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!