Music Together, September 19 and 20

Everyone did a fantastic job singing, dancing, and playing instruments this week!  Thank you parents for continuing to do all these things with your children in class.  It is apparent that you have been listening to the CD at home and are getting to know some of the songs.

Below is a copy of the coloring page I handed out in class.  When we played sticks along with the song "Palo, Palo" this week I just dumped them all out on the floor!  I find this to be a fun way to let the children explore all the different ways they can be played.  Some children will play just like you or I do, many will come up with their own ways, some will build with them, and some will just choose to observe.  Most of the parents choose to play the stick the way I was playing them.  If you did that then you were changing the size of the beat you played with each verse.  We played the steady beat, the microbeat (smaller/faster), and the macrobeat (larger/slower).  We will work on finding all of these beats in many of the songs we play along with.  The quote at the top of your coloring page was about finding and playing these different beats.  Most children find the faster microbeat easiest.


We also did some simple improvising with the songs "See How I'm Jumping," and "Hey Diddle Diddle."  When you or your child comes up with a new way of moving on the spot to the song "See How I'm Jumping," that is simple improvisation.  In the middle of the song "Hey Diddle Diddle" we did some jazzy tonal patterns.  Did you recognize any of the tonal patterns recognizable as other songs?  See if you can add your own jazzy scat singing or tonal patterns to this song at home.
I also encourage you to adapt songs to use in other ways at home.  I changed Little Johnny Brown to "Little Johnny Brown, are there any scarves layin' around?  Put them in the bag, Johnny Brown." to use it as a clean up song.  Change Johnny Brown to your own child's name and adapt the verse to something you would like them to get done.  Singing about it may make the task easier for you and for them!

The book we read along with "Hey Diddle Diddle" was
"Hey Diddle Diddle" By: Eve Bunting

The book keeps the same rhythm as the poem/chant, but adds other animals and instruments.  I checked it out at the Lake Wylie Library and it will be back there in a few days for you to get it next!

http://www.amazon.com/Hey-Diddle-Eve-Bunting/dp/1590787684









Our dance this week was the "Can-Can," and our play along was "Rocky Top." Click below to enjoy them at home!

Journey Montessori September 19

We continued working on some basic musical concepts this week with the songs we sang, danced to, and played instruments with in class.
The students are continuing to work on finding the steady beat for the Hello and Goodbye songs.  I change the steady beat to make it faster or slower, so they have to listen closely to the guitar to know how fast to pat the beat.
We did two familiar, and fun, rhythmic chants this week in music class.

I Have a Little Frog

I have a little frog
His name is Tiny Tim,
I put him in the bathtub,
To see if he could swim,
He drank up all the water,
And gobbled up the soap!
And when he tried to talk
He had a BUBBLE in his throat!

Hey Diddle Diddle

Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.


I read a great book to go along with the poem "Hey Diddle Diddle."
"Hey Diddle Diddle" by: Eve Bunting

The rhythm from the original poem is continued in the text in the book.  Each animal in the book plays a different instrument.  Students who I had last year that remembered what family different instruments belonged in could also identify those instrument families while we read the book!


http://www.amazon.com/Hey-Diddle-Eve-Bunting/dp/1590787684



We danced with scarves this week to the song "Pop Goes the Weasel."  Again the students had to work on listening closely to the music to know when to dance and when to freeze and throw their scarves up (they threw the scarves any time they heard the music or words for pop goes the weasel.)

We played sticks this week and worked on when to play and when not to play.  The students found very creative ways to keep their sticks quiet!  They were all very good listening for when to play and when to stop.
Our instrument play along song was "Rocky Top."  All of the students are doing a fantastic job waiting until they hear the music begin to get the instruments, keeping all of the instruments with their "family" in the correct box, and putting them all back as soon as the music ends.  The play along time also gives me a good opportunity to see who can play along to the beat of the song, and who can change the way they are playing to match the music (loud, soft, fast, slow, etc.)
Click the link below to listen to Rocky Top at home.  Help your children identify the instruments they see playing, and see if you can figure out what family of instruments they belong to.

Montessori Music Class

I can hardly believe we have already had three wonderful music classes at Journey Montessori this year!  The students are doing great in music class and we are having lots of fun.  We have several songs that we have been singing for the last three weeks.  Some of the songs will change soon and some of them will stay as part of our routine in music class.  We will always start class with our Hello song and end with a Goodbye song.  Right now I am just looking to see that the students can help me find the steady beat with both of those songs.  As the year goes on we will add some more difficult rhythms with the Hello and Goodbye songs.  We are also working on using our singing voices and finding the tonic (first note of the scale/key we are singing in) the dominant (fifth note of the scale/key we are singing in).  These are the easiest notes for our ears to hear and voices to sing.  The kids don't know they are working on all of this though, they just think they are having fun singing in silly voices up high and down low!

Some of the songs we have been singing that will change soon are, Open and Shut Them, Marry Wore Her Red Dress, and Yankee Doodle.  Below is a list of what musical concepts we are working on while singing those songs.

Open and Shut Them - This is a familiar song for many children.  We are using this song to calm down and prepare for music class.  We are also using this song to work on audiation.  (The definition of audiation is in the Music Together post below.)  Because it is a familiar song I am listening/watching to see if the children can sing part of the song, then hear the next part in their heads while we continue with the hand movements silently, then sing the following phrase, and so on.

Mary Wore Her Red Dress - This has been a fun way to get to know each of the students.  Each student gets a turn in this song to tell me something they are wearing and the class sings about it.
Check out the book Mary Wore Her Red Dress at your library or Amazon.  You can look inside the book on Amazon and see the song notated.
http://www.amazon.com/Dress-Henry-Green-Sneakers-Along/dp/0618752498

Yankee Doodle - We have used this song to work on marching (large motor skills) and group work.  The students are separated into two groups in class, the green group and the yellow group.  Each group had two phrases of the song to march across the room and back to their line.  They had to work as a group and listen closely to the music to all make it back to their line in two phrases!
We also used this song as a play along.  They learned about all the different non-pitched percussion instruments we have in the room and what family (box) they belong in.  Click the link below to play along with the song at home!

Music Together September 12, 13

Fall Music Together classes are off to a great start!  I'm so excited that we have three fantastic classes in Lake Wylie this session!  It's wonderful to have some local make-up options.  There are classes at 9:30 on Mondays and 9:30 and 10:30 on Tuesdays in Lake Wylie.  Each class has only a few spots open.  If you want to invite a friend to try a class with you I would love for you to bring them along.

Thank you to all the mommies, daddies, grandparents, aunts!  You were amazing singers and dancers in class.  Your children will learn best by hearing you sing and seeing you dance and play instruments.

This week we danced to Jump In The Line by Harry Belafonte.  This is a fantastic song to dance to or play instruments with at home.  Click the link below to enjoy it at home.

If anyone missed out on the information from the coloring page handed out in class here it is!

"Audiation is defined as the ability to hear and understand music in the mind, when the physical sound of that music is not present.  Aduiation is not a skill that is immediately or quickly learned.  It is a skill that children develop slowly, through an ordered process over a period of time.  And it is best for children to develop this skill as soon as possible.  They can learn to audiate shortly after birth."  

Guiding Your Child's Musical Development 

by Edwin Gordon

You Audiate when singing a song like "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and leave out (don't verbalize/sing) one part each time you repeat the verse.  We worked on audiation today when we did a drum break and continued playing to the beat of the song with no music (singing) present.  The songs we added the drum break to were Little Liza Jane and Funga Alafia.  They are paired together on your CD, but on separate pages in your song book.  I encourage you to get out drums or pots and pans at home and play along with this song this week.  It is a great recording to play along with!