Happy Birthday Star Spangled Banner

Last week we sang and played along to the Star Spangled Banner.  This year is the Star Spangled Banner's 200th birthday.  It was written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort M'Henry",^[1] a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in the Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British song written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London.

If you want some more information about the National Anthem here is a video giving some history.    

This week in class we are singing parts to Ding-a-Ding and adding an ostinato to Hotaru Koi.  If you want to work on part singing with Ding-a-Ding on your own play the CD, begin singing with it, keep singing that first part through the whole song.  When this gets easy pick one of the other parts and sing it the whole time you listen to the song.  There are a lot of repeated parts to try!





Here are our dance songs from last week and this week.

Ostinatos, Call and Response, and Suggested Books

Tomorrow begins the third week of Fall classes.  Here are a few things we have already accomplished this session!  Week one we sang ostinatos (a repeated melody or rhythm) along with the Canoe Song and Train is A Comin.  I encourage you to continue to sing these with your CD and then with other family members this session.
The Canoe Song ostinato is, "Dip, dip, and swing."  After you hear it on the recording just keep on singing it while the recording sings the other part.
The Train is A Comin ostinato is, "Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga Choo Choo."  You also hear this on the recording.

Last week we did a call and response with Train is A Comin.  I sang, "Train is a comin" and you responded, "Oh yes!"  I encourage you to try this.  Call and see what your child responds with.  It may not be the exact words, but they will quickly learn to respond with the correct pitches.  If this song is not familiar yet try a call and response with something you already sing a lot.  Maybe twinkle twinkle little _____.  Wait for that last sound from your child!

We also looked at a fun book put out by Music Together last week, Ridin in the Car.  Music Together has several wonderful books to go along with songs now.  You can enjoy them on their YouTube channel and purchase them at musictogether.com.  

Over the past two weeks we have also begun to put different beats in our feet.  We have done a lot of tip toeing!  Last week we tip toed to Walking in The Woods.  The week before was the Can Can.  You can enjoy tip toeing, wiggling, and kicking to the Can Can at home by clicking on the link below.

Songs From the Summer Session

I encourage all of you who took the Summer session to continue playing with the Summer collection over the next month.
In class we worked on call and response with Obwisana and Singin' Every Day.  Continue playing with this concept by singing a little bit and waiting for your child to the next part back to you.  Once you know a song really well this is a fun game to play.  If you are not comfortable trying call and response with these songs pick a song you and your child both enjoy and try the game.
We also worked on singing a simple round.  In the Fall session we sang Frere Jacques in a round and this session Hey Ho Nobody Home.  You can sing in a round with another adult or older children, or if that is not a possibility then sing in a round with the CD.  Let the singer on the CD start first and then you come in next.  If you are not sure where to come in look at the song in your Music Together book, it marks where the second person is to come in with a *.
Another concept we work on this past week in class was adding an ostinato to a piece.  An ostinato is repeated part that accompanies a song.  With the chant Here is A Bunny we added ostinatos with the words hop, ha, and sounds for making a circle.  These also correlated to different beats to move to with the music.  Ostinatos are a lot of fun to make up!

I mentioned that my family is currently enjoying a beginning Latin book.  It is called Sing Song Latin.  Learning Latin through song is perfect for us!

Here are some of the extra songs we danced and played instruments to in class this session:

We danced (with the parachute) to the ABC song from the Baby Loves Jazz CD.  I like the songs on this CD.  It's worth checking out

We tiptoed, kicked, and wiggled to the Can Can




We played instruments along with Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy



And we danced along with Kingdom Dance from Tangled

Dynamics and Form

We worked on so many terrific elements of music this week in class!  I am thrilled that so many families are completing (at least) their third consecutive session of Music Together with their child(ren).  The children are used to the routine and classroom environment and are becoming skilled musicians!  This week we improvised by simply replacing your child's name and the body part to tap in Jumpin' Josie.  (In one class we improvised with Jim Along Josie on accident.  Did anyone catch that?)  We also improvised by changing Pease Porridge to some other type of food.  This simple improvisation is also done on your CD.

We explored dynamic contrast this week with Jack in the Box and William Tells Ride.  Using dynamic contrast in your daily routine can be a simple and effective way to capture your child's attention.  Try singing directions softly to your child when you're feeling stressed and see if it makes you both feel better.

William Tells Ride is also a wonderful introduction to basic musical form.  In class we did a different movement for each section (A,B,C,A).  For older students write the letter and have them point to the different letter as they hear each section.  Put the letters around the room and move to the A for the A section, B for the B section and C for the C section.  If you have older children who are learning how to read and notate music assign a note or compose a rhythm pattern to tap along with each section.

Singing and Dancing to the popular song Let It Go was a blast this week!  I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the little ones sing and move to the music.  As your children grow it continues to be important for them to see you model good singing for them!  Even if you do not feel you are a strong singer or dancer, keep modeling it!

We have used the CD to sing one part while we added an ostinato (repeated part) or a round with it.  In the last few weeks of class we will attempt all of the parts without the help of the CD!  Enjoy practicing at home and in the car this week!




Just for fun!
 

Jazz

For our play along in class this week we jammed to Ella Fitzgerald's Old MacDonald.  After playing however we wanted with the music we played together on different beats (microbeat, macrobeat, supermicro).  I encourage you to play at home patting the beat on the whole note, half note, quarter note, and eighth note.  You do not need to force your child to play this.  Just model it for them and they will learn to feel, and play the beat just like you.

So far this session we have hopped like bunnies and danced like chickens!  Enjoy doing this at home.



 I love this video of a family doing the bunny hop together to celebrate their little girls birthday!

Spring Week 2

This week in class we continued to enjoy songs without words.  These songs are easy for children, and adults, to process and sing quickly because your brain does not have to be concerned with learning the melody and new words at the same time.  This collection of songs has some wonderful songs without words.  (Songs without words are songs sung on various syllables or sounds that have no meaning.)

We continued to explore mixed meter with singing and playing instruments in 5/4.  Singing while counting your fingers is a great way to feel the 5/4 meter and practice fine motor skills and counting!

Our extra dance and play along this week were the Ray Anthony's Bunny Hop and Dan Zanes version of All Around the Kitchen.  Enjoy them at home with the links below!

Spring 2014

I get an update on my blog about once every nine weeks now.
We keep a busy schedule in our house.  We homeschool our children and that has taken priority over many other activities during the day, updating my blog is one such thing.
I am thrilled to have so many wonderful families completing a full year of Music Together with their children.  This session will be a lot of fun.  Now that the routine and expectations of the class are familiar to you and your children we can do more improvising, ostinato parts, and rounds!
We started simple this week by improvising with what we saw in the picture in the book, and ways to move.  In the weeks to come we will pass around rhythm patterns and add more parts to our songs.
I encourage you to try singing harmonies and rounds with your CD.  If you have a harmony part you like sing it in class!  It's great for the children's ears to hear multiple parts.

I will do my best to get any play along and dance songs we use from outside the collection posted here.  Have fun waltzing and naming instruments with your child while you watch and listen to the music.

Musical Contrasts

Welcome to the Winter session of classes.  Hopefully you have had a chance to begin enjoying the songs for this collection by now.  There are some fabulous mixed meter songs (the ones you can't march or waltz to).  I have become such a better musician as an adult by playing with mixed meter with little kids!  I think everyone should learn mixed meter through play!

Our dance this week is the Russian Sailors Dance by Reinhold Gliere.  
It is a wonderful piece of music to move to.  The melody takes on many different personalities and give us a chance to move in many different ways.  See how creative you can be coming up with ways to dance along to the song at home this week.

We have used the Love Song of Kangding as both a large movement song dancing with scarves and a lullaby. The version in our collection of songs is a song with out words. Here is a live performance of the song, sung in Chinese, with subtitles. Listen to the difference in the timbre of the performers voices.