What a Show!

Wow is all I have to say about each and every performance at our concert last night. From the Dancers to the Recorders, the Drummers to the Videos and all of the performances in between our Olympic Opening Ceremonies was a huge success! Thank You to everyone who worked so hard to make this concert so special for our school. Now it's time for holidays! Enjoy and rest and we will see you next year!!

Olympic Opening Ceremonies Information!

10 days to go! We are all getting very excited and practicing very hard for our concert on Thursday December 19, 2013 at 1:30 and 7:00! There have been some questions about costumes but what I have told everyone besides the Kindergarten (reindeer)is that you could wear nice clothes, wintery clothes or your grades sport/Country themed clothing! Really whatever you want!! We just want you to be there and be and ready to sing and dance. Please be in your classrooms at 6:30 the night of the concert and let me know if you aren't going to be there! If anyone has questions please feel free to email Mrs. Dueck at kdueck@pembinatrails.ca. Keep reviewing your words and actions, dance moves and instrument parts to keep it fresh in your mind!

The Sweep Song

The Grade Three's are getting ready to perform their songs about curling at our Olympic Show. To sing along and practice at home here is the video with "The Sweep Song".

LM's Olympic Opening Ceremonies!

It is that time again!! Time to start preparing for our Holiday Concert on Thursday December 19th at 1:30 and 7:00 PM. This year our theme is something very different and unique. The Winter Olympics in Sochi

are coming up in February and I have always been fascinated and excited by the opening ceremonies that each country puts on. I thought it would be fun for our school to put together a concert a lot like this. Be prepared for a multidimensional musical concert with singing, instruments, movement and everything we work so hard to learn in our music classroom!

Halloween Songs

I am very excited to have a link for you to check out some of the recordings we have made this week with our Halloween Orff pieces and songs. Just click on the link and listen to your class perform. Please share this with your family so they can hear what you have been learning in music class. The website is called Soundcloud. http://soundcloud.com/user36767831/sets/halloween-songs-1/s-06gI7

There was an old lady who wasn't afraid of anything!

The Kindergarten students have had fun this week singing songs for Halloween. We read the book "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything" by Linda Williams. They enjoyed it so much, we found the song and story on youtube and recreated it in our classroom using non-pitched percussion instruments, body percussion and movement. We learned about faster and slower and the names of some of the instruments in our classroom. Enjoy watching this video at home to get in the Halloween spirit.

Down by the Bay

This week in Grade 1, we have been singing "Down by the Bay" and making up our own verses to the song. Sometimes they can be quite funny! We have had a lot of fun making the verses rhyme and make sense as well as drawing a picture to match!In the end, we made a beautiful book that can be viewed at tri-conferences next week!

Recorders

It's a very exciting time for the Grade 4 and 3/4 students at Linden Meadows because it is soon time to start learning how to play the recorder!! The Grade 5 students will be continuing on with their recorder journey to get ready for a new band instrument next year. Although it is a simply instrument to learn it can still have its challenges and I would like to talk a little about how to play the recorder.

Always Remember:

1. Sit up tall with recorder pointing down with left hand on top
2. Blow with gentle warm air
3. Cover the holes completely and check your "recorder warts"
4. Listen for beautiful clear tone
5. Clean recorder when finished

If you make a mistake, practice that measure a few times by itself. When you can play that measure correctly three times in a row, try to play the entire piece again correctly.

If you get frustrated, put your recorder away for a few minutes and just sing and clap the rhythm. Try again later after you give yourself a break.

If you feel inspired, compose your own melody on the recorder to share with the class.

Always end your practice time with a song that you love to play. Give a little concert for your family so they can enjoy your music, too!

As soon as all the recorder order money is in I will order them!! In the meantime enjoy this beautiful video of a young girl named Lucie Horsch playing the soprano recorder. This could be you soon!!

-some info taken from Katie Traxler.com

Welcome Back to School!

Welcome Back Everyone! I am excited for another year of music making and seeing all of my wonderful students again. What an amazing summer! I can't wait to hear all of your stories and listen to what you learned from your adventures over the summer. I spent most of my summer with my family at our cottage! We had so much fun playing on the beach, exploring the wildlife, and a little bit of relaxing too. I also had some time to go to Vancouver Island which was such a beautiful place. I even went snorkeling in a river with Salmon!

I have loads of new ideas for songs, dances, composing, and music from around the world! I am also looking forward to new recorder players, musicals, and meeting our new students. See you soon!

Canada Day Assembly

Today, on the last day of school we all worked together to put on the most amazing Canada Day Assembly! We had student speakers talking about what it is like to live in Canada when they have come from other countries, our Grade 3-5 choir singing Canadian Folk Songs and signing O Canada, The Glee club performing "the Power" by Will. I. Am., Grade 5's doing funny Canadian dances, Grade 6's making beautiful power points and being the MC's for our event and the Grade 2 students singing an Ojibway welcoming song. To cap that all off we had 2 bag pipers and 2 drummers from the Lord Selkirk pipe band lead our annual parade around the school yard. Thank You to the tech team and everyone who worked hard to make this happen! Have a fantastic summer!

Have a great summer!

I would like to wish everyone a very happy and fun filled summer! We all know how quick it will go so make sure you spend lots of time doing the things you love and appreciating that you do not have the same routine as during the school year. There are lots of fun ways to be musical over the summer. You can attend concerts, put on concerts with your friends, play singing games, clapping games, play instruments, make an instrument, try creating your own song, listening to music on your ipod and play musical games on the computer. There are lots of games and links on the right hand side of the blog. I can't wait to see you all again in September! Be Safe and Have Fun!

O Canada (Sign Language)

We are in our last month of school! I can't believe it, we have had such a fantastic year. It is definitely not done yet with quite a few events yet to come including our cherished Canada Day Assembly on the last day of school. We take great pride in celebrating our amazing country and this year one of the ways we will express this is by signing "O Canada" while we sing to open the assembly. The choir will be leading this but anyone who would like to join in is welcome. Here is a video which Mrs. Leofloor uses to help us learn the signs. Mrs. Leofloor will teach the choir to take a few of the signs out so as not to have too many to remember but at least we can practice at home.

Grade 1 and 2 musical production of SQUIRM!!

Today we performed Squirm to a very enthusiastic and encouraging school of K-8 students as well as some very proud parents and teachers! The Grade 1 and 2 students were amazing! They knew all of their words, acted out their lines beautifully, and sang their hearts out to our musical all about what makes you "SQUIRM"! Thank you to all the teachers and volunteers who helped us make this production so special. I would like to especially thank the children for all of their hard work to get ready! this is something that we will all remember for a very long time!!

The Harvesters

In preparing to learn the music for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra concert, Grade 5 Lowdon listened to a piece called "The Harvesters" by John Estacio and were asked to create artwork to match what they were seeing and feeling when they listened to the music. With the help up Mrs. Van Nice the students created some beautiful pieces and three of them were even chosen to have their artwork projected on a big screen at the performance with the symphony. Congratulations Brandy, Jonathan, and Paolo! I loved every piece and have put them in a slideshow to the music that they listened to so many months ago. Enjoy!

WSO Choir

Here is a picture of our wonderful WSO choir. We had 14 Grade 5 students participate in this wonderful event! Thanks to all the parents who came out to see the concert. We enjoyed performing very much. A highlight for us was singing "Ode to Joy" in German with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra!!!! That doesn't happen every day.

The Cup Game

Grade 4 students have been working on learning a cup rhythm to use with our recorder song "My Paddle". I gave out paper instructions but I think it would be helpful to have a video to watch and I finally found one that I like. Have fun! It's a challenge but it feels amazing when you get it!

Squirm!

Ahhh!! Join the wiggly and squiggly Grade 1 and 2 students as the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Daddy Long Legs, Hook Worm, Snake, and a host of other critters take over the stage. But wait! No need to scream, just listen carefully and you will learn how things that make us squirm can be A-okay!Parents, mark your calendars for Thursday May 30th at 2:00 PM for this fun showcase of our singing talents! There will be a school presentation the same day in the morning at 10:45. Hope to see you there!

Music Monday

This year Music Monday is going to be out of this world!! No it actually is! Here is what the coalition for music education has put together for us this year. "Be part of the nation-wide simultaneous concert with Commander Hadfield live from the International Space Station. At the same time across Canada, musicians young and old will unite to sing and play the official Music Monday song - I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing) -written by Commander Hadfield and Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies." Linden Meadows will also be participating in this event on Monday May 6th and we will put on a space themed performance at 11:00 that morning in the big gym. Hope you can make it! The choir, recorder club, and a few more TBA groups as well.

Festival Du Voyageur Day

Fun was had by all on Friday March 1 as we held a "Festival du Voyaguer" day at our school for the K-4 students. The students spent the morning moving to different stations like "dress like a voyaguer", toboganning and dancing and singing to the fiddle and french songs. In the afternoon we had two performers come and entertain us! First was a storyteller named TiBert le Voyageur who taught us about the history of the voyageurs and what they used to do in their day to day life. We were then entertained by Emelie Chartier and her amazing fiddle playing. Everyone was clapping to the beat and enjoyed every bit of her performance. Thank You to everyone who dressed up and to all the teachers who made each station so much fun for everyone! I wonder what theme we will do next year!!

Winnipeg Music Festival

Good Luck to the Grade 3-5 Choir as they get ready to perform at the Winnipeg Music Festival on Monday, March 4. We will have a rehearsal first thing Monday morning in the band room and then get right on the bus and head to Westminister Church for the performance. We are slated to go on last in our class at approximately 11:30. If another choir is unable to attend we will be bumped up so please come early if you plan to watch so you will for sure see us perform! It will be great to hear from the adjudicator what she thought of all the hard work we have put in. We will have a celebrations part on Friday March 8th so we have a fun week in store! Email Mrs. Dueck with any questions and I will get back to you asap!

Oboe Presentation

We are so lucky to have a parent in our school who plays for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. Mrs. Wright plays the Oboe and English Horn and treated us to a presentation so that we can get to know these instruments a bit better before we head off to the concert hall on Monday morning. We learned that the Oboe and English Horn use a double reed and Mrs. Wright has to make these reeds herself using tools and a piece of reed which sort of looks like bambo. She also played a few selections for us which were so beautiful to listen to. We would like to to thank her very much for coming in to do this. We will be watching for her on Monday!

Technology in the Music Room

This week the Grade 2, 3 and 5 students worked with an app on the Ipad called "My First Classical Music App." They explored the instruments of the orchestra and filled out an exit slip with 3 facts that they learned while using the app. I was very pleased they were able to show me that they learned quite a lot about the instruments of the orchestra. They wrote things like "The viola is just a bit bigger than the violin" and "the trombone uses a slide to change notes." Here is the link to the app on itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/my-first-classical-music-app/id530616330?mt=8

Planet Rock

During our "Planets" unit, the Grade 3's will be singing and moving to songs that go with our theme of Outer Space. On the days when we are not listening and analyzing "The Planets" by Gustav Holst we will be practicing these songs. Our first song is called "Planet Rock." We will be singing and dancing at the same which is very tricky at times. Here is John Jacobson(the composer)with his signature dance moves for you to practice at home! Just click on this link to go to his website instead of the Youtube version. http://doubledreamhandsdance.com/

Gustav Holst's "The Planets"

The Planets has been a big discussion topic in our music room this week. The Grade 3 students are embarking on a large "Space" themed music unit where we will be also listening to this wonderful composition by Gustav Holst. We will be analyzing the music and talking about all the italian music terms that can be used to describe music. The Grade Five students are preparing to go the Centennial Concert Hall in March to see the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and one of the pieces they be playing there will be "Mars" from the same composition. We recently watched the video simulation of the Mars Rover landing on Mars while listening to the music of Gustav Holst at the same time. The video is very exciting and I have had a few requests to put it on the blog so the students can watch it again at home. Holst names each of the planets and Mars is called "The Bringer of War". When listening to the music, can you describe how he made his music match the title?