Music Matters: Songs we are learning in class

3rd Class Room 14 LOVE to sing.

Here are some songs we are learning in school.

 

Here they are on Vimeo. Unlike You Tube Vimeo is not blocked in school.

Please supervise your child online.

The internet is a postal to the world outside.

 

  1. Mrs. Dempsey is teaching us

‘Carol of the Bells’ for the Christmas Pageant.

Here is a version of the song.

The introduction lasts about 40 seconds

and then you should be able to recognize it.

We are not quite this good yet, but we are working on it.

Click HERE to hear Pentatonix on Vimeo

Hand Bells at Rest crayboy2000 via Compfight

2.Click HERE to see Gary Barlow’s ‘Sing’ on Vimeo.

We have learnt this song with Mrs. Dempsey in Music Generation.

3.Winter Songs from Crush Creative on Vimeo.

4.Colour My World from ivor jones on Vimeo.

5.Everyday – Buddy Holly from Anastasia Loekito on Vimeo.

Mrs. Dempsey is also teaching us ‘One in a Million’

and ‘Raise your Voice’ from Sing Up.

Both of these are on You Tube which is blocked in school.

6.Click on THIS link to hear ‘Raise my Voice’ and to see the dance we can do.

7.Click HERE for Bruno Mars ‘Count on Me’.

8. Owl City ‘Fireflies’

9. Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’

10. By the time the summer time arrived ‘A Million Dreams’ from ‘The Greatest Showman’ was our new favourite.

11. It turned out that the musical ‘The Greatest Showman’ was a great favourite that children had enjoyed at home. ‘This is Me’ is another song from this show.

12. Room 14 discovered Rachel Platten’s Fight Song on ‘Go Noodle’.

Finally there was ‘Defying Gravity’ from the musical ‘Wicked’. HERE is Beau Dermott singing this and here are the LYRICS.

 

Student Favourite: Incredible Incredibox

Donkey Kong Country Beatbox and Spraycan
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Richard Lemarchand via Compfight

We enjoy making music in real life.

We also enjoy making virtual music.

Incredibox is a great website.

They made us an invitation

we can’t refuse;

to become the conductor of

a group of human beatboxes.

 

Click on this link to try it.

This activity is fast becoming

one of our favourites.

But we warn you; it can be addictive 😉

We love music: Some online games from Music Games.net

notes of a rock song
Photo Credit: Bùi Linh Ngân via Compfight

We love music in the classroom.

Singing together

or playing musical instruments together

makes us feel happy

and more of a team.

Here are some great music games

on Music Games.net.

 

If you would like to see other posts about music 

on this blog, just click on this link.

After all we are called ‘If Only the Best Birds Sang’ 😉

 

A Song for Winter: ‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson

With the clocks going back this evening thoughts turn to Winter.

‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson


Below is a wonderful animation of this melodic song.

‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

and here is some artwork in chalk  inspired by it:

A Word to the Wise:

Please don’t leave your child to explore Photopeach unattended  :)

The internet is a portal to the world outside. Children should be supervised.

 

Music for Fun – Music Websites – Student Favourites

 2nd Class Room Six enjoyed

Primary Resource Co Uk – Early Bird Singers

Curious
Photo Credit: Steve Jurvetson via Compfight

 

and these ones;

 

Singing Horses from Denny Web.com

Bobby McFerrin.com – Sing and Play with Bobby

Exploratorium.edu – Dotmixer

 

You can find more student favourites by clicking on the tag

‘Student Request’ 

or ‘Student Favourite’ at the top of this post

on the right of the page under ‘Click below to see…’

 

Music; A Month by Month Menu of Themes and Activities for 1st & 2nd Class

MUSIC; A MENU OF ACTIVITIES FOR FIRST & SECOND CLASS

 

Music for First Term;

bivouac
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: horizontal.integration via Compfight 

*September;

Theme; Myself;

 

Exploring ‘body percussion’

and then percussion instruments

 

Introducing recorder in Second;

correct posture and way to hold recorder,

‘tongueing’ to make the note.

 

Introducing first recorder notes.

 

*October;

Themes; Autumn/Halloween

Songs: e.g. The Witch is on her broomstick

Halloween is coming

A Witch wears a long, tall hat

Jack O’Lantern

 

‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ by Wagner

‘Music for the Royal Fireworks’ by Handel

 

Using percussion sounds and voice to compose a Halloween/Fireworks piece

*November;

Themes; Friends/Co-operating

Composing a ‘Dinosaur Dance’ using percussion instruments.

 

*December;

Traditional Carols

Popular Christmas Songs; compilation tape

 

Music for Second Term;

The sun, planets and major moons (2560 res!)
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Jules Stoop via Compfight

*January; Themes; The Planets

 Holst; ‘The Planets’ excerpts

 

Following some work on Vaughan William’s

‘March Past of The Kitchen Utensils’ 

Click on this link to see the work we did.

Some work on the theme of ‘My School’;

Listening to the sounds at school

Composing a piece using school equipment;

 chalk, pencils, glantóirs, bell.

 

‘We’ll sing a hymn to Brigid’ in preparation  

for her feast day 1st February

 

*February;

Grieg; ‘Morning’

 

Pancake Tuesday;

 ‘Pancake Day’

 

Valentine’s Day;

 ‘There’s a little wheel a turning in my heart’

 

*March;

Listening to ‘Peter & The Wolf’

 

Feelings and emotions;

How does music make us feel?

 

Seachtain na Gaeilge/St. Patrick’s Day

 

Music for Third Term approx;

Resurrection
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Grant MacDonald via Compfight

*April;

Themes; New Life;

Growth in spring;

Growing things

 

*May;

Themes; Summer;

The sun has got his hat on

 

Making a percussion instrument;

paper plate tambourine, drum, shaker

 

‘May is the month of Mary’

‘The Bells of the Angelus’

 ‘When Creation was begun’

 

*June;

Themes; Water;

Sound compositions;

The Sea

The Seaside;

Beside the sea.

Under the sea

 

Debussy; En Bateau

Coucher de soleil à Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Matthieu Luna via Compfight

Resources for teaching music;

 

 

Compilation of classical pieces

 

 

 

 

Musical Notes for First and Second Class

 

First and Second Class

ARTS EDUCATION

Music Notes

 Bent Notes
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Michael Summers via Compfight

The time allocation for Arts Education (Art, Drama & Music)

in 1st/2nd is three hours per week in total.

 

I plan to teach recorder for the ten minutes before

little break daily.

 

and for there to be extensive integration with topics from other subject areas

e.g., with Language Development; English Irish, R.E., SPHE, etc.

 

ASSESSMENT

 

I will assess the children’s progress in Music through

  • teacher observation,
  • some teacher designed tasks
  • some copybook illustrations e.g. responding to music

 

I will be particularly interested in the children’s ability

  • respond to music
  • to read music
  • to play the recorder
  • and to compose

 

I would also like the children to assess their own learning

  • informally through discussion during and after class

 

There will be Parent/Teacher Meetings in December

School Reports in June.

 IMGP5736
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Joshua Stearns via Compfight

DIFFERENTIATION

 

I believe that every child is capable in the area of Music.

The range of activities in Music will give each child

the opportunity to be successful in this subject.

 

Arts Education; Music;

Objectives; to develop in the child the following concepts;

 

Musical concepts;

a sense of pulse

duration

tempo

pitch

dynamics

structure

timbre

texture

style

 

These concepts will be developed as strands below are covered.

 

In accordance with the spiral curriculum topics would be dealt with

in more detail in Second Class

 Meow
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Enokson via Compfight

Strands;

 

– Listening and responding;

 

Simple listening games; animal sounds;

  

Exploring sounds; environmental, vocal, body percussion and instruments

 

– Listening and responding to music;

 Strings
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Scott Barlow via Compfight

Classical:

 

e.g. Those that are pensive and convey melancholy mood include;

 

Piano Concerto No. 21 ‘Elvira Madigan’ Mozart

 

2nd Movement; ‘Adagio, Concierto De Aranjuez’ Joaquin Rodrigo

 

Adagio in G Minor’ Tomaso Albinoni

  

‘First Movement; Adagio-moderato, Cello Concerto,’ Edward Elgar

 

‘Meditation; Thaïs,’ Jules Massenet

 

‘Intermezzo, Cavalleria Rusticana,’ Petro Mascagni

 

Those that are more upbear and animated;

 

‘The Hallelujah Chorus,’ Handel

 

‘Jupiter – The Bringer of Jollity’  Holst

 

‘The Emperor Waltz,’ Johann Straus II

 

‘Ode to Joy’ from 4th Movement,

Symphony no. 9 in D Minor,’ Ludwig van Beethoven

 

‘O Fortuna’, Carmina Burana, Carl Orff

 

‘Ride of the Valkyries,’ Wagner

 

Prélude, Carmen,’ Georges Bizet

 

‘Chorus  of the Hebrew Slaves, Nabucco,’ Giuseppe Verdi

 

‘Dies Irae, Requim Mass,’ Giuseppe Verdi

 

Compilations available here: Classics for Kids

 

IMGP5558
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Joshua Stearns via Compfight

Nursery rhymes and children’s songs by various artists.

Click on this link to see some of the songs we enjoy in class..

 

 

Church Music;

e.g. Christmas,

St. Brigid’s, 

St. Patrick’s Day,

Easter

and also to prepare for confession/communion

 

Popular Music;

Current Favourites; e.g. Hits from the popular charts.

Listened to during activity time & tidy up time.

 

  • Performing;

Song Singing; a wide range of songs:

rainn agus amhráin,

action songs, playground games and songs,

popular songs from TV and radio.

 

Recorder pieces; using the notes b,a,g,e,d,

 

  • Early literacy;

I will be teaching Second Class to read music in order to played the recorder.

 

Recognise and perform simple rhythm patterns

 

  • Playing recorder and percussion instruments (pitched and unpitched) regularly;

Game; The Magic Tambourine

i.e. Tambourine passed around a circle of students as silently as possible.

 

Accompanying tapes of familiar tunes.

 

Observing dynamics; loud and soft, quickly and slowly.

 

Dividing up into different groups;

‘hard’ sounds; blocks, claves & ‘soft’ sounds; bells, tambourine.

 

Coming in on the instruction of the ‘conductor’.

 

  • Composing, improvising and creating;

 

e.g. seasonal themes

e.g. Autumn Leaves,

The Haunted House,

Fireworks, Weather,

Rain,

The Farm,

The Harbour/ Seashore

 

Talking about own work and the work of other children

 

Invent graphic symbols for single sounds and sound effects;

A bell, a shaker, a high note, a loud note, the wind, thunder

 

Recording compositions: making podcasts using Audioboo.

 

Click here for 

A month by month menu of music activities for first and second class.

 

Thank you for the music: Contemporary songs (with lyrics onscreen) on Vimeo that we enjoy singing

Our class loved a sing song this year.

These Vimeo videos are useful in that they have the lyrics on screen.

Disney - Illuminations - Reflections of Earth (3) (Explored)
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Joe Penniston via Compfight

We find the words of Katy Perry ‘Firework’ uplifting and inspiring.

 is very melodic and tuneful.

three little birds 20.11.07
Photo Credit: kookalamanza via Compfight

Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’  also puts us in a good humour and

Dynamite
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Jacki Gallagher via Compfight

Taio Cruz’s ‘Dynamite’  is … dynamite!

Wintersong
Photo Credit: Lola Audu via Compfight

Though the words of  ‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

are not included on this video, we are including here,

because in is another song we enjoyed this year.

Vimeo is very convenient as,

unlike Youtube, it is not ‘blocked’ in school.

However please do not let your child use Vimeo unattended.

2nd Class Room 6 received an e-mail from Audioboo

Recently 2nd Class, Room 6 made a podcast,

of the class singing this melodic song

by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson!

 

 

UPDATE: 27th December 2012.

This morning Teacher received an e-mail from Audioboo

which she thought would interest 2nd class, Room 6

 

Hi  Merrybeau,

 

Congratulations.

Your boo http://audioboo.fm/boos/1126073-2nd-class-room-6-sings-winter-song 

has had 1,000 listens and probably more by the time you read this. 

 

That makes us, and hopefully you, very happy.

Thanks,

 

The Audioboo team”

Amazing!


Lovely work Isabella!

2nd Class Room 6 wish all their friends and families a Very Happy Christmas!

Create your own Animation


Illustration by Senan.

Merry Christmas Everyone 🙂

A Visualization based on ‘Winter Song’ by by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

Today we listened to a beautiful song:

 

‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

This is what Matthew drew.

 

‘Winter Song’ was familiar to many of the students

because it is currently being used in an often repeated

advertisement on the television.

 

We studied the lyrics.

We used our imagination

and we sketched some pictures

that the lyrics put into our heads.

 

Then we took a look at a

wonderful animation on Vimeo

to inspire us even further.

‘Winter Song’ by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson

 

Initially we used white chalk

on black sugar paper.

Then we added colour.

This is what we did:

 

These are the results:

Winter Pictures in Chalk on PhotoPeach

 

We would love to hear what you think of our artwork.

Do leave a comment.

We would love to hear from you.

If you would like to comment,

please double click

‘Continue Reading’ below

and a comment box will appear.

A Word to the Wise:

Please don’t leave your child to explore Vimeo or Photopeach unattended  :)

The internet is a portal to the world outside. Children should be supervised.

A D.I.Y Recorder Concert for the Parents of 2nd Class, Room 6


Great work Abi!

Dear Parent,

Your child is going home with
their recorder
their music book ‘Recorder from the Beginning, Book 1’
and the cd from the back of the book.

We have been learning the recorder for six weeks.
Teacher thinks that Room 6 are a musical class.

Recorder class is often one of the most pleasant times of the day as we all work together to make music.

We hope you don’t mind too much that we haven’t been bringing our recorder home to practice!
Now we should be able to play you our repertoire using the backing track on the cd.

We should be able to play as far as the tune called ‘Chicka Hanka’
and perhaps ‘Chatter with the Angels’.
Certainly we should certainly be able to play: ‘Hot Cross Buns’.

Just in case this plan does not work out, this is Plan B.
Perhaps you would like to listen to a podcast of 2nd Class Room 6
playing a tune on the recorder.

Teacher feels that many of the children are playing ‘by ear’ very successfully
but between now and Christmas we will work on reading music.

Who knows what we might achieve by June!


Well done Owen.
Create your own Animation

We’ll Sing A Song To Brigid

St. Brigid is the patron saint of our school.

Every year as St. Brigid’s Feastday

(1st February) approaches

we practice singing

‘We’ll Sing A Song To Brigid’.

We have been singing this song since we were in

Junior Infants, so we know it well 😉

Legend says that angels sang over the place Brigid was born.

‘The spatula is the commander!’

Teacher played us ‘March Past of the Kitchen Utensils’

by the English composer Vaughan Williams (1872-1958).

We drew the march as we imagined it.

Chloe drew the kitchen utensils looking strong, marching along with determination!

Ryan explained ‘The spatula is the commander!’

Patrick’s blender was a tank 🙂

You can see the work of the children who completed their pictures here on

PHOTOPEACH AS ALWAYS 🙂 Vaughan William’s piece is used as the sound

track on this slideshow.

 

Then we played along to the music using some kitchen utensils as percussion.

If you found this post interesting,  this exhibit

From the ‘Kitchen’ on Exploratorium.edu

may interest you.