Freedom Quilt

All of the music classes have been learning about Black History month and how African Americans greatly influenced the music we listen to today. Slaves often used songs and quilts to send secret messages about the Underground Railroad. Quilts are also used to tell the story of someone's family history. Several of the classes created pictures portraying what they had learned. We put the pieces together to form a "Freedom Quilt."
Kindergarten and 1st Grade studied Harriet Tubman. She often used secret calls and songs to warn people of danger and also to let them know when the coast was clear. The Kindergarteners colored pictures that follow the story of her life.

Kindergarten

The 2nd graders learned the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" and were amazed to find out that the lyrics were really a secret map, guiding the slaves to freedom in the North.

The 3rd graders studied the Underground Railroad. We read the book "Henry's Freedom Box" and learned the true story of how one man mailed himself to freedom. We also learned several songs about freedom trains. Their quilt represents pictures of Henry's journey and also what they think life as a slave may have been like.



3rd Grade

The 4th Graders read two books (we wanted to celebrate Reading Month as well!), "When Marian Sang" and "Duke Ellington." They learned about the many styles of music that African Americans have inspired and created such as jazz, blues, gospel, rag time, swing, marches, hip-hop, and rap.

4th Grade

Painting their quilt squares.

The 5th Graders studied Martin Luther King, Jr and how freedom songs were often sung to inspire people and lift their hopes during his speeches and marches. "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is now considered the African American National Anthem.

The 6th Graders each researched a different African American musician. Their quilt pattern gives a short bio of their musician, any struggles that person may have overcome, and/or how they have changed music.

6th Grade

 The finished quilt takes up the entire wall outside of the music room. 6 "secret" facts about African American music have been hidden throughout the quilt.

Finished quilt

Secret fact

Superior Singers!!

Congratulations to these vocal soloists who competed in their first music festival. All 6 girls received Superior ratings. Way to go!!

Ride the Rhythm Train

February is Black History month. The 3rd graders learned about the Underground Railroad and how secret songs were used as maps to guide the slaves to freedom. Then we created a Rhythm train, which was led by a "conductor". The students walked around the "track" stopping at different colored "stations" to play their new rhythms.



The rhythm track



Chugging along



The train conductor keeping everyone on track

The yellow station playing the tambourines

The pink station playing the maracas

1st Graders Make "Sweet" Rhythms

Happy Valentine's Day! Today, the 1st graders made rhythm patterns using Sweetheart candies. 1 heart represented a ta and 2 hearts represented a ti-ti. For the last rhythm, the students got to compose their own pattern and then share it with a partner. And of course, when they finished they got to eat their notes! What a tasty way to practice rhythms!

Ta, ti-ti, ta, ti-ti
Ti-ti, ti-ti, ta, ta

Clapping each others' compositions

"A Fly and a Flea"

The 3rd graders performed a full accompaniment of "A Fly and a Flea" complete with xylophones, metallophones, unpitched percussion parts, and body percussion.

Foamie Rhythms

The Kindergarteners have just begun learning about ta's and ti-ti's and they are catching on so fast! To practice creating rhythms, each student was given a packet of shapes with rhythms on them and a paper with 4-beat measures on it. I would clap a rhythm and they had to notate it on their papers. When we finished 3 measures, I let them compose their own rhythm for the last line. Composing in Kindergarten?! WOW!

Helping a student figure out the last pattern. Good teamwork, guys!

Happy Chinese New Year!

February 3rd marked the Year of the Rabbit. It also happened to be the day the 2nd graders were studying the "Chinese Dance" from "The Nutcracker"! Chinese dances often tell stories using props such as fans, masks, swords, sticks, and ribbons. Ribbons symbolize clouds in the sky. The ribbons move from high to low, bringing good luck from the heavens to the earth. To bring ourselves a little luck, we created a ribbon dance to accompany the "Chinese Dance."

When the music was high, we waved our ribbons above ours heads.

When the music was low, we waved our ribbons near the ground.

Can you tell I LOVE teaching "The Nutcracker"?!

4th Graders Study Pitch

After learning about pitch, the 4th graders conducted a "science experiment" to discover how different pitches are created. By vibrating a ruler on a flat object, they discovered that the shorter the length of the ruler, the faster it vibrated and the higher the pitch. The longer the ruler was, the slower it vibrated and the lower the pitch became. Smart kids!

Reading Month!

The Kindergarteners celebrated reading month in music by creating their own "Farmer in the Dell" song books. After coloring each picture, we read the story by singing it. Now they can take their books home and read them to their families. Who knew books could be songs, too?!

Russian Dance (Trepak)

Continuing with our study of "The Nutcracker Suite", today the 2nd graders learned the "Russian Dance." There are lots of accents in this piece, so we used our handkerchiefs again to give each accented note a little "punch."



"Punching" the accents in the 'A' section.



Walking the steady beat in the 'B' section.

Accenting the last note of the piece in the Coda.