Harmony and Heritage
Pre-K, Kindergarten and First Grade
Week 1
In our first week, we primarily focused on independently executing the different routines, transitions and formations that will be necessary to have a smooth music class each week. The group learned how to form a circle independently and found their rug spots in response to musical cues. (See below). We’re laying the foundation for understanding pitch by standing and sitting in response to a slide whistle that plays upward and downward.
We danced to the song Mi Cuerpo for fun but it also lays the foundation for internalizing the steady beat and rhythm, which will be the focus of upcoming lessons.
Week 2
In week two, we will focus on distinguishing between the four voices: Speaking, whispering, shouting and singing. As obvious as this may seem, it is an important foundational distinction to make as we work on developing our voices and ability to sing on pitch.
We will identify what a steady beat is. We will learn that the steady beat does not change. We will compare it to the second hand of a clock and windshield wipers. It is the unchanging pulse felt in all music. We can have a fast or slow steady beat. In this or future lessons we will learn that the speed of the beat is called the tempo. We will find and move to the steady beat of a variety of songs. The ability to feel the beat is an important foundational skill prior to moving on to making and reading rhythms.
Second and Third Grade
Week 1
In our first week, we focused on:
Distinguishing between the four voices: Speaking, whispering, shouting and singing. As obvious as this may seem, it is an important foundational distinction to make as we work on developing our voices and ability to sing on pitch. We won’t focus on this for long but it was important that we establish this distinction from the very beginning.
Defining steady beat and rhythm. The steady beat does not change. But the rhythm is a combination of long sounds, short sounds and silence. The rhythm makes you want to dance. We played a game where there were to march when they heard a beat and dance in place when I played a rhythm on the drum.
We played a game where students got to show interesting and creative ways to play a steady beat on drum sticks.
Week 2
During our second week, we will focus more on rhythm. We will play games that help children to internalize, feel, and visualize the rhythmic notation that will be introduced shortly. We will move to combinations of walk (quarter note) and jog-ging (eighth note pairs) patterns. We will play a game that looks like musical chairs but it is rhythm chairs. Each chair represents a beat. Each child or pair of children sitting in a chair represents the standard notation we will learn. An empty chair symbolizes a beat of silence. But we don’t skip the beat. We are just silent during that beat. I will post a video if Ic an capture it soon.