October 2023

This month in the music room we have been practicing our rhythm, singing, and creativity skills, while also working on listening and teamwork. 

Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade have continued working on "Hello Everybody, How Do You Do?" while exploring tempo and dynamics. In addition, we learned new songs, including "Here Sits a Monkey" and "Hop Old Squirrel," which both help students to work on rhythm, singing, and movement. 

In 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, we have continued working on "Find Your Light." By now, most students have the song memorized by heart, and we've begun adding percussion instruments to complement the lyrics, with a focus on not overpowering the vocals. 

All grades have also continued playing "Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone?" These past few weeks we've explored the song's melody on the xylophone and boomwhackers, which has helped students to start thinking musically about the relationship between pitches to create a melody. To help inspire their creativity, students wrote their own melody using the Boomwhacker Composition Worksheet, and everyone had an opportunity to practice performing their composition. Listen to a sample of one of the compositions here.

Next month, we will extend this activity by having students practice writing their melodies on the music staff with proper music notation, and performing their compositions on other instruments.