The fourth grade students have been working with the form ABACA and learning how to sight read. We worked on the piece "Shoemaker" and the students really learned the song by putting the skills we've been working on all year to work! They began by speaking and tapping the rhythm which included 8th/16th note patterns and then added the melody which included do, re, mi, sol, la and high do. It was great to watch them work that out! Once they were able to read the song, we added an accompaniment on the pitched and unpitched instruments.
Week of March 5th, 2012
The fourth grade classes are finishing up their work on the song "Fireflies." We have been playing this piece on the recorder and have added instruments to it. The students are now choosing phrases that they would like to play for an assessment. They are really sounding great!
Week of January 30th, 2011
The fourth grade students have been working on the recorder. We also learned about accelerando. Ask your child if he can explain what that means! We worked on the piece Little Train and added an accelerando to it. The students did a great job playing together! Enjoy the work of 4C.
Week of January 9th, 2012
Welcome back! The fourth grade classes are off and running with their recorders! We are working on a piece with B, A, G and E and working on reading on the music staff. We will be adding instrumentation to the piece later.
The pieces that we are working on can be accessed on the right hand side of the blog, or by following this link: https://sites.google.com/site/maywattsmusic/home. I hope you will take a few minutes to have your child play a song on the recorder for you! They are sounding very good.
Week of November 21, 2011
The fourth grade classes spent last week composing an accompaniment to Rain, Rain! They created four beat patterns that they could play on the Orff instruments. Enjoy the work of our 4th grade students!
Week of October 31, 2011
We have spent the last couple of weeks on a drumming unit. The students spoke a poem and then put the poem on the drums. We also created a form of ABA'. Ask your child what the difference is between A and A'. Following the students playing the drums, they will be writing out the rhythms that they have been playing. We will be learning about 8th notes connected to 16th notes!
You will see two fourth grade classes on the video. One class is speaking the poem, so that you can hear how we learned it, and the other class is playing the poem without speaking. Enjoy!
October 2, 2011
We have begun recorders again! We spent part of last week reviewing the recorder. We worked on producing a soft sound, covering the holes and using our tongues to separate the notes. We also worked on music literacy as the students read the song It's in the BAG. The students added Orff instruments to make the song a little more exciting.
September 19th, 2011
We are wrapping up our work with syncopation this week. The students have been working on reading, listening, moving and writing with syncopated patterns. They are doing a great job with them.
We will be starting recorder this week! Please have your child bring his or her recorder to class each day. I am providing links for the recorder work we are doing in class. Hopefully your child will enjoy practicing at home!
You can click below to get to recorder songs and information.
https://sites.google.com/site/maywattsmusic/home
Week 3:
We have spent the last three classes working on the song "Listen." The students worked on Rondo form, syncopated rhythmic patterns and mallet technique. As you watch this video with your child, ask him or her what rondo form is. See if your child can remember which part has a syncopated pattern. This is still a very new concept, but we will be working on it all year. You may notice that the students are alternating their mallets as they play their part. This is challenging in such a rhythmic piece!
Thank you to 4G for their good work!
Students can sign up for chrous begining this week! Chorus will meet on Tuesday mornings beginning September 20th. There is a permission slip on the right hand side of the blog. I hope to see many 4th graders there!
Week 2:
We had a great beginning to the school year! The fourth graders worked on a poem as an ice breaker. The students were speaking their names and adding a steady beat pattern. The poem included syncopated rhythms, which we will be working on reading in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned to this blog for videos of your child's work in music!
I have included an outline of the curriculum so that you may have an idea of what your child is working on.
Rhythm: time signature, syncopation
Melody: treble clef, treble clef staff's lines and spaces, solfege: major scale with hand signs
Harmony, Tone Color and Texture: partner song, ostinato, canon, bordun, accompanied or unaccompanied music, identification of all instrument families and their characteristics
Form: ABC, rondo, 1st and 2nd endings
Expression: ff, f, mf, mp, p, pp, phrase, tempo, music can communicate mood
History and Culture: music as it relates to the world around us, audience behavior, performing responsibilities
Welcome back! I hope you have had a great summer. I look forward to seeing many of you again and meeting some new students as well.
We will be starting off the year reviewing music reading, recorders and singing. We will be doing some mixer dances to help get us all reacquainted while we review music concepts including steady beat and body percussion.
