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?

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!!