Bravo, 1st Graders!

Last night the 1st graders had their Spring Sing Concert, "A Chorus of Colors" and sang beautifully! We have spent so much time this year talking about the importance of singing in our nice, light head voices (instead of shouty chest voices), and everyone did just that in the concert. My favorite song of the night was probably when they sang "Lavender's Blue" and their voices floated so gently as they sang. I am so looking forward to next year in 2nd grade as they continue to grow and develop in music. Way to go, 1st graders!

Animusic! Create Your Own Instrument Project

For the past week, the 2nd graders have been working on a project called Animusic! Animusic is an American company that specializes in the 3D visualization of MIDI-based music. To start, we talked about how the word Animusic combines 2 words, animation and music. We talked about how we see animation in the movies we watch and the video games we play, and how animators use science and math, along with their imaginations to create amazing visualizations. We watched a variety of animusic videos, and after each video we answered 4 questions....1. What is it called? 2. What is it made out of? 3. How is it played? 4. How does it sound? After getting some inspiration, students either decided to work on their own or with a partner to create their own instrument. With the only limit being what they could dream up in their imaginations, the students drew their instruments and then had to add a written description answering those 4 questions. It was fun to see the creative instruments students created and I loved watching them collaborate with one another to create something new. Like I told the students in class, engineers are people who solve problems and use their creativity to dream and create new things. Many of the skills that students develop through music are ones that directly correlate to professions in math and science. Perseverance, creativity, collaboration, teamwork, attention to detail, self-reflection, recognizing patterns (or lack there of), sequencing and so many more are all things that students practice daily in music class, and it is so fun to see those skills come into life for this project. I can't wait to see their finished instruments--keep up the good work, 2nd graders!

3 Part Harmony?! In 2nd Grade?!

Here is another snippet from the 2nd grade concert this past Tuesday where they combined the songs "Biddy Biddy Hold Fast" and "Water Come A Me Eye" while singing and playing the bass line for a total of 3 vocal parts. I have already listened to this recording a ton of times, and never get tired of listening to them sing in their beautiful head voices. I am very happy with the independent singers they are becoming!

Bravo, 2nd Graders!

I want to congratulate the 2nd graders on a FANTASTIC performance last night! I loved seeing everyone all dressed up and was so proud of how they represented themselves and Bryant. After a bit of a rocky rehearsal last week, they really rose to the occasion, and boy did they shine! Every 2nd grader should be proud of all of the hard work they put into making their concert a success and all of the incredible growth they have made this school year. One of my very favorite moments from last night was hearing them sing "Freedom is Coming" in 2-part harmony (something which they would not have been able to do at the beginning of the school year). In case you missed the show, here is a little sample of last night's performance! Way to go, 2nd graders!

2014 "Spring Sing" Concerts!

You are invited to our Bryant "Spring Sing" concerts, which start next week! The concerts start next Tuesday the 20th with the 2nd graders performing "Turn the World Around." The following week, the 1st graders will perform "A Chorus of Colors" on Tuesday the 27th and the Kindergartners will sing in "Going Buggy!" on Thursday the 29th. The concerts will begin at 7pm, but all students who are participating are asked to arrive at 6:40 and meet in the multi-purpose room. We hope you will come out and support our amazing Bryant students!

Creativity

I saw this quote the other day and thought it ought to be shared. One of my goals as a music teacher is to not only help our students develop music skills and grow in their understanding of music, but to help foster and inspire their creativity. All too often the emphasis is put on simply repeating back the "correct" answer, but our students are capable of so much more. To me, there is nothing better than listening to the songs and compositions they create, and watching them become more and more confident as they continue to experiment and grow through music. This is just another one of the endless reasons why I love teaching music at Bryant school!