1st Grade Informance: Friday, Feburary 1st

First Grade Students will present their music informance, Cooking Up Music!, on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013 in the Benson gym.  Please join us to hear your child perform songs and activites from music class and get an inside look at our music curriculum.  Each presentation will last approximately 1/2 hour.

COOKING UP MUSIC!

1st Grade Music Informance

Friday, Feb. 1, 2013

1:30 p.m.: 1SCH & 1P

2:15 p.m.: 1G, 1C & 1SAN

Franzen Chorus Session II Begins January 16!

The second session of chorus will begin on Wednesday, January 16.  Students will meet from 2:30 - 3:30 p.m.  Please visit the chorus tab for a complete calendar of dates.

Franzen has begun their Ozzie Reading Challenge!  The Franzen Chorus will sing the National Anthem at a Kane County Cougars Game on Sat., April 6.  To earn their ticket to the game, students must complete their reading goals each week.  Please encourage your child to crack open that book and turn in their documentaion each time they meet a reading goal.

I look forward to hearing the gym reverbarate with singing again on Jan. 16!

5th Grade Informance: Thursday, Nov. 15

If you have a 5th grade student at Franzen School, this is your chance to see them perform and show off all of the hard work they have been doing in music class!  Come and see your student sing, play recorders & xylophones, dance and participate in music activites from class.  Please feel free to invite friends and family as well!

Classes will perform at the following times in the Franzen Gym:
12:45 - 1:15 Copot & Cuzzone
1:30 - 2:00   Rosales & Wardzala

What exactly is an informance?

An informance is an informal performance that informs parents and audience members about grade-level curriculum, daily music activities, and specific subject content that was addressed by a piece of music.  Its name is derived from a combination of “information,” “informal,” and “performance.”

Come get a first-hand look into your child's musical experience!  See you on the 15th!

Elgin Symphony Halloween Spooktacular

Looking for a great Halloween outing?  Check out the Halloween Spooktacular Children's Concert presented by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra.  Kids can wear their costumes, and the orchestra will be dressed up, too!  You can check out activites before the concert including an Instrument Petting Zoo, Arts and Crafts, and Making Music.  Then hear the Elgin Symphony play a concert produced just for kids!  The Halloween Spooktacular takes place on Sunday, Oct. 28 at the Blizzard Theatre at Elgin Community College (activites start at 2, the concert is at 3:30).  Go to www.elginsymphony.org for more information.

How can YOU nurture your child's interest in music?

Private music lessons are always a great step for students with an interest in music, but your child's interest in music can benefit from inteacting with YOU, too!  Here are a couple of places to start:  

• Sing and move with your child.  It doesn’t matter if you think you sing well or not – studies show that parents who sing have children who sing.  Turn on that car radio, or pick out some of your favorites on itunes and share the music you love with your child.  (One of my favorite memories from my own childhood is singing “Barbara Ann” – and a myriad of other tunes from the 60’s – with my dad in the car.)  Moving to music (or dancing!) reinforces your child’s sense of beat, creates self-confidence and can just be a lot of fun (and good exercise!)!

• Take your child to a classical concert.  The Elgin Symphony offers a Family Fun series with concerts designed just for kids!  The first one takes place on Sat., Oct. 28, “Halloween Spooktacular.”  The orchestra will be dressed in costumes and you child can come in his as well! Go to www.elginsymphony.org for more details.

• Explore music online or write music online.  Try any of the following on a rainy day:
• www.dsokids.com
• www.classicsforkids.com
• www.sfskids.org
• www.creatingmusic.com

NY Times: Early Music Instruction Improves How We Hear & Learn

Check out this NY Times article printed last week discussing a study by researches at Northwestern University on how the brain responds to sound.  They determined that those music lessons you took when you were in elementary school will pay off even when you are 70!  Active engagement and disciplined study of music early on improves how your brain processes sound.

“To learn to read, you need to have good working memory, the ability to disambiguate speech sounds, make sound-to-meaning connections,” said Professor Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University. “Each one of these things really seems to be strengthened with active engagement in playing a musical instrument.”

As you age, your previous music instruction has created "auditory processing skills that can help you understand speech against the background of a noisy environment." 

 http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/early-music-lessons-have-longtime-benefits/

National Anthem Day: Friday, September 14

Franzen Students will celebrate National Anthem Day on Friday, Sept. 14 by singing the Star-Spangled Banner in an all-school sing.  This day marks the anniversary of when Francis Scott Key wrote the poem that eventually became our National Anthem.  According to a 2004 Harris Interactive Survey, 2 out of 3 Americans do not know the words to the Star-Spangled Banner!

Franzen Students have been learning about the text, melody and history of the Star-Spangled Banner in class.  To kick off Special Friends' day on the 14th, select 5th graders will lead the National Anthem over the intercom while the rest of our school sings along!  It will be a red, white, and blue day at Franzen to mark the event - have your child wear red, white, or blue on the 14th!  To learn more about the Star-Spangled Banner, the war of 1812, or the flag itself, visit the link to the left.