STOMP! Video Project

To finish off their unit on sound production, the 6th graders created their own Stomp compositions, based on ideas taken from the popular show "Stomp!" They had to create a scene, decide on what "instruments" they would use, compose a rhythmic score, and then perform it. Easier said than done! Here's how the final videos turned out.

The Library

Lunch Time

Musical Chairs

Sword Fight

Basketall Practice

Bike Shop

Lunch Line

Math Class

Russian Dance

The 2nd graders are once again studying The Nutcracker Suite by Peter Tchaikovsky. While listening to Russian Dance, we added hand drums and rhythm sticks to play along with the recording. We discussed the form of the piece (ABA Coda) and each instrument was used to represent the different sounding sections. We also discussed accents, repeats, and codas. So many things to learn in one piece!

The rhythms each part played.

The hand drums played on the A section.

Rhythm sticks played the B section.

We Love Our Mittens!

The December 2011 issue of Music Express had a great movement game and song about mittens in it that our 1st graders played this month. Each student brought a pair of mittens to class. They could bring their regular mittens/gloves, or get creative and bring silly mittens such as oven mitts or really large or small mittens. We then sang the song and played the game in class. The students had a blast trying to memorize what everyone's mittens looked like and clapping the steady beat with their mittens on.

Christmas Composers

The Kindergarten and 1st graders have been working on composing their own rhythms. We used different holiday and winter pictures to create 4-beat rhythm patterns. In kindergarten, we call our rhythms long and short-short. In 1st grade, they become ta and ti-ti. A picture that has one syllable (tree) would be a long/ta and a picture with two syllables (present) would be a short-short/ti-ti. Check out the Christmas Rhythm Patterns they created!

Shh, present, present, present (rest, ta, ta, ta)

Present, shh, shh, tree (Ti-ti, rest, rest, ta)

Reindeer, Elf, Elf, Reindeer (ti-ti, ta, ta, ti-ti)

Elf, Elf, Reindeer, Reindeer (Ta, Ta, Ti-Ti, Ti-Ti)

Mittens, Mittens,...(ti-ti, ti-ti...)

Noisy Egg Shakers

The 6th Graders are working on a unit of sound production and how sounds are made. We studied vibrations and the difference between pitch, volume, and timbre. In this egg shaker activity, the students were paired up and given 10 different eggs. Each egg was filled with different items such as popcorn kernels, buttons, rice, marbles, paper clips, etc. The groups had to describe the sound each egg made (its timbre) and guess what was inside of it. Here are some pictures of our egg detectives!

Could it be erasers?!

Hmm...sounds like dirt!

Destination: America!

The 3rd and 4th graders had their fall program in November. The program this year was "Destination: America!" a musical tribute to all of the different types of music that developed in the United States. We sang about Rock 'n' Roll, Jazz, Motown, Grunge, Country, and Classic Rock. The kids even dressed up to represent the different genres! Here are a few pictures so you can check out their awesome costumes! (I apologize for the poor lighting in the auditorium.)

Winter Concert

The 5th and 6th graders just finished up their Winter Concert and it was a huge success! The 5th and 6th grade bands performed as well as the 5th/6th Choir. Great job everybody!