Greetings from the music room here at St. Patrick School! Here is what we are currently doing in music class for the month of April. All classes start with a praise type chorus or song and we sing all types of songs including seasonal songs, action songs for the younger grades, broadway, folk, pop, etc. Some songs we add basic choreography and keep everyone moving, singing, and having fun! Vocal technique is woven in as we sing!
K-2nd Grade Classes are currently working on a mini-unit with songbells. Songbells are small xylophones and we have enough so that 2 or 3 students take turns to play at their tables. We are learning to play the C scale/Glissando/ and some entry level piano songs. Students will be playing whole, half, and quarter notes and practicing these with rhythm instruments. We will begin learning the Penny Game this month in K/1st grade which tends to be a real favorite! 2nd graders will try reading notes with boomwhackers!
3-5th Grade Classes have started working on our spring program on Thursday, May 20th at 7:00 P.M. Our program this year is Caribbean-themed and the students have made instruments to display at the art auction that night and then use in the program! They will also be making tie/dye shirts to wear that night in art class. In class we are working on the songs for the program and reviewing note values/lines and spaces/ and rhythms. We will be trying out our instruments soon with our songs. 3rd and 4th grades are in a recorder unit and need to try and bring them to class every time to earn class rewards! We are progressing in our book and playing some basic songs with 3-5 different notes. 5th grade classes will be reading music and playing songs with boomwhackers.
6th Grade Classes have been studying the periods of music history for several months. This month we will finish our study as we have finally made it to the Modern Era! We review basic things about each time period–Renaissance, Baroque, etc each class and will be having a matching quiz on April 21st to finish the unit. We also continue to review music theory including the lines and spaces of treble clef, note values, etc.
7th and 8th Grade Classes just finished their unit on playing the guitars!! Currently we are doing a mini-music composition unit and the students are working in groups to create an 8 measure composition and will perform it for the class in a few weeks. To finish out the year the 7th graders will be doing a unit on jazz music and the 8th grade will finish their year with a study of broadway music!
