SINGING GAMES
Singing games are an important part of 1st grade music. Part of my job is to choose the best-quality music for students to learn and explore. This means picking songs that are child-like, not childish (idea from John Feierabend); picking songs that have withstood the test of time (classics - you can listen to them 50 times and they're still great!); and picking songs that are vocally and age appropiate. Many children's songs were originally games - think "Ring Around the Rosy," "London Bridge," and "Farmer in the Dell." As we learn songs to build repertoire, learn musical concepts and learn how to sing well, we put the song with the game so it is used in its original context. This allows the students to sing it over and over without fatigue, and allows them the joy of the song's original purpose. Here is one of our first grade classes singing and playing "Puchinella."
LA, LA, LA, LA!
1st Grade Students are mastering the 3rd solfege tone of the year! La just made its appearance on "Music Street" and students are practicing singing, reading, and writing the pitch. In music class, we use Curwen hand signs to represent each pitch with our hands. This gives students an opportunity to see how high or low a note is with their eyes while they hear it with their ears. It also lets them physically show what they know as some still work to master showing what they know with their singing voice. Ask your child what the "secret hand shake" is for la, mi, and do!
PATHWAYS AND MUSICAL CONTOUR
Students are exploring musical pathways. They read "Stanly Mows the Lawn" by Craig Frazier and explored moving in straight, curvy, and zig zag pathways as they acted out the story. But their feet aren't the only things that can create pathways! Their voices explored straight, curvy and zig zag pathways as they warmed-up their singing voice using siren sounds, they identified straight, curvy and zig zag sounds in recorded music, and they are creating straight, curvy, and zig zag pathways (moving up and down in different patterns) on the xylophones.
WEEK 2:
Students are listening for matches in music this week as they work on in-tune singing. They experimented with speaking, singing, whisper, and yelling voices using "Johnny, Whoops." They had their first experience playing xylophones and demonstrated their ability to keep a steady beat as they said the poem, "I Think Music's Neat." Enjoy 1G using their singing voices and partner skills to perform "Hello, Hello."
1st Grade students have been working hard to establish their singing voice, recognize vocal matches, and identify and perform a steady beat. The first week, students learned "Engine, Engine," sang a hello song with movement and partners, and improvised conversations using so and mi. Check back for photos and videos of your child at work in the music room!
The 1st Grade Music Curriculum is based on the elements of music and is aligned with the National and State Music Standards. Here are the highlights of your first grader's music experience:
RHYTHM: steady beat, beat vs. rhythm, quarter notes, quarter rests, two eighth notes
MELODY: pathways (musical contour), up and down patterns, high and low sounds, solfege: so, la, and mi
FORM: same/ different, AA and AB patterns
HARMONY: ostinato (a short, repeated pattern used to accompany a song)
EXPRESSION: dynamics (piano/ soft and forte/ loud)
TIMBRE: singing voice, percussion (xylophones and unpitched percussion), string family
THEORY: musical staff, repeat sign, double bar line
HISTORY & CULTURE: performance etiquette, audience behavior, how music connects to the world around us
