Creative Clutter and Music

It truly is invaluable to continue to perform as an adult when teaching music. My summer playing/singing with the Pueblo Municipal Band on Sundays in the summer and our annual Christmas Concert remind me of my passion for music and why it is so important for children to learn and be exposed to quality music.  Because it is the director, Mark Emery's, favorite and I love to sing it, please enjoy a video of myself performing Merry Christmas Darling.

Reflecting on the Holiday rush.... Kindergarten - Celebrations Hannukah, Kwaanza and Christmas First Grade - Christmas Around the World (with First Grade Teachers) Second Grade - Nutcracker Ballet (We attend the week before Christmas, do a written reflection and do movement, art and music activities) Third Grade - Holidays Around the World (Hannukah, Kwaanza, Christmas, La Posada, Diwali, and then in January Chinese New Year) Fourth Grade - Holiday Musical (this year Christmas at the O.K. Corral from Plank Road Publishing) Fifth Grade - Precorder Arranging Project (see previous post) Resources used: All Around the World Story of Hannukah (3rd grade) Kwaanza Kwaanza (Sesame Street) Diwali Las Posadas Santa Lucia Santa Lucia How to Draw A Nutcracker Trepak Percussion Trepak Boomwhackers Waltz of the Flowers percussion December Songs We LOVE Reindeer Pokey Christmas, If You're A Kid Crazy Santa - Just Dance Little Snowflake (We LOVE to sing this one) Las ...

So... this was my new idea for addressing Colorado Music Standard 2. Creation of Music.  The 5th Grade Grade Level Expectation is for students to compose, improvise, and arrange melody with rhythmic accompaniment.  I use Precorders from Suzuki Music.  The precorder allows for earlier success than the recorder, with raised finger holes, side markings for hand placement, and a warmer tone with less squeaking.  5th Grade students had been working through Recorder Karate at their own pace.  Following Thanksgiving Break we worked on some Holiday tunes I gathered.  For their arrangement project students chose groups, then a song.  Students were given a worksheet with the rubric.  Instructions included that within their performance two people must play the precorder, the 3rd and 4th student could sing, dance, or play a rhythm instrument. Several students started asking other questions.  In the end I had students play the piano, bring and play a...

First Grade Favorite Holiday Song graphing music lesson. We sang popular Christmas songs and the students made Holiday Song Books. The songbooks contained 11 songs. (NEXT YEAR I WILL MAKE A BOOK WITH 6 SONGS.) During the next lesson students marked their favorite song with a sticker. As a class we looked at the results, tallied and discussed them.  The students then transferred the results to their own paper and wrote their interpretations compared to their own favorite. On the worksheet, I added a box to draw themselves sharing music with someone. The students loved this!