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Dear Parents of Trivium East Scholars, Here are some grade level overviews of the work our scholars have been accomplishing this first quarter of music. It has been delightful to welcome our first and second grade scholars into the music room, and they have enthusiastically been discovering many instruments as well as singing and movement activities. In first grade, we explored our voices while chanting chants with our high and low voices, and we chose each time whether to perform them at a fast tempo or slow tempo. We discovered non pitched percussion instruments such as egg shakers, rhythm sticks, and hand drums while assigning each group a different musical phrase. With this activity we began to develop our understanding of musical phrases as well as musical group work. We sang songs in circles while a student leader tapped a steady beat around a circle during our song Bee, Bee, Bumble Bee. We developed our concept of steady beat versus rhythm, and labeled our first two rhythms of quarter notes and eighth notes as meaning one sound on a beat, and two sounds on a beat respectively. Our first graders beautifully read rhythmic patterns with our rhythm sounds ta and tadi, and worked with partners to create representations of standard rhythmic notation for these notes. While my model for our students includes heartbeats underneath each note, It struck me as creative and meaningful when I noticed a few groups choosing to place the steady beat (heartbeat) through the center of each note. The popsicle sticks in this example represent the stems and beams of quarter notes and eighth notes, and the pattern we see is the first phrase of our folk song "Rain, Rain, Go Away."
In second grade, one of our favorite warm up songs has been "Peas Porridge Hot." During the rest of each song, we sometimes added a beat of sound while playing the xylophones. Sometimes, while I played a xylophone sound, we decided as a class which motion we'd like to add. Sometimes we chose to hop during the xylophone sound. Sometimes we decided to pat our legs. My personal favorite was when we decided to blink together as a class during each xylophone sound. For our work towards music literacy in second grade, we reviewed our ta tadi rest rhythms, and we introduced a new solfege note- la. We now have a skip pattern (so and mi, a high sound and a low sound) as well as a step pattern (la is a step higher than so). We sang many songs including these patterns, labeled our patterns, and began sight reading standard notation on a musical staff that include these three notes. In third grade, we sang songs and built musical communities while introducing a new solfege note "do" to our repertoire of notes we can read, write, sing, and create with. While learning our song "Apple Tree" that features patterns with la so mi and do, each third grade class successfully played a singing game that goes with the lyrics. Four students create a canopy in a forest with their arms, while the rest of the class forms a circle and walks under the canopy. At the end of the song, anyone under the canopy becomes a part of the canopy. Our third graders joyfully worked together with playful spirits and good sportsmanship while singing and working together on this activity. With our new note "do" comes an added task while placing our notes on a five line musical staff. We learn that "do" is the first scale degree of a scale, and are learning how to identify our known notes based on where "do" is on a staff. Fourth grade is also working on patterns including our tetrachord la so mi and do. we developed an awareness of "la so mi do" patterns in our folk song "Rocky Mountain," used our bodies to show the melodic contour of the musical phrase, and worked on our ensemble skills through the addition of xylophones and conga drums to this song. After learning about the staff placement rules for our tetrachord, we worked with partners to identify a collection of 8 patterns. I would sing a pattern, and they worked together to choose which pattern they heard me sing. I was introduced to this concept in college- melodic dictation. Our fifth graders have formed a strong basis and understanding of how rhythmic and melodic patterns work, and are meeting each new pattern with confidence. They worked together as a class to create word chains based on quarter, eighth note and sixteenth note patterns. They sightread a variety of patterns including these rhythms as well. For melody work, they are working with major pentatonic scales which include la so mi re and do. To highlight their work with these patterns, our fifth graders worked together as a class to write patterns on a five line staff that derived from known folk songs. To close out our quarter work with our pentatonic scale, they read unknown pentatonic scale patterns from my model of Curwen hand signs. One of our patterns was directly from Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony. Once we discovered the pattern we sightread was from this symphony, we listened to this masterwork with a greater understanding. And of course, each grade level is making strides toward learning our winter concert songs. The foundation we have built in our first quarter will carry us on an exciting journey of discovery as we prepare more for our winter concert next quarter. Thank you for your love and support, and for sharing your scholars with us at Archway Trivium East. I look forward to more community building and music making in Quarter 2! Ms. Sassaman, 1C and Grades 2-5, Archway Trivium East Comments are closed.
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Ms. SassamanDoctor of Musical Arts, Oboe Performance, Arizona State University Archives
March 2020
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