Mrs. Brown's Music Class

Silver Bells

Bonnie Brown — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:43:37 +0000

Ardmore has a tradition of singing the classic song “Silver Bells” every December in music classes. A huge thank you to Mrs. Tiede for teaching it with such enthusiasm! I thought students might get a kick out of seeing an older version on You Tube. Here’s a performance by Andy Williams and the Osmond Brothers, 1965.

A Partner Song for Winter

Bonnie Brown — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:01:22 +0000

Third, Fourth, and Fifth grade classes have all worked on partner songs in recent weeks. For the holiday season, we learned Winter Fantasy. This partner song combines an old favorite, Jingle Bells, with a newer tune to create harmony.

Here is a recording of Mrs. Nowaczyk’s 4th grade class singing with Mrs. Cederblad’s 5th graders. Happy holidays to all!

3rd Graders Sing “Make New Friends”

Bonnie Brown — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:14:42 +0000

Mr. Maher’s and Ms. Lauer’s classes recorded “Make New Friends” in a round today. Click on the teacher’s name to listen.

Hearing Pitch

Bonnie Brown — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:03:44 +0000

From the time students enter their first music class all the way through their music education, they learn to listen to music and match pitch. In the early grades, we match pitch with our voices. Later, that skill also transfers to playing instruments in tune.

The first graders start with very simple echo songs. By the time students are in 3rd grade, we work on more complex singing and listening skills. Right now, students are learning to sing rounds. As they learn to hear pitches in their minds, their singing improves.

This week the 3rd grade classes began learning the song “Make New Friends.” (Some of you might remember it from Girl Scouts.) Mr. VanMilligan’s class tried it as a round for the first time today! Listen here.

Fourth and fifth graders increase listening skills further as they practice matching pitch on recorders (as well as instruments in band & orchestra), and as they sing partner songs and songs in two-part harmony. Look for more recordings in the future!

A Few Reminders for the 2nd Grade Musical

Bonnie Brown — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:34:32 +0000

When I awakened this morning and realized it was December 1, I immediately thought about the 2nd grade musical. It’s now only two weeks away! The 2nd graders are working very hard to put on a stellar performance of Santa and the Star Search. I expect our audiences will thoroughly enjoy themselves.

Our regular performance is scheduled for Tuesday evening, December 15, 7:00. We will also perform for the student body that afternoon at 1:30. If for some reason you can’t attend our main evening performance, please feel free to attend during the afternoon. Unfortunately, we’ll only have room for a limited number of chairs in the back of the gym. In addition, we’ll have a dress rehearsal on Monday the 14th at 9:30 for the morning kindergarten class. If you attend a daytime performance, remember to allow plenty of time to first check-in at the main office.

If your child is part of the cast, please have them dress accordingly for both the Monday morning and the Tuesday afternoon shows.

Stars: Black pants, white shirts. (hats provided)

Elves: Black pants, holiday red or green shirts. (hats provided)

Mrs. Claus: Red dress, white apron. (cap provided)

Santa: Costume provided.

All other students, please come dressed in nice clothes (e.g. no t-shirts, please). Holiday colors would be great.

We’ll see you in two weeks!

Holding Pitch, Reading Music, and Playing Recorder

Bonnie Brown — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:12:44 +0000

Students have been very busy in music class!

In fifth grade, they have put their musical skills together in more advanced ways. Students are now learning to sight-read, sing more accurately during songs with more than one part, and are learning more advanced recorder songs. Just in the last two weeks, we’ve begun to transfer some skills to a new key. This has involved learning a new note on recorder, “Bb”…our 11th note so far!

Mrs. Cederblad’s 5th grade class is featured in one of today’s recordings practicing Aura Lee. After a day or two, we added note names to the staff to facilitate playing. I imagine in just a few short weeks, they will be very confident performers of this song! You’ll also find a recording of Ms. Lauer’s 3rd grade class singing Brother John in a round as well as Mrs. Nowaczyk’s class playing Old MacDonald Had a Farm on their recorders.

I wish all of the Ardmore families a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Protected: Recorder Karate Dojo

Bonnie Brown — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:09:38 +0000

4th Grade Recorder Fun

Bonnie Brown — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:08:13 +0000

At the beginning of this school year, 4th graders reviewed the recorder songs from last year. By the end of third grade they were playing three-note songs including Hot Cross Buns and Merrily We Roll Along (also known as Mary Had a Little Lamb). We’ve added two more notes this year and are working on our 6th and 7th notes now! Your fourth graders are awesome!!

Following are recordings of your children playing some of the songs we did with our first four notes. I think you’ll be impressed.

Ms. Sternal’s class plays Hot Cross Buns.

Ms. Swain’s class plays Merrily We Roll Along.

I’ll add Mrs. Nowaczyk’s class to a new post after their next music class.

Protected: List of Cast Members and Soloists

Bonnie Brown — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:26:44 +0000

3rd Graders Sing Rounds

Bonnie Brown — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:00:55 +0000

In 3rd grade classes we’re working on learning to sing in rounds. Our first round for the year is Brother John (Frere Jaques in French).

Hear Mr. VanMilligan and Mrs. Marabotti’s class practice singing the round while playing a repeated pattern (ostinato) on the boomwhackers. Mr. Maher’s class is also featured, but we failed to record singing in a round. Next time!

We plan to practice more over the next week to see how much we can improve!