Feb 21st, 2011

INFANT TO SCHOOL AGE CLASSES

Today we had such fun in music classes singing and performing activities with rhythm band instruments. Traditional rhythm band instruments include:

Tambourines

Hand Drums

Maracas

Triangles

Rhythm Sticks

Cymbals

The picture to the left is a fun CD that I've enjoyed using for the past ten years. In a Calypso style, Frank Leto uses traditional and storytelling songs in a new way to teach about rhythm band instruments, latin rhythms and using words and sounds for instruments to express rhythm (i.e., "Click-click" for rhythm sticks, or "tap-tap" for tambourine.)

Ask your child about the fun storytelling song, "Mr. Boom Boom Bong" and find out what instrument that they played in rhythm band!

MOM AND DAD CONNECT

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Interested in checking out Frank Leto's "Rhythm Band Jam" on Amazon?

Check out this affordable Rhythm Band Starter Kit on MusiciansFriend.com!

Week of February 14th, 2011

Toddlers through School Age

We had an absolute blast in music class today using some very fun "tappers"! I found a neat idea online that used small elastic strips and washers. To make "tappers", I simply strung one washer on a short strip of elastic and glued the ends together. I then had a small band that could slide over the tip of each shoe! The washer is slid to the bottom of the foot, and makes a great "tapping sound"! We had a very fun time doing different activities with our tappers. To start the class, we watched the funny cow video below. Then we talked about tapping rhythms and tried tapping to several songs; "Who's that tapping at my window?" and "Hickory Dickory Dock". Check out our awesome tap video below that highlights all of the fun things we did in class today!

JN TAP DANCING:

DANCING COW:

INFANTS: Today our infant class enjoyed exploring hand bells while singing "Hickory Dickory Dock" and also read the book "Toot Toot! Quack Quack!" by John Archambault using an African Pod shaker!

MOM AND DAD CONNECT

Tap dancing is a great way to stay fit! Here are some video resources if you are interested in purchasing a tap dance video for your child!

Tap Dance Resources

Week of February 7th, 2010

Toddler through School Age

Today we enjoyed playing matching games with instrument memory cards! We also sang and danced while playing large motor musical games, and did some fun fingerplays as well.

For groups a little too young to play memory, we used the cards to learn new vocabulary words. The included instruments were: tambourine, saxaphone, gutiar, violin, snare drum, xylophone, trombone, french horn, trumpet, flute, clarinet, piano and maracas.

We also graphed the results of reoccurring instruments and school age children played a thought provoking game of "guitar" hang man and also had a question and answer session geared around the instruments we were learning about.

For our infant class, we had a fun teacher and child sing along with the guitar including our favorite tunes like "How Much Is That Doggy In The Window" and "Five Little Ducks Went Out To Play".

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MOM AND DAD CONNECT

PlayMusic.org--a fun way to learn about classical instruments!

Instrument Coloring Pages

Week of January 31st, 2011

INFANT THROUGH SCHOOL AGE

UKELELE!

Today we enjoyed experimenting with this mellow, four stringed instrument in music class! I tought the kids a funny commonly used tuning song that uses a musical phrase to help the musician remember the tones or pitches of the strings:

"My dog has fleas"!

We also talked about the meaning, or direct Hawaiian translation of the word "ukelele", which means "jumping flea".

The kids had a blast learning a ukelele song and also performing some of our favorites like "Knees up Mother Brown" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". They also got to explore the ukelele and try out it's warm and mellow sound, which is partly due to the use of nylon, or plastic strings!

Please feel free to ask your child about today's instrument, and download the free pdf to color at home!

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MOM AND DAD CONNECT

Click the image to download/open the pdf! Or use this link.