|
2009 Recap
Next week, the
music semester for grades 1-4 comes to an end. On January 11, students
will begin to go to Art classes. As we close the semester this week, we
reflect on what we have learned previously in the year.
Perhaps
freshest in our minds is the Christmas play, so I will start with that.
Grades 1-4 performed a Christmas play December 17th and 18th,
and it was absolutely amazing! I was very proud of all the hard work
the students put into it, and am still impressed at everyone’s work!
Thank you and congratulations to our students, and thank you to the
parents for all the extra work that went into making the play such a
success!!! Kindergarten and Preschool also performed their own
Christmas programs for parents that included songs and poems, and those
were very successful.
And now, here
are some highlights of the past semester:
September
In September,
we learned the history of the “Star Spangled Banner.” We also began
learning to read various rhythmic patterns using quarter, eighth, and
half notes and rests. “Dynamics” was our first musical vocabulary word.
October
In October, we
worked on liturgical music for Living Rosary as well as All Souls Day.
We also used percussion instruments (hand drums, rhythm sticks, shakers)
and worked on being able to read rhythms. We learned about form (call
and response, ABA, verse-refrain), and what a composer does. We also
learned about “pitch” and “rhythm.”
November
In November, we
worked on liturgical music for Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving. We
learned about melody and harmony, and started focusing on music for the
Christmas play. We continued our use of percussion instruments in the
classroom, and learned the term “ostinato.”
December
When December
started, we began to focus on the acting part of the Christmas play /
how we would stage it. We had many classes in the gym, where we
perfected the logistics of the play. In addition to Christmas, we also
prepared music for the Immaculate Conception and for the St. John of the
Cross liturgies. We continued talking about music using musical
language (form, ostinato, melody, harmony, accompaniment, dynamics,
beat) and worked hard to accurately replicate the rhythm and pitches of
the wide variety of songs we were singing and playing. |
