Oh, Say Can You See!

    

    In concurrence with Veteran's Day our 3rd through 5th grade students learned about our national anthem the "Star Spangled Banner."  We not only learned the words and how to sing the anthem, but also the incredible story behind the words that we sing.  Francis Scott Key wrote the words as he watched Ft. McHenry in Baltimore being bombed for twenty-six hours. The video below tells this incredible story.

    We used several different activities to learn the lyrics to our national anthem.  Below is the Smartboard activity that the class used to quiz themselves on the words.  Try and see if you can guess the hidden words. 

Now lets see how well you did. 

    We also watched several different performances of the "Star Spangled Banner,"  from Beyonce to the Military Academy Choirs to see which group performed it most closely to the original version.  The overwhelming favorite performance of the anthem was from a group of young girls from Texas named the Cactus Cuties.  Enjoy the performance below and if you would like take the "Star Spangled Banner" quiz on Sporlce by clicking this link. 

Mustang Chorale Performance 11/9/2012

I wanted to share with everyone the fantastic performance that Mustang Chorale did for our Veteran's Day Celebration this year.  We sang Teresa Jenning's, "We Celebrate America."  The duets were sung by: Emma Newberry, Ashley Class,  Ali Powell, Sarah Christensen, Lily McElhannon, and Sidney Dunn.

Mustang Chorale Veteran's Day Performance

    This Friday Mustang Chorale will be performing at CFES' Veteran's Day celebration.  The celebration is from 9:00-10:00 this Friday morning.  We will be singing one piece titled, "We Celebrate America."  Mustang Chorale members will need to wear red, white, and blue or any combination of those colors.  If you have any questions please contact me.  

Happy Halloween!!!!

Everyone have a safe and Happy Halloween!  Below is our school's favorite Halloween song this year.  It's from everyone's favorite spooky show The Addams Family.

The Music of our Planets

    Over the last month students from 2nd to 5th grade have learned about one of the great orchestral suites in music and the  solar system.  In 1915 Gustav Holst composed the orchestral suite, "The Planets."  Each movement of the suite is named after a planet in the solar system and it's corresponding Roman God name.  All the planets are represented except Earth and Pluto (It wasn't discovered until 1930.)  Each music movement has it's on title and mood.  We listened to each movement along with facts and pictures of each planet.  After we were done listening the students described each piece.  Mars the Bringer of War was described as scary, doom like, forte, and many thought it sounded like Darth Vader's theme music.  
    Mars was a special planet to learn about since NASA just landed the Curiousity Rover on Mars in August.  Below is the incredible video that NASA put together so we could get a taste of what it is like to land a robot on another planet.  NASA's soundtrack for the video was of course Holst's Mars.  

Take a listen for yourself and have your kids tell you a few planet facts.  Below I have linked all the planets with the corresponding movement from Holst's "The Planets."  Just click the name of the planet and enjoy!

I.   Mars, The Bringer of War 

II.  Venus, The Bringer of Peace

III.  Mercury, The Winged Messenger

IV.  Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity 

V.  Saturn, The Bringer of Old Age

VI.  Uranus, The Magician

VII.  Neptune, The Mystic

Mustang Chorale's First Rehearsal

    We were a full house yesterday in our first Mustang Chorale rehearsal.  We have a total of 55 singers!  It's quite a sound with that many great voices singing together.  We worked on our music for the Veteran's Day celebration along with our vowels and consonants.  I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings us in Mustang Chorale this year.  Thanks for your support!     

Mustang Chorale Starts This Monday

    Mustang Chorale is Colham Ferry's very own choir.  We rehearse after school on Mondays from 2:30-3:30 in the music room.  The group is open to any 4th or 5th grader that would like to be a part of the choir. No audition is necessary and you do not have to sing by yourself to be a part of the group.  You must reliable transportation that picks you up at 3:30 for every rehearsal.  Behavior and attendance are also important parts of being a member of the choir.  

    We will begin rehearsals this Monday, September 24^th.  You must turn in your permission slip before you can attend Mustang Chorale.  If you cannot get the permission slip back before Monday, you can start on the next Monday, October 1st.  I will not accept any more students after that date.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  I can't wait to see you at rehearsal!

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I think I can...I think I can...I Think I Know What Tempo Is....

    In first grade we have been learning about tempo.  Tempo is how fast or how slow music is.  We have used the a song about a freight train that starts at a very slow tempo and moves to a faster tempo to learn about our new music term.  We moved around the room as one big first grade train, first very slowly and then we picked up the tempo.  CHOO CHOO!

Bears Help Kindergartners Get Loud and Quiet

    In kindergarten this week we have been learning about the musical terms for loud and soft.  Forte means loud and piano means soft.  We learned the song "Grizzly Bear," in class that helped us learn these two new musical terms.  The song tells the story of a grizzly bear who is asleep in a cave that we wake up shaking and singing.  He gets very mad and the class gets to let out a forte low pitch bear growl.  Have them sing it for you and tell what parts are forte and piano.

5th Grade Music Critics

    This year in 5th grade we have already started working on Pirates the Musical!  We have also started working on becoming music critics. Everyone has different taste in music and this year in 5th grade we have started a listening journal that includes both classical and modern music.  We will listen to music from Bach to Rock.  We will not all love the same kind of music and we had a class discussion on how to critique music in a mature way.  Below is what we want to know about each piece.

- Who?  Band/Artist/ Composer

- What?  Genre

- When?  Year/Old or New 

- Where?  Country of origin

- What did you like about it?

- What did you not like about it?

-Instruments?

- Voice?  Male/Female, High or Low

- Dynamics (Loud or Soft) 

- Describe it in a few words.     

    Our first week's listening examples were two very different pieces of music. Our classical work was George Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks, La Rejouissance:  Allegro."  

    Our modern piece for the week was a personal favorite, the Beach Boy's "Good Vibrations."  

    "Good Vibrations" has a very interesting instrument called a theremin.  Check out below how this instrument works. 

    Take a few minutes and be your own music critic.  Which did you like the best and why?  Leave any suggestions you have for our next daily listening journal.  

Little Drummers

    In second grade we continued to work on our quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest patterns.  These kids are getting good.  We have gone from doing one measure of four beat patterns to what we did today, five measures of four beat patterns.   Show your parent or have your child show you how to clap the patterns below.  Remember to mind your ta and ti. 

Peppermint Twist

    In third grade we discussed the style of Rock n Roll in it's early years.   Most of us know Chubby Checkers song, "Twist!", but we learned another song that twisted named, "The Peppermint Twist."  This song was made famous by Joey Dee and the Starliters in 1962.  We had a great time learning the song and the dance. Take a listen on YouTube below and see if you can join in with Joey Dee. 

The Three Little Pigs "pitch" in.

    In kindergarten and first grade we have been learning about the musical term pitch. We have learned that   pitch is how high or how low a sound is.  We have used two sets of characters to learn about high and low sounds.   In the story of the "Three Little Pigs,"  we discussed what characters would have a high pitched voice and what characters would have a low pitched voice.  We all practiced saying the famous lines, "Not by the hair on my chiny-chin-chin," and " I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."  It didn't take much time to figure out which character had the high voice and which had the low.  So thanks for the Three Little Pigs for pitching in and helping us learn about high and low sounds.

5th Grade Musical

Pirates the Musical 

January 17th at 6:30

    This year in 5th grade we are lucky enough to be performing a great musical straight from the high seas.   We will be working on this musical in class from now until the performance on January 17th.  It's tells the story of a stowaway that sneaks onto the ship and wants to be a pirate. Will the King of the High Cs let the stowaway stay or will the pirates get their way and throw the land lubber overboard?  Sail on over on January 17th to find out.