September Lessons

Because we have music only once a week in 3rd grade and had so many holidays in September, our month was a very short one. We spent much of our time getting to know each other and remembering our music room routines. We only had 2 music lessons in September, but we made the most of them!

• Namaste– singing in different languages to greet one another, remembering that although we are from many places, we are all the same inside and love to make music together, reviewed our solfege and hand signs through learning our melody, learned two parts and tried singing in harmony together by dividing in half
• Money Honey– singing and playing a hand clap game in two concentric circles with rotating partners, working on steady beat patterns while singing at various tempi (we tried it slow first, then gradually sped up each time until we couldn’t keep it together any longer!)

October Lessons

• Recorder Discovery Zone Lessons!!– students took home their practice recorders and music packets, we learned about the parts of the recorder, how to take it apart and put it back together, and began making our first sounds by using our Fab 5 Rules: left hand on top, use your finger prints, blow with soft gentle air, cover the holes completely, listen for a beautiful tone
• Beginning Repertoire- we learned to play the following tunes with and without accompaniment (piano or recorded), took turns problem solving for partners and small groups to fix squeaks and wrong notes, and playing for each other individually, in duets, and row by row
  • Clock and the Moon, Waltz for A, Will You?, and Starburst– all songs with B and A notes only that explored different rhythms, forms, tempos
  • Hot Cross Buns, Mother Dear, What’s in the Bag?, Oh How I Love to Play– all songs with B, A, and G notes only that explored different rhythm patterns and combinations of ascending and descending scale patterns
• Recorder Karate– explored how this program works, went over the first few songs together listening and analyzing the music together, looked at all the charts on the wall, folder categories, and belt and sticker bins to learn where everything goes and how to use all the materials properly, we also began testing for the yellow belt and red belt

November Lessons

• Continuing our work on soprano recorder, we have continued to test at various belt levels for yellow, red, and purple belts. Every child progresses at a different rate according to how often they are practicing at home, so children move along the belts at different paces. Some children have moved on to low E with Who Has Seen the Wind?
• Come to Play– Link Up Carnegie hall theme song, we learned to identify and mark in our music scores which parts to follow at a time when multiple (3) parts are connected together, we watched the music video of the theme song performed in the music studio with Carnegie’s singers and sang along, discovered what a musical interlude is and added it to our word wall
• Come to Play Part 1– we are slowly learning to play this part on our recorders by extending our range with two new notes- High C and High D- which can be difficulty to play softly and beautifully as they are so high
• Sing Noel– learned to sing with solfege, labeled ABA form, added bass xylophone and bass met allophone accompaniment parts, first singing, then through movement, then transferring the parts to instruments; we also added a hand drum part to review our technique and add a steady ostinato (a repeated pattern) while singing

December Lessons

• Sing Noel– continuing to develop this piece on instruments in preparation for the winter concert
• Grown-Up Christmas List– singing the chorus
• Winter Fantasy- singing partner songs to create harmonies
• Jingle Bells– circle mixer dance with partners, playing on recorder

January Lessons

• Recorder Karate- testing session 2; reviewing basic recorder performance technique, notation, and sight-reading skills