Week of April 4th, 2016

That's some tricky resonator bar playing! :D

RESONATOR BARS

We had a blast using resonator bars this week!

Much like a normal xylophone, the resonator bars use vibration on their metal bars to make sound using a mallet. Unlike the xylophone though, which has its notes permanently set in place, our resonator bars can be moved around, which makes for a fun opportunity to learn about scales, harmonies and different melodies.

I sang the children a simple tune to illustrate going “up” the scale with my voice (to the tune of a c major scale):

“Up, up, up, up, rain is filling up my cup!”

And then down:

“Down, down, down, down, rain is falling to the ground.”

The kids enjoyed trying out the resonator bars, and we also sang the songbook “Baby Beluga” this week by Raffi while passing a little Beluga cut-out around the circle. 

We’re enjoying our spring break, how about you?

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD:

1) What were some of the colors of the resonator bars? 

Red, blue, yellow, green and more!

2) Did you play up and down the scale? What did the sounds of the resonator bar remind you of?

3) What ocean animal did you sing about in music class this week? A beluga whale!

Week of July 9th, 2012

SOLFEGE!

Hello everyone! We had a little schedule change with music class this week and our Solfege/scales/hand symbol lesson took place this week. Next week we will studio piano and forte!

Also, I apologize for the late entry! I am having some computer issues this week and it caused my blog to come a day later than usual. Here's to hoping you can still have fun conversations and recall about yesterday's activities with your child! :)

Solfege is the practice of teaching pitch through syllables--you've heard "Do-Re-Mi" before! With younger children, the combination of solfege with Curwen hand symbols (shown below) helps with pitch recognition and associating a kinisthetic movement with a pitch. Read more here! Our students learned only the first three of the symbols and notes today, but we hope to learn more later on! I also played these notes to illustrate their pitch and instrumental relation on xylophone!

We also got to take a peek at some real singing lessons taught by First Presbyterian Church's music direct, Mary Anne Snyder! Our JN Alumni Anna Garza (Miss Kathy Garza's daughter) shared what singing lessons were like, and we got to observe her in the studio practicing some breathing and singing techniques!!

SCHOOL AGE UPDATE: (From class 7.6.12) We had a HUGE BLAST recording last week! The kid's felt like total rockstars and among our successful "tracking" for the Christian songs, the students also very much enjoyed creating improvisational tracks on the piano and with vocals. Being able to wear headphones and hear themselves with the microphone was such a treat. They wanted to stay in the vocal booth all day! :) Our makeshift set up actually produced some great results! We used a laptop, USB interface, 4 channel mixer, a condensor mic, a home-made "pop" guard made from nylon and wire to catch extra "puffs" of air, and two sets of headphones!

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Thank You God, For Food (Impromptu creative track by Lanney and Natalie) mp3 download