Do Re Music May 6th

Vocal warmup- Slide whistle warm up with solos.

Echo Song- No More Pie!

Simple song- Frog in the Meadow-Today the children sang with me then without me as a group. Great job children!

Arioso- I demonstrated the difference between a speaking voice and singing voice...,i.e.,"I speak like this", "I sing like this"

Pitch Activity-See April 22nd.

Movement Exploration- I told the class I had an imaginary box and inside that box were many tiny elves. To warm up our bodies for movement activities we placed the tiny elf on our elbow. We gave the elf a tour of the classroom, switching elbows in the middle of the activity, some of us even imagined that we fed our elf a snack of a chocolate chip cookie! :) We also balanced the elf on our noses, shoulder, hip, toe...Background music: "Peer Gynt Suite, Anitra's Dance by Edvard Grieg"

Fingerplay-
Two little blackbirds sitting on a hill (bounce fists on thighs)
One named Jack (Thumbs up with right hand)
The other named Jill (Thumbs up with left hand)
Fly away Jack (Left hand behind back)
Fly away Jill (Right hand behind back)
Come back Jack (Bring left out)
Come back Jill (Bring right hand out)

At the Piano-The Woodpecker by Marilyn Lowe. To help your child play this at home on piano or keyboard:

First have them raise there arms in the air and drop them loosely, letting them swing. Ask "Can you feel the weight of your arms? Are they a bit heavy?"

Sit at the piano. Have them make two loose fists. Gently bounce right fist 4 times in the air. Without pause, gently bounce left fist 4 times in the air, repeat. Using the worksheet I sent home as a guide, find the groups of 3 black keys. Gently knock right fists 4 times on the black keys, gently knock left fists 4 times on the black keys, repeat. Hope this makes sense. :) If you have any questions parents feel free to call or email me!

We will begin to play many pieces from Music Moves for Piano, a wonderful curriculum by Marilyn Lowe, which builds on the suzuki method, kodaly, eurhythmics among others. It is also based on Edwin Gordon's theories of audiation and focuses on helping students to learn music as an aural art-"sound before sight".

Dance- Today we performed the a movement activity to "Walz in A flat by Johannes Brahms". See April 29th.

Song Tale- "Little Bird" as sung by Elizabeth Mitchell . The children took turns picking out which bird they wanted to sing about next, and making the bird call they imagined it might make!