PIERCE SCHOOL MUSIC - What's Happening in Music? 2022-23

PIERCE SCHOOL MUSIC

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4th Grade

11/22/2022

Our 4th graders have been building their ensemble skills, reviewing how to read treble clef and playing a lot of music together this past month. Each piece that we learn and arrange is composed of small, repeating patterns. Each student learns every part and gets to practice each one alone and with the group. Once it's time to create a final arrangement of a song our students gravitate towards a part that they feel showcases their best playing. Here, a class is learning a 3-part arrangement of Viva la Vida by Coldplay. They make it look easy but putting the syncopated part together with the drums is quite challening!

3rd Grade

11/22/2022

After a few short weeks, our 3rd graders have been making some beautiful sounds on their recorders. They are learning so much about reading music. Here is a brief performance to mark their progress, on "dress up day" no less! Please continue to encourage your child to practice softly for 5 minutes each day. There are recordings of their practice songs here that they can use to play at home with. Practicing in front of the mirror is also a great idea to help them check their breath control, posture and fingering.

Finally, remind them that they can practice improvising on B, A and G using the track posted here!

1st Grade

11/21/2022

First graders have been singing so many new songs this month! They have learned "Pierce is For People", "Five Fat Turkeys", "The Owl and the Pumpkin", "Peace Like a River", "I Love My Rooster" and a beautiful song about gratitude called "Deep and Wide". They've also been enjoying two song-stories in class: "Bear Snores On" and "Over the River and Through the Woods". Ask your child to sing one of their favorites from class for you. They have worked so hard to learn these new songs and sing them so beautifully. This video clip shows a class working on "Deep and Wide". They have mastered the chorus and are learning the verses below.

Deep and wide, deep and wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.
Deep and wide, deep and wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.

I am thankful for the good things that come to me as I live,
May I always use them wisely, may I also learn to give.

Friends and family, food and playing, work and school and toys are fun.
And I know these things are blessings as I count them one by one.

2nd Grade

11/7/2022

Students have been exploring tempo and dynamics in music. "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg is a great piece for this because it gradually gets both louder and faster. Kids love the excitement that these changes in the music generate. This piece is also a great example of program music. The story of Peer Gynt is a Norwegian folktale. Edvard Grieg composed the music for the play and each piece he wrote tells a specific part of the story. Students got to hear the story first and then track plot points within this song. We added finger lights to our body percussion for a more dramatic effect. This took extreme focus and concentration from each student. They felt so proud when we finally mastered this routine together!

Students have also been honing their decoding skills with rhythmic patterns. They have been matching speech with rhythm and writing "mystery phrases" for partners to decipher. On this day, the theme was the weather. "I got struck by lighting" becomes a four beat pattern using eight notes and quarter notes. "Last weekend felt like summer" becomes ta ta-di ta--di ta-di.

5th Grade

11/4/2022

5th graders begin each music class with drumming. This is a highly engaging way of building many musical skills including ensemble playing, rhythm reading and gross motor coordination. In addition, classes have begun the practice of SQUILT. This stands for Super Quiet Un-Interrupted Listening Time. Deeply listening to and writing about music can be tricky for students without lots of practice. Through SQUILT, students are developing their critical thinking and listening skills and expanding their musical vocabulary. The piece for this month was "Danse Macabre" by the Romantic era French composer Camille Saint-Saens. The picture book and listening map shared here helped anchor students in this dramatic and exciting piece. We even took a virtual tour of the Catacombs of Paris to provide context for the inspiration of this music. Ask your student what their favorite part of the music was!

1st Grade

10/31/2022

Our first grade students have been playing many different percussion instruments in music class this month. They've been exploring each individually through movement and music over the past few lessons. This week, they are using all of these instruments to add texture to a story called "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything". Each student (and their instrument) has a specific job in telling our story. This activity takes focus, cooperation and self control. We added a theme to go along with our story that the class can sing and play on xylophone. This new melodic piece lets them add even more expression to the story. They can change the tempo of their playing as the action in our story increases. Our students feel so proud when we put all the parts together!

Kindergarten

10/31/2022

Our kindergarteners have been so busy! This fall, they've been working on building classroom routines like beginning each class with a greeting song and differentiating between their singing, talking, whispering and calling voices. They have been exploring creative movement through a game we call "Magic Drum" and songs like "Blowing in the Wind" and "Falling Leaves". It's been wonderful to see them connect ways of moving their bodies to the words used in the song describing the movement of leaves. They are such expressive and joyful people!

Students have been practicing staying flexible, working with partners and taking turns through cooperative games like Pumpkin Patch and Apple Tree. Lastly, we are always working towards developing a sense of steady beat. This is a skill that any musician needs and it can take time to develop. Students have the opportunity to internalize beat through every game, song, dance or activity in kindergarten. Ask your child to sing you a song or teach you a game!

4th Grade

10/27/2022

Students spent time during the month of September learning a group dance to the classic song "September" by Earth Wind and Fire. We had such a good time learning it that we've decided to do a "dance of the month" this year. October's dance was a folk dance called "Dandiya" originating from the Indian state of Gujarat and popularly performed in the festivals of Navaratri and Diwali. Students have also been singing a round called "Autumn is the Time" and learning a xylophone arrangement to accompany themselves.

3rd Grade

10/20/2022

Our 3rd graders have been working on learning all the notes in treble clef in preparation for beginning to learn recorder this month. They are so excited! In addition to treble clef practice, they have been working a lot on reading rhythms including half notes, whole notes, quarter notes and eighth notes. They have also been singing, dancing and playing instruments. They used xylophones to play a song called "Autumn Leaves Are Falling". This song helped them explore a C Major Scale and continue to practice their note reading. They also used xylophones, glockenspiels and percussion instruments to explore a minor tonality and play a super fun game called "Pass the Pumpkin".

2nd Grade

10/14/2022

Students have been busy singing, playing, dancing and listening to music in each class. This month, they have been singing and playing the song "Autumn is Here". This is an additive song that combines many different verses and instrument parts. They love the challenge! They have also been playing a game called "Pass the Pumpkin". This game reinforces steady beat and allows students to practice singing in a minor key while developing their musical independence playing xylophone, glockenspiel, rainstick and vibraslap. Students have also been practicing a tricky body percussion routine set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg. We hope to share a final performance of it here soon.