Aiken Drum Day

Now that we are done with our concerts for the year we try and cram in a ton of fun things before the end of the year.  One of them I haven't done in years is the great nonsense song of Aiken Drum.  This is a very old folk song that originated in Scotland.  There are many different versions of it, and the possibilities are endless.  

Today my 2nd graders sang the version I had by Music K-8.  They thought the song was hilarious as it's very catchy and easy to sing.  Then I asked students to help us design our own Aiken Drum for their class.  I think we ended up with a watermelon head, cheese body, string cheese legs, apple wedges feet, noodle arms, lettuce leaf hands, green olive eyes (not black), orange slice mouth and spaghetti hair.  My artistic skills are pitiful at best, so I didn't take a picture of him.  Maybe next time.  

Then the real fun began.  I split them up into groups with a simple task: make their own Aiken drum out of classroom instruments.  I gave them a few expectations before turning them loose.

1. Treat instruments with respect

2. Collecting, not playing

3. Work as a team

4. Put them back where you found them

Their creations turned out very unique.  When we do them again, we're going to start working on the correct names of the classroom instruments and what families they belong to (pitched, unpitched, shaken, scraped or hit). Here are today's creations

Hockey Singers

We got the chance to share our hard work at our school assemblies today. The hockey game is this Sunday in Des Moines at 5pm.  These 51 students have given up extra sleep on 12 Wednesday mornings to come practical 7:30am. They are so excited to share their efforts at the game.

 

What a great day we had at the Iowa Wild hockey game.  This was an experience I hope they never forget.  We felt like fish out of water with not knowing how to meet and which door, and ticket issues, but we managed to get everyone where they belonged on time.  Our PR coordinator led us to the lowest point of the arena where we had to wait for the LONGEST time EVER!!!!  A whopping 30 minutes with 50 elementary kids who are excited and nervous did make for an interesting wait, but they did great.  We proceeded to get lined up and watched the zambonis come on and off the ice.  After their last pass, it was time to lay out the green carpet.  When we got out there, they announced the players and they skated on to the ice right up next to us.  Very cool experience.  We led the way with God Bless America and another school group sang the National Anthem. 

We had practiced and practiced and practiced and it all paid off.  They looked, sounded and behaved in an extraordinary manner.  Very unlike elementary students.  I was so proud of them how they performed and how they showed respect on the ice.

When we were done they shooed us back upstairs and we found parents and the rest of the game was ours to enjoy.

This was a really unique experience that I might consider doing again.  Now that I have an idea of how it works I would be able to communicate better to my parents involved and help them through the process of ordering tickets, doors, etc.

 

Concerts coming soon...........

Our spring concerts are quickly approaching and the music room is experiencing things never done before.

I'm taking a different approach this year and (gasp) trying something new. I always do a mass concer in one evening with all 6 grades (K-5). It makes for a very long night and is exhausting. This year I'm breaking them into 2 grade levels on 3 different nights. Yes, it's making more work for me but it's less students at once to coordinate. I'm hoping it also allows the students to feel more special about their night. 

Kindergarten and 1st grade is presenting on Tuesday March 1st. They are sing and dancing folk songs. 

2nd and 3rd grade is Tuesday March 8. They are singing songs about good character, folk dancing and doing a rhythm routine. The dance below is of 3rd grade dancing The Little Shoemaker folk dance. 

4th and 5th grade are keeping a patriotic theme. They are proudly learning The Star Spangled Banner. We've had interesting discussion as to the meaning of this old English. What they thought they were hearing wasn't even close to the real words. "Jose can you see" thinking the song was about a guy named Jose. They are also doing a combined dance, rhythm routine, 5th band, 4th recorders and each doing a basketball routine. Below is a VERY beginning stage of a 5th grade class starting their routine. We chose 80s song Hungry Like a Wolf. I'm not really sure why, but the pattern is a simple form  with easy patterns to hear. 4th grade is doing the Ghostbusters theme song. They are all LOVING it. It took a lot of thinking outside the box for me but my boys have really bought into it and are liking the difference. I hope to have some performance videos in a couple of weeks 

GarageBand Project

I'm a HUGE technology fan.  I am a music teacher that has many different pieces of technology within my classroom that I probably use every day.  

Tuesday, my 5th graders began a new project using GarageBand on the computers.  They have had a few chances to play with the GarageBand app on iPad, but on computers is a really different, complex program.

Here is Wikipedia's definition of GarageBand:

      "GarageBand's music and podcast creation system enables users to create multiple tracks with pre-made MIDI keyboards, pre-made loops, voice recordings, and an array of various instrumental effects."

In short, it has sounds already recorded into the system and you can layer them and create your own song.

5th graders are going to create new songs/raps for our school's Character Counts programs.  We have several expectations of behavior for procedures within the school.  We're going to update them with fun, personalized songs they have created and recorded.  YIKES!  I've never done a project like this and I'm creating it as I go.  I haven't thought through all the steps yet and that makes me nervous.

The first step we loved!  I did a quick explanation of how GarageBand on the computer works and demonstrated on my projected laptop and then we headed into the computer lab.  Tuesday's goal was to just get familiarized with how it works.  I gave them a goal of creating a 12-bar pattern using 3 different sounds that complimented each other.  What creativity there was.  Everyone was engaged!  Some chose to work in pairs or small groups, others worked individually.  The end result was really interesting and better than I thought.  I'm overwhelmed with all the choices on the program but they took it in stride.  

Here are some pictures I took of them working away.

This one got really ambitious and had 5 different tracks and layered them with different timing.

7 different tracks on this one, maybe a bit much, but very creative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hockey practice AM

We had a great rehearsal this morning for the Iowa Wild hockey singing.  This is my amazing group of kids grades K-5 that meet some Wednesday mornings at 7:30 to practice.  They sound AMAZING!!!!

Most are smiling for 7:55am.

This is more like it.  :)

My video was too long so I chose a few seconds after the beginning so you could hear them all the way to the end.  Enjoy!

 

Folk Dancing

It's that time of year for Kindergarten and 1st graders begin my folk dancing unit.  Folk dancing is a great way to get kids to understand rhythm patterns, musical form, music history and more.  I usually do a quick explanation of the purpose of a folk dance.  Most were considered to be part of a Play Party.  When families or neighbors would get together to celebrate, dancing was usually a huge part of it.  This was a way for them to chat or catch up with one another after a long winter.  

The dance I usually teach my youngest students is the traditional reel set to the song Alabama Gal.  The song is very easy to teach and learn.  Students, even Kindergarten, are able to sing and dance at the same time to it. 

When students have learned each part individually, we gradually begin to try it without stopping in between each section.  This is where it's fun to watch and learn who the real leaders are in the classroom and let them do their job.  

In the following video, this is a Kindergarten group on their 2nd day of practicing Alabama Gal.  You will hear me call out a few directions and start them singing each verse, but the rest is on their own.

Rhythm Races

So there's this new game in music right now that is a huge hit from 1st grade through 5th grade.  "Rhythm Races"!!!!!  Thanks to the amazing site of Teachers Pay Teachers, I found this fun winter activity made by another music teacher and it is a blast.  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Songs-and-Activities-for-Winter-1001838

Lindsay Jervais has created an entire packet of winter activities, but this is the one I will spend the most time using.  

Students are divided into 4 color teams.  Each team has a scooter that I borrowed from my PE teacher.  I tap a rhythm depending on what skill level we need and students race down to the other end of the room and sort through all the cards with rhythms and are trying to identify which pattern then heard.  First team to bring back the correct rhythm card receives 2 points for their team.  All other teams receive 1 point if they brought back the correct rhythm.  Incorrect rhythm, 0 points.  

This is a great activity for this time of year as we are always concerned with having inside recess due to the wind chill factor.  I'm trying to do my part at burning off a little energy for the classroom teachers to survive the day.  The boys also think this is a great activity and enjoy music just a little more than normal.

This game also has the potential for me to create my own races depending on what we're working on.  One unit I do are instruments of the orchestra and we could do a listening race for each instrument they hear.  Possibilities are endless and have the creative juices flowing.

I let my students help take pictures on the iPad since I was keeping score and checking rhythms so that's why there are so many.  (I deleted about half of them as well).