A new note

First and second grade learned a new note last week. Can you tell what it is? 

If you can tell me the letter pitches in addition the to solfege, I'll give you a house point. 

Art!

Have you ever noticed this painting in my room? 

I got it about ten years ago in Haiti. 

I love folk art, especially from the Caribbean and South America. I can't really explain why I like it. Maybe it's the bright colors or the scenes of everyday life. Maybe it's because folk artists seem to boldly use the color orange, which is my favorite color. Maybe you can help me figure it out. What do you like about this painting?

So, mi

First graders are learning about the pitches we use in music. It's week, we started with so and mi. We sang songs that use this pitches and learned about our hand signs. 

They even composed some melodies using our solfege cards. Do you know which sounds are so and which ones are mi?

Quaver's Marvelous World!

My Quaver code came through Tuesday night! You should have seen how excited the other music teachers from all over the county were when those codes came in. We all agree that Quaver helps you learn more about music, and it's so much fun. 

I met Quaver last summer. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, but he's originally from England. 

I even have my own Quaver shirt. 

What are some of your favorite Quaver activities? 

I'm Impressed!

So, I finally got to see everyone in class, and I have to say, you guys impressed me. See, a few years ago, my older students were afraid to sing. You guys sing beautifully and without fear!

Now that I have taught the rules 30 times, we start getting into the good stuff this week. You guys know that once you get into third grade, we leave all that ta and shh stuff behind us. We're going to take this week to review practicing the professional way.

Fourth grade, you get to sing that song about the soldier that I played for you at the end of class last week. There are lots of great rhythms to count in that song.

Fifth grade, we're going to start learning some songs from the time of the Civil War. Those songs have some tricky rhythms for us to decode.

I'm still waiting on my Quaver access, so we may have to work on rhythms the old-fashioned way.

House point bonus this week- what is the magic number in music? You have to know it, not guess.

Funga Alafia!

Funga Alafia is a wonderful song to start the year. It means "Welcome, my Friends."

I am so glad to see so many familiar faces, and some new friends as well! I hope that everyone had a great summer. I am busy getting the classroom ready. It starts out looking like this:

And by the time you see it on Monday, it looks more like this:

Some things come out gradually over the first few weeks.

I also changed a few things around. I don't like doing things exactly the same from year to year, so some things need to move.

I got some new things too! See if you can spot them. I'll give you a house point if you mention that you saw them on my blog. 

Just a couple more days and I'll see you guys in class! I'm so excited to start the year. Funga Alafia! 

I had a visitor

I came to school and was very surprised to see a turtle in my room! If you remember what you learned about habitats and ecosystems, you probably realize that the music room is not a good habitat for a turtle, so I took it back to the courtyard. Maybe you'll see my little friend out there. 

Of course, I had to take a picture, because who would believe that a turtle was living in my classroom?