Today was an awesome day in Arts Ed with M. Ingola's Grade 5/6 students! We put together a six-part Orff arrangement for one of our West African folk songs, "Funga Alafia". It was wonderful to see how the step-by-step model of learning different instruments and rhythms worked when we put everything together. Students took turns playing different parts: Soprano Xylophones, Alto Xylophones, Bass Xylophones/Metallophones, drums, shakers and singing! Here is a clip of when we really started to get into the groove: During the month of March, we studied music from around the world in all grade levels. In particular, we looked at music from Western Africa.
This month, we are using one of our folk songs and creating different arrangements using Orff and non-pitched percussion instruments. Each grade level will experiment with improvising using set melodies and learning to read to sheet music. We hope to put everything together for the "Farewell to Connaught on 4th" potluck at the end of the month! Here are some photos of our Grade 1 and 2 students working through body percussion stations. In pairs, one student was the "pointer" or conductor, and the other students was the performer. Grade 1-2: Students are creating their own body percussion compositions. We have practiced different snapping, patting, stomping and snapping patterns. Now we make our own patterns!
Grade 3/4: The goal this week is to learn two chords - C and G7 (modified single string chords). When we master this, we can start playing well known folk tunes, like Skip to My Lou and Happy Birthday. Grade 5/6: We are continuing our STOMP projects. Two more work periods before we perform during the last week before the February break. Grade 7/8: This week we are working to create a positive classroom culture so we can take risks during improv exercises in drama. This week, the Grade 5/6 classes started working on their STOMP projects. Each group had to come up with "instruments" (any school or household item!) and a main theme or "A section". The students were guided to choose items that have different kinds of sounds like: low (a drum), metal and "colour" (mimicking a shaker instrument). The goal is to have some sound variety in the presentations. The students were also asked to make sure every group member has a role while maintaining a steady beat. Here are the students in action: Here is a video of one group trying out some different ideas for their main theme: The Grade 5/6 and Grade 7/8 French classes have been working on a guitar song of their choice for the last month. They had to choose a song, create a fret diagram based on the chords in the song, practice the chord changes and then share with me or the class. P.S. It was PJ Day when these photos were taken! The Grade 5/6 English students were busy creating and performing their cup song performance this week. The focus was on MUSICAL FORM - using an A section (in our case, everyone did the "regular" cup song pattern) and a B section (something different!). The Grade 5/6 French students ended the week by rehearsing their chosen guitar songs. Each group picked a song and filled out a fret diagram to use for their practice sessions. Next week we will share some of the performances during class! In both French and English Grade 3/4 classes, we started learning a traditional Iroquois lullaby called, "Ho, Ho, Watanay". We added a tremolo (quickly repeating one note) using the bass metallophone, a steady drum beat and a simple rhythmic pattern on the alto xylophones while singing the melody. Next week we will learn how to play the melody on the barred instruments. This will include looking at musical staffs and reading notes and rhythms.
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