theme of a book or movie. A good theme is one that gets stuck in your head or is something you find yourself humming around the house. Hedwig’s theme is first played on the celesta which is a keyboard instrument that sounds like a cross between a glockenspiel and a piano. Then, it is passed around the orchestra and played by members of each instrument family. Hedwig’s theme: The video below shares a suite from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” that Williams composed. There’s a cool laser light show happening too! In music, a suite is a set of pieces that are related. Can you recognize the different parts of the movie based on the music alone?
Who Played it Better?
This video shows "Hedwig's Theme" played by a variety of musicians on a variety of instruments! Which one do you like best? See if you can figure out how to play this theme on an instrument at home. |
Listening worksheet:
Use the worksheet below to organize your thoughts as you listen to "Hedwig's Theme". Share your writing with me when you are finished! Take a picture of your worksheet and email it to me at: anne_sheridan@psbma.org 
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Week Nine: 5/18-5/22
Last week, you listened to 3 different performances of "Bolero" by the French composer Maurice Ravel. As you were watching and learning, I hope you were thinking about all the different instruments you were hearing and seeing. We will be learning about the orchestra over the next few weeks and will begin today with a virtual field trip to a VERY cool place. We will explore the Cincinnati Music Hall in Ohio and answer some questions along the way!
Click on this link to visit Music Hall and begin your tour. Make sure you read the directions before you enter the building. You want to turn on the "info" and "scavenger hunt" features first! If you are at all confused about how to do this activity, please watch the video I made with directions posted here. (Ignore the part where I talk about 4th grade, this IS for you 5th graders!) There is an option for sending me your answers with a google form OR printing the worksheet on paper and emailing it back to me. Either way, please send me your work! I miss you! |
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Week Eight: 5/11-5/15
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FIELD TRIP TIME!
We will be learning about the orchestra over the next few weeks and we will begin this unit with a virtual field trip to the London Symphony Orchestra to sit in on a performance of a piece of music called Bolero by Maurice Ravel. Visit the London Symphony Orchestra while they perform Bolero and see what it feels like to sit in the Orchestra section for this performance. There are cameras positioned in each section of the orchestra, and on the conductor, and you can change camera angles to see more of what you are interested in. IT'S SO COOL! What do you notice about the way the melody is passed around the players? Next, you will see how to different groups of artists have interpreted this same enchanting piece of music from home during this time of world wide quarantine. First, the members of the L'Orchestre National de France created a virtual performance. This is the second video posted here. The feeling of their performance is very different to me, but I was really interested to see each player at home, and how they managed to edit everyone's part together. Finally, watch current and former students of the Julliard School, including dancers, actors and musicians perform their own version of Bolero. They truly make the piece their own as they add their own interpretation and musical styling. Which performance was your favorite? What made you choose it? What do you think about the fact that some groups perform the piece as the composer intended it to be played, and others make it their own? Send me your thoughts and observations at:anne_sheridan@psbma.org |
PERFORMANCE #1
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PERFORMANCE #2
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PERFORMANCE #3
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Week Seven: 5/4-5/8
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MOVE: Home Run
Follow along with the video to see if you can hit all the beats with the movements! It can be a workout and I have to say I was out of breath a little towards the end! If I get 5+ videos of 5th graders showing me they can do this, I will post mine! SING: You’ve Got A Friend I know that being home and missing school is not easy. At Pierce, we’ve been super proud of how well everyone has been getting through it. Let’s sing a new song together to celebrate this. I’ve attached a great version of a musical cast singing this song and also the words to the song. Would love to see some clips of you all singing! LEARN: Music of Germany Read about the music of Germany this week. The first page summarizes the foundations of traditional German music and instruments. The video of the zither instrument is below. Fill out the “What I’ve Learned” page and when you are done try to do your own research! |
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Week Six: 4/27-5/1
CREATE:
Last week, you learned the Cup Song. (If you haven't yet learned it, scroll down to Week #5 and check it out!) This week, you get to try making up your own cup song! I made my own routine to a song from the soundtrack to the new Trolls movie. You can use any music you like for your original routine. OR you can teach the song you already learned last week to your family members and try it together like this video. Watch this video of a school of students performing the Cup Song in France! It looks like so much fun! EXPLORE: We are headed back to the Chrome Music Lab this week! Watch these two videos to learn (or review!) your options using Songmaker. Your assignment is to take a song you love and work to recreate it in Songmaker. Share your finished product with me at: anne_sheridan@psbma.org MOVE: This song activity gives you a chance to work on your coordination and musical timing while having fun! The “Deteggtive” will lead you through the song showing you which beat is happening in the music. The picture here tells you what each egg means.
Follow along and try one color at a time. See if you can keep up and make every movement happen with the beat of the music. Then try to do two colors, and finally, try all three! If Level 2 seems pretty easy for you, challenge yourself with Level 3 and Level 4. Level 3 and 4 add a new egg so you can choose what to do when that egg appears! Maybe a star jump or a jumping jack? Have fun with it!! See if you can do this with friends on Face time or Zoom all together. |
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Week Five: 4/21-4/24
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LISTEN & REFLECT:
I'm giving you one more week to complete our “Couch Concert” This is a fun and easy assignment that every student should complete! Thank you to those students who already submitted their answers. I enjoyed reading about which performances you liked and disliked. So far, the "Squashmouth" video is in the lead for most favorite performance. LISTEN: Play a fun game of Name that Tune! Watch the video posted here and try to guess which Disney song is playing. I tried it and didn’t get all the songs! But it was super fun :) EXPLORE: You may remember using the Chrome Music Lab for a music choice reward a few months ago. This week, spend some time playing with the rhythm section that lets you experiment with beat, meter, and different instruments. PLAY: Learn the Cup Song from the movie “Pitch Perfect”. All you need is a plastic cup! Watch this tutorial to get started. Practice slowly at first and then try speeding up gradually until you can match the music in the video. Please send me a video of you performing the cup song to my email! anne_sheridan@psbma.org |
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Week Four: 4/13-4/17
LISTEN & REFLECT:
During this time of social distance, musicians all over the world are still making music at home and finding creative ways of connecting with their band mates, their fellow Chorus members, Orchestra friends and even their back up dancers! They are also reaching audiences everywhere and providing entertainment and good feelings across the world.
Watch this “Couch Concert” of different performances and then use the Google Form to share your thoughts and reflections with me!
During this time of social distance, musicians all over the world are still making music at home and finding creative ways of connecting with their band mates, their fellow Chorus members, Orchestra friends and even their back up dancers! They are also reaching audiences everywhere and providing entertainment and good feelings across the world.
Watch this “Couch Concert” of different performances and then use the Google Form to share your thoughts and reflections with me!
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Week Three: 4/6-4/10
PRACTICE: 5 Basic Beats to Practice
Keep practicing these 5 beats! They are a good warm up before you play. Practice them to any song you like! PLAY: Imagine Dragons “Radioactive”
GET INSPIRED: Bucket Drumming Performances Notice how they use different types of buckets to create different sounds and how expressive they get while making music with simple buckets! |
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MOVE: Make a Tiktok!
Watch the tutorial that Ms. Han made to help you learn how to do the Funky Town Tik Tok dance. You can watch my version posted here too. Try it out and share your finished Tik Tok video with me! When you are done, add your video to this folder so we can all see each others videos. ***You do not need the Tik Tok app to do this. Just use the music posted below these directions and use a phone, i-pad or computer to video yourself (and your family!) dancing. |
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Week Two: 3/30-4/3
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PLAY: Last week, I asked you to find a drum and some sticks that could work for our drumming at home. We are going to be using these for the next few weeks so make sure you have something that will work well and sound good! Watch this video for some tips for making your bucket sound better! Your parents and siblings will thank you. ;) PRACTICE: 5 Basic Beats to Practice This video takes you through some basic rhythm patterns that you should be able to read. It shows the patterns to you on your sticks first. Practice a few times that way, and then practice few times on your drum. Then, put on some of your favorite songs and see if you can play the same rhythm patterns along with the music! CHALLENGE: Rolling in the Deep Here’s a fun song to practice some more challenging rhythms and patterns. If it feels hard at first, that’s good! You want to make your brain stronger by trying something that you have to really work for. JUST FOR FUN: Want to know how to flip your sticks like a real rocker?! Watch here and practice.
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Week One: 3/23-3/27
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CREATE: Make your own bucket drum
1. We’ll be doing a lot of drumming in the next few weeks so it’s worth the time to find the right thing to play. Buckets, large plastic containers, or tupperware containers can make a great drums. Look around your house, find something to try and then see how many sounds you can make with it. 2. Find some drumsticks! Wooden spoons, chopsticks, rubber spatulas or pencils can make great drumsticks. If you can’t find anything at home, head outside and look for two sticks that are the same width and length. 3. Try playing along with this video of the well known song “We Will Rock You” by Queen. LISTEN: Get Inspired Remember when we studied Beethoven and tried playing “Ode to Joy” from his Symphony No. 9? Watch this video of musicians from the Netherlands playing together from afar. |
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