Santa, I can explain!

A big Thank You and Congratulations to everyone who performed, helped, and worked at the 2011 Holiday Concert on December 12th!! It was a big success and it was all due to the energy and community that is Linden Meadows School. I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday and am excited to start some new music in 2012.

Holiday Concert 2011

This year’s Holiday Concert is fast approaching and the children in K-5 are all working very hard on their part in the holiday concert. This year the concert is called “Santa, I can Explain!” starring Linden Meadows Music Students. It has proven to be a very fun theme so far and the students are excited about the possibilities in performance. The concert this year is on Monday December 12th.

Remember there are two shows. The first concert is at 1:30 and the second at 7:00. Both are the same so if you are able to make it to the afternoon concert please do because the evening is always full and we want everyone to be able to have a good seat and view of their children.

If you are interested in helping out in any way we would appreciate it. Please email Mrs.Dueck at kdueck@pembinatrails.ca if you wish to do so. We will need some help with costumes this year so if you are interested in helping with this we would really appreciate it!

The “Giving Tree”
Once again, Linden Meadows School will be collecting breakfast cereal and mittens for our Giving Tree. The items donated will be given to Westgrove School for their breakfast program. The “Giving Tree” will be up Monday, December 5, until the night of the concert. All donations for the silver collection will go to Westgrove School for their Breakfast program as well. Thank You!

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Grade 5 students are currently learning about African Music and have learned a xylophone piece and African dance. We just began learning the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" on the recorder and Orff Instruments. I showed the students a video of The Nylons singing this famous song and they enjoyed it very much and requested I put it on my blog. It is to be noted that while many musicians sang this song in the 60's and used in "The Lion King" Disney movie, it was originally written in the 1920's by Soloman Linda, a South African singer of Zulu origin.

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back to Linden Meadows everyone!! I am looking forward to another fun filled year of music making. Make sure you watch for upcoming choir announcements and other musical opportunities that are available at our awesome school. I was reading a magazine over the summer that had an article entitled "Singing does the Body Good" It talks about how the act of singing actually raised levels of immunoglobulin A, an antibody that boots immunity! It also stregthens your lungs and circulatory system!!

African Thumb Piano

This is an African thumb piano. This summer my Aunt went to Malawi and brought me back this very cool instrument. It is found all over Africa and sometimes goes by the name of mbiri, sansa and kalimba. I love it because it is so simple and yet can be played using very complex rhythms in African music. Check out this website to find out more and listen to one play. http://pbskids.org/africa/piano/haveflash.html

Have a Great Summer!

I would like to wish everyone a great summer and let you know that I appreciate every one of you and will miss you for these two months!! I am also excited to go to the cottage and relax and come up with some more fun ideas for our music classroom. To my Grade 5's, I have really enjoyed teaching you and hope that you still pop your head in and say hi on your way to band next year. Good Luck!! If you are looking for some fun web sites to play on during the summer don't forget about my list on the right side of this screen! This is Mrs.Dueck signing off for the summer!

Canada in my Pocket

This year one of the songs we will be performing at the Canada Day Assembly on June 30th will be a sing-a-long. The song is called "Canada in my Pocket". We have performed this before so you may remember it from a few years back. The Choir will be leading the song and my hope is everyone will join in and sing to celebrate our amazing country. This is a video of the song so you can practice at home!

Ludwig Van Beethoven

The Grade 4 students have been learning about the composer Ludwig Van Beethoven. They have learned "Ode to Joy" from his last symphony on the recorder, watched a movie and read about his life and how he still composed even in the last 7 years of his life when he was deaf. I found this beautiful video of nature scenes with Beethoven's Symphony #7 in the background. Grade 4's if you recognize the music, come and tell me where you have heard it before!

Amazing Show

Thank You once again to everyone who helped put on Dinostars. It was performance we will not soon forget! The kids went all out and I think I may have forgotten in my speech to thank them and their amazing parents for all their hard work in preparing for the show. The costumes were so cute and they all knew every word!!! It was so cool to see how many prents could make it out and the energy in the gym last Thursday was unbelievable! If you were unable to make it please bring in a labelled CD-R and I will put the video of the concert on it for you!

Melody Street

This week, the Kindergarten students were introduced to Melody Street, a new website featuring Ethan Bortnick. Ethan is an 11 year old pianist and the website is a fun way to learn more about the musical instruments of the orchestra and classical music. Check out the video below. The website is www.melodystreet.com. Have fun!

Dinostars!

Get ready everyone! The Dinostars are coming on May 26th and they are going to put on a show that you will not soon forget. Actually it is the Grade 1's and 2's but they are pumped to perform! We will have a dress rehearsal for the K-5 students in the morning on the 26th and then a parent show at 2:00. The performers are reminded to practice as much as they can so they we can sing and act clearly and with lots of expression and confidence.

Music Monday

Music Monday is back! It will take place on Monday, May 2, 2011. It also happens to be the day of the election so there may be some entertainment at 11:00 for whoever happens to be at our school. All of the students in our school will be a part of this important day which highlights the importance of music education in our schools! We will keep you posted with all the details of our performances.

Dinostars

Hope everyone had an amazing Spring Break! The Grade 1 and 2 students are very excited to announce that they will be putting on a mini musical on May 26th, 2011 at 2:00 pm. The name of the musical is "Dinostars" and it is proving to be an amazing theme, engaging all the children on the first day with the catchy songs and lyrics! The K-4 students will also be coming to watch the performance. Mark your calendars now!!!

Picture!!!

I am just so proud of the the students involved in the Symphony Choir last month! I just received this picture of the performance day and thought I would share it with you! We are near the top of the choir on the left.

Amazing Week!

Wow! What an amazing week of the symphony choir performing with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra AND all the Grade 5 and Grade 7 students enjoying the entire concert the next day. Some highlights were singing Adiemus with all the instruments of the orchestra right in front of us as we were onstage, being backstage at the concert hall, and the performances from Opera singers, a Magician and amazing musicians. Also seeing the artwork of 6 of of our Grade 5 students on the big screen as the orchestra played "Nocturne" by Mendellsohn. Thank You everyone for your hard work and to the Grade 5 and Grade 7 students for their behaviour at the concert. We represented LM well!!

Symphony Week

All our hard work is going to pay off this week. The Symphony Choir is performing on Tuesday in the afternoon and the Grade 5's will get to sit back and enjoy the music we have been learning about on Wednesday in the morning. Please remember that the Concert Hall is a very nice place and we want to dress the part. Please wear your nicest clothes to the performance and remember to not cheer and scream like you would at a rock concert! I know that you will behave like Linden Meadows students always do when we are on a field trip, with respect for the people in our community.

GOLD!!!

Congratulations to the Grade 3-5 Choir on their performance at the Winnipeg Music Festival on Monday! We were awarded a Gold for all the hard work we have put into these two pieces of music. You should be very proud of yourselves!! Now let's have some fun with our Music Monday songs! There will be no practice tomorrow but we will back at it next Wednesday March 16th at 12:25 for our Party!

Attention Grade 3-5 Choir!

Winnipeg Music Festival is on Monday!!! Don't forget your shirts!!!

The Planets

This term, the grade 3 students have been listening to a composition by Gustav Holst called "the Planets." He has composed a piece of orchestral music for each of the 7 planets. This past week, both grade 3 classes made some artwork to decorate our classroom as we learn songs about Space and talk about the music we have been listening to. It was hard to fit everyone's artwork in the picture but you can see that everyone worked very hard on their creations.

Grade 2's Field Trip

The Grade 2's had a wonderful time at the symphony yesterday. Mr. Mark and Manny the Tuba were the hosts of the show and they were funny and entertaining. some of the highlights were the Russian Dancers, the acrobat, spanish flamenco dancers, aboriginal hoop dancer and singer,and singers who sang "A Whole New World" from Alladin at the end. Everyone had a fantastic time and we represented our school well. Thank you to the parent volunteers who helped us out!

WSO Choir

As the Grade 2's and Grade 5's are preparing for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Concert by listening to the music, the 13 member WSO Choir is learning to sing the music. On March 22 at 1:00 Pm they will join a 200 voice choir from Pembina Trails to sing with the WSO. What an opportunity!!! It will be an amazing experience. Parents who are interested in coming to the performance are welcome to, information has gone home.

Valentines

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Many of you are asking to see a picture of my kids. A little early...but Happy Valentines day!

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back everyone! I hope you had a great holiday with your friends and families. We are off to a great start here in the music room! The choir is excited about preparing for the Winnipeg Music Festival. The choir was told today that this is the first year of many that there will be no Pembina Trails Sings. This was a festival within our own school division prior to the city wide festival. The reason is, is that our division is going to be taking a 200 voice choir to sing with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on March 22 at 1:00. I will be putting together a choir just for this event. The thing is I am only allowed to bring 18 students and they must be in Grade 5 or 6. There is a sign up sheet on my door for those students who are interested. If there are more than 18 students signed up then I will do auditions. This will take place on Tuesday January 11th. I am looking forward to working with some of the 6's that I have missed so much this year!