September Lessons
4th Grade students have music class once a week on Thursdays this year. Due to the holidays in September, we only met twice, but we really enjoyed getting back into the swing of things!
- Kokoleoko– reviewed notation on 5-line staff while singing with solfege and lyrics, layering 3 parts together with body percussion accompaniment and bass xylophones, playing part 1 on recorder, and creating a final form to put all the different instruments and voice parts together for a mini-performance
- Sign ups for chorus auditions, recorder ensemble, and other after school programs
October and November Lessons
- Recorder Review– reviewed recorder procedures, assigned recorders to new students, reviewed BAGED with several simple pieces from 3rd grade, worked in small groups to help our new students understand and practice basic recorder skills
- Began preparation for our Native American Music Unit–
- Iroquois Rain Dance-explored the purpose of music and instruments in the role of the Haudenosaunee people, learned about the elemental musical style with simple drums, rattles, and bells, and how they believed in calling on the spirits of the earth for help in times of trouble (like during a drought), added rainstick and xylophone accompaniment (drones) and recorder as a final form for the piece
- Kunolounkwa– (Oneida lullaby) learned to sing and play on recorder with B flats, added a simple variation of the melody on metallophones and some improvised lullaby phrases on glockenspiels to the thin texture, also created a final form with multiple layers for performance
- Ho Ho Watanay– (Iroquois Lullaby) sang with piano accompaniment in unison first, then in harmony by combining the first and second sections together
- Children’s Stick Games– learned several variations of NA stick games with lummi sticks where we passed and tossed them in different pattens around the circle, then we worked in pairs and small groups to create our own new patterns using the elements from the games and shared them with the class
December Lessons
January Lessons
- Recorder Karate- session 1 testing; review recorder performance technique, notation basics (line and space notes, rhythms, etc.), and practicing strategies
