Since this is my third year at Gold Rush, it took me a lot less time to be working on names this year. It is still a challenge to be good at remembering almost 700 students and teachers, but I think it's really important.
In our first musical week together, our Musical Headline was Beat or Pulse and beat groupings (Meter):
- Kindergartners experienced beat by walking and running as they took turns in "Let's Go Walking". The sound of the tambourine matched their footsteps and each student's names were added to a chart, designating how many claps (or syllables) are in their name. In addition, students explored the movement space with different steps, accompanied by drum or recorder. We also worked on building routines such as our circle song. With this we also changed the verse to reflect different beat ideas the students had.
- First Graders experienced beat through the song "Welcome Back to School". We worked with the musical symbols for one beat of sound and one beat of silence (Tah and Rest). We did this with movement and notation. Students took on the challenge of memorizing a 16 beat sound/silence pattern! Some groups were even able to maintain the pattern while I played a melody over the top with my recorder to "mess them up". Amazing! For the Red and White specials teams, we had a longer week (no Assessment Days during their time) so we also learned a singing game called "Circle Round the Zero".
- Second Graders sang and moved to the song "Welcome Back to School", greeting different partners. They 'discovered' the rhythm of the body percussion of the song and then used the notes/rests of that to create new patterns. One day each person in the class chose a card at random with either a Tah (quarter note), Rest (quarter rest) or Tee-Tee (pair of eighth notes). These were laid out in one 24 beat line. Students clapped and said the pattern and then transferred it to hand drums. They also learned a beat game called Ali Babba which introduces movement echoes and phrase length. And they experienced the Rhythm Erase challenge with a 16 beat pattern of Tahs and Tee-Tees. The groups that had all 5 days in this rotation enjoyed a Talent Time (chance to share performances) and then chose songs to sing as a group from a digital Song Folder.
- Third Graders zeroed in on beat and meter through listening to determine the meter or beat groupings of 2 Strong/Weak) and 3 (Strong/Weak/Weak). They experienced the beat and meter in conducting patterns, and in movement/listening games like Meter Match-Up. Third Graders also identified the meter in given musical examples, showing their answers with colored squares to indicate the pattern of strong and weak beats. In addition to this work with Meter, we did some mirroring and reversal copies (true right/left) in preparation for learning to play the recorder. The groups that had all 5 days in this rotation also enjoyed a Talent Time opportunity and then got to sing songs of their choosing from the digital Song Folder.
- Fourth Graders worked with beat/pulse with sound and silence and beat groupings. We did several movement games matching a drum. Students also had the challenge of discovering all of the possible 4 beat combinations which could be made with one beat symbols for sound and silence. (There are 16 of them). They first worked in class independently or with a partner and then finished the work as homework, bringing it with them to music the next time. With this in hand, the class notated them at the SMART board and then put them into a single 16 measure string - considering musical flow, strong beginning and ending, etc. Students read the patterns from start to finish with clapping and saying, then transferred it over to hand drums. Fourth graders also explored meter in regards to time signatures and the way bar lines group beats into measures with 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 and 5/4. We played meter listening games to reinforce the concept of meter or beat groupings and did some work at the board putting in bar lines to match a given time signature. The week finished with a Talent Time opportunity and singing songs of their choosing from the digital Song Folder.
- Fifth Graders focused on beat experienced through sound and silence. We started off with a movement challenge called add and subtract. Matching a drum beat, students step 8 beats. Each time the pattern repeats, one step is taken away and in its place a clap is added without moving. This continues until all beats are clapped and then the steps begin to be added back in. Once the pattern was reasonably secure, we transferred the clapping over to hand drums and in place of the steps, left the beats silent. Fifth Graders completed their first composition project and performance in this rotation. They experienced a graphic notation of sound and silence using cups on the floor arranged in a 4 x 4 configuration which could be read from 4 different sides or perspectives - each with a different beginning and ending point. It was a challenge to play them each simultaneously (Tutti). After experiencing this as a class composition, students divided into groups of 4 to create their own original sound/silence 4x4 composition and structure a performance of the piece. Students had the opportunity to create the form for the performance and choose sounds or instruments to play their part on - focusing on the musical elements of Form and Timbre. Each group performed their piece for the rest of the class, giving me a chance to focus in on each student reading their sound/silence pattern. This collaborative composition will be used for Base Line Data as students continue to compose and create music throughout this school year. The groups that had all 5 days in this rotation also enjoyed a Talent Time opportunity and the chance to sing songs of their choosing from the digital Song Folder.
In the coming rotation 'week 2' (September 8- October 2) the musical focus will be Melody.
