Week of November 7th, 2016

ALL ABOUT THE CLARINET!

Students this week were very interested in checking out our "JN Clarinet!" Miss Sally donated the instrument to our music program when her son, Paul, was no longer using it. =) We were glad to inherit the reeded "woodwind" which was a term that we learned about in class! Woodwinds require air to play! In fact, reeded woodwinds require a LOT of air (more than master instrument and woodwind, flute.)

I showed the children how to assemble the pieces of the clarinet--the ligature and mouthpiece, upper and lower barrel, barrel joint, bell and also the reed that is attached to the ligature and mouthpiece to produce "vibration"--another special word that comes up so often in music class!

I played some tunes for the children and we also got to examine the parts of the clarinet, as well as how it is put together and the ends of the corked barrels are coated with cork grease (which comes in a  container that looks just like chapstick.)

We also listened to some Benny Goodman and colored pictures of clarinets! It was a great time! See the extender questions below and my apologies for the missing blog last week--we DID have class for all ages (the theme was slidewhistle) but due to family illness, there have been a few days in the last two weeks that I have been absent!

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1.) How do you make sound with the clarinet? With air! It's a woodwind!

2) Does the clarinet have lots of pieces/elements? Can you name some of them? Mouthpiece, ligature, reed, barrel joint, upper and lower joint, barrel joint, bell, tone or keyholes, cork grease

3) Do you like the way the clarinet sounds? What are some of the songs Miss Chantal played on the clarinet?

Week of March 21st, 2016

The Piccolo!

This week in music class, we learned about the tiny woodwind instrument, the piccolo! I showed children all of the parts of the piccolo (the head and body joint, the wax used for putting it together--which looked like chapstick--and its velvety case). I also explained that woodwinds require air to create sound, and demonstrated the type of air technique that is used to create high pitched music from the piccolo.

I played some sheet music for the children and passed that around as well, and they were able to touch the piccolo's keys and explore how it works. They enjoyed hearing familiar tunes from this instrument and also reviewing presto and largo. Additionally, we had fun with the lollipop drum singing monkey songs, and played with a fun noisemaking toy.

Check out the extender questions below to keep the piccolo conversation going at home! =)

One of our infants from last week thought the stir xylophone and "presto, largo" was totally hilarious. SO cute--take a peek!

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1) What two colors was the piccolo? Black and gold

2) Did the piccolo make a low sound or a high sound? A high sound!