Thank You, Bank of Ann Arbor!

This week, our school had the honor of receiving $3,000 from Bank of Ann Arbor to support our arts curriculum! Through their JumpStARTS Facebook contest, Bryant school, along with 10 other Ann Arbor Schools, earned enough votes to win the generous grant. On Tuesday, a representative from Bank of Ann Arbor came to our Harambee assembly to present us with our (giant!) check. Because at Bryant school we know how important it is to say thank you when someone does something nice for us, we planned a special thank you presentation of our own! In music class, all of the students decorated and signed their names on a large thank you banner that the 2nd grade student council members held up. We also gave them thank you notes that were written by all of our 2nd grade students. Lastly, we sang our Bryant School song, followed by a hearty "Thank You, Bank of Ann Arbor!" We are so excited to be chosen by Bank of Ann Arbor and thank everyone who voted for us! I cannot wait to see what exciting learning opportunities these funds will bring.

Kindergarten Rain Song

This week in Kindergarten music, we learned a song about the rain. For this song, we learned some special hand movements and talked about how the rain is important because it helps all living things to grow. During this song, Ms. Ritter played her frame drum and taught the students a short rhythmic ostinato. We then practiced saying and patting this ostinato so we could then play it on our gathering drum while Ms. Ritter sang the song. In this activity, students were working on musical independence, trying to keep their own part while Ms. Ritter sang a different part. This is one of many activities that we do in Kindergarten music to help prepare us to sing in harmony. Here is a recording of Mrs. Peterson's class saying their rhythmic ostinato, while Ms. Ritter sings the song.

1st Grade Music Centers

This week in 1st grade music class, each 1st grade class earned a special "Music Centers" day for their behavior during September and October. In each music class, students have a chance to earn up to 6 behavior stars for listening, being respectful and following directions. At the end of each class, the music helper records the amount of stars their class earned, and once they reach a certain number of stars, they earn a special day. Great job to every 1st grade class for receiving 80 or more stars and earning their special day!

For our special day, we had "Music Centers" and they were a big hit! I set up 4 different centers around the room which students were able to rotate through throughout the class. I used an online Clock Timer to let students know how much time they had at each center.

Here are some photos of Mr. Brines's class exploring music during their music centers day. 

"Trick or Treat": 2nd Grade Glockenspiels

This past week in 2nd grade music we have used the simple song "Trick or Treat" to learn about and reinforce many musical concepts and skills. 

We started the week by listening for different patterns in the song. We first listened for the pattern "Sol-Sol-Mi" and learned how to read this using modified Kodaly notation. We figured out that this pattern happens every time we sing the words "Trick or Treat." Then, we transferred this pattern onto our glockenspiels and learned how to play and sing the pattern.

Next, we listened for the pattern "Sol-Sol-La-La-Sol" and identified where we heard it in the song. Just like the last pattern, we then learned how to play that on our glockenspiels and were able to put the two parts together to play half of the song!

After that, we learned the last two patterns, "Mi-Mi-Re-Re-Do" and "Sol-Sol-Do." We had a great time figuring out on our own how to read those patterns and then play them on our instruments.

Focusing on the rhythm, we figured out that it is in Duple Meter, because our microbeat is "Du De." We then read the rhythms and acted like scientists to find any patterns in the song. We talked about how scientists look for patterns  (or lack of pattern) everywhere in order to help them better understand the world and how we can use these same skills in music. We figured out that the first half of the song has an A B A B rhythm pattern and the second half has an A B A C rhythm pattern.

On our very last day this week, we were able to put all of the small chunks that we learned together so that we could play the entire song! We talked about how we learn best when breaking problems up into small parts and working on them one at a time, and then putting them all together in the end. We also talked about how it is important to practice the trickiest parts first when we are working on a piece of music. We used our modified musical notation to read and play our song at the end.

Here is a recording of Mrs. Martin's class singing the song using Solfege syllables, and a recording of Mrs. Micou-Davis's class playing the song on their glockenspiels. I was so proud with all of the 2nd graders this week, and impressed with all of their focus and hard work. We were able to build many skills in just one week! Fantastic work!

"Eleanor Candy Chant" 2nd Grade Rhythm Compositions

Here is an activity that we did this week in 2nd grade music. I learned this chant from a great music teacher that I know, and it has been so fun using this in class. The kids love it too! 
(I created the slides below using the free clipart from www.mycutegraphics.com)

First, we learned the chant as a class and then read the rhythms. Then we figured out together what rhythms fit with each of the candies. Each class then split up into small groups where they had to come up with their own rhythm composition using the 4 candies given. They were able to put their candies in whatever order they wanted and then had to write the words and the rhythms on their paper. Lastly, they practiced saying and clapping their words and rhythms so that they could present it as a group. Each group did a fantastic job and everyone earned 4 points for working together and doing their best! Great job, 2nd graders! I was very proud of how well you worked together in your groups. 

Go get 'em, Tigers!

Congrats to the Detroit Tigers on making it to the ALCS! I like to think that our 2nd Bryant Tigers helped them to win by sending them good vibes in music class today :) We had a baseball themed class, complete with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and acting out the different parts of a baseball game to Johannes Brahm's "Hungarian Dance No. 5." For this activity, we talked about how the form of a piece is like a kind of a musical roadmap. This was a great connection to humanities, because in Social Studies, the students are learning about maps (what they are, how to read them, and the different parts of the map). It was fun to talk about how we can use different types of maps in music to help us to follow along with a piece of music, or to better understand what they are hearing. 

Check out this video of the piece played by the Berlin Philharmonic!

2nd Grade Group Compositions

This past week in 2nd grade music, we have been singing the call and response song "There Was An Old Woman." This song is so great because it touches on many different musical skills and concepts that we work on in 2nd grade. We first learned the song as call and response, and worked on getting our "ooo's" to be nice and round and creating lots of space in our mouths for our sound. We also talked about the melody on the "ooo" part (how it is going down, how it moves by steps and a skip, and how the song is in minor tonality). Then, as a class, we wrote our own verses to the call part of the song, and created our own class story (this was really fun!)

A couple classes later, we broke up into groups of 4 so that they could create their own compositions. Each group was given about 20 minutes to write and practice their 4 verses together. Before we split up into our groups, we talked about how as a group, they could earn 4 points for working together. We had a great discussion talking about what a "4" looks like and how we can all get 4's if we do our best and work well together. Working well in different groups has been something that we have been working on in 2nd grade music and will continue to build those teamwork skills as the year goes on. 

Here is the rubric that we came up with. After talking about this, every group did a wonderful job and I was so impressed with how responsible, kind and respectful they were to one another. 

The following day, each group  had a chance to share their composition with the class. Everyone in the class also had a chance to practice their respectful audience behavior as well. We had a great time sharing our hard work and getting to hear what other groups came up with. Here are a few of the compositions that I recorded today. 

Great job to ALL of the 2nd grade groups! I was thrilled with what you came up with! You should be very proud!