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?

Happy Holidays!

Congratulations Everyone! We are so pleased at how well our "Celebrations across the Nations" concert turned out on Thursday. Thank You to all the staff, parents and students who made the concert such a great success. I would like to wish everyone a happy holiday of relaxing, playing, visiting, travelling and enjoying time with family and friends! See you in January!!

Chidade Maravilhosa

We are getting very excited for our upcoming holiday concert on December 13th! We have all learned so much about a few celebrations around the world and some classes are learning different languages along the way. The grade 5's who will be celebrating "Carnival" with you have learned to sing a song in Portuguese called "Cidade Maravilhosa." After practicing our song for a week or so it came to my attention that this song is actually quite famous in Brazil. In fact it was used in the promo video for the Olympics in Rio in 2016. The students enjoyed this video so here it is!

Celebrations Across the Nations

On Thursday, December 13th, the grade K-5 students will be performing in our annual holiday concert. This year our theme is "Celebrations across the Nations" and each grade or class will be presenting and performing music from different celebrations in different countries around the world! Performances will be at 1:30 and 7:00. Please come to the afternoon show if you are able to so we have ample room at our 7:00 show. We have had many community members answer my call for help with music and dances and I thank them very much for their help. We will once again have our cereal tree in the front hallway collecting cereal and mittens/toques/scarves for Westgrove School.

Remembrance Day Assembly

On Thursday November 8th we will be having a Remembrance Day Assembly in our school gym at 11:00. All are welcome to attend. Our Grade 3-5 Choir, Flute Choir, and Grade 8 Band will be performing as well as various other students with poems and thoughts about Remembrance Day. Hope to see you there to "Take Time to Remember".