Winter 2017
Dear Parents,
Our winter semester is coming to a close and I wanted to update you on all the exciting events that have taken place in our music classes. We began January with a month long look at some of the more famous music composers. First on the list was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and we listened to music from the Magic Flute and his Allegro in Bb major. Next, we learned about Ludwig van Beethoven. His puppet has an angry face that fascinates the students. We listened to his Moonlight Sonata and the 5th and 7th symphonies. Their favorite, not surprisingly, was the 5th symphony with its famous first four notes. After that, we looked at two opera composers, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini. For Verdi, we marched to his “Triumphal March” from the opera Aida and Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro.” Our living composer this year was John Williams and we danced to his, “Harry’s Wonderful World.”
February is “Meet the Instruments” month. This is a real high-point for the whole year. We began by learning about the percussion family. Percussion includes any instrument that is hit or shaken. We were happy to welcome Mary Jungerman from the Colorado Music Festival and Center for Musical Arts who presented the woodwind and brass families and Mei Mey Segura who presented the string family. All children in Evergreen, Forest and River were able to play instruments from each of these families. In addition to these professional instruments, I also brought in a recorder, tin whistle, Native American flute and slide whistle. We finished the month by exploring the piano, a percussion instrument. I opened it up so they could see how this wonderful instrument works on the inside.
In March, we have continued to do some listening activities to learn to identify the instruments by sound. We are also doing a number of activities using the percussion instruments to develop rhythm. In our movement activities, we are exploring musical form by contrasting different movements for different sections of the music.
One of my favorite parts of these two units is to hear from the children and their families about what music they enjoy in their home. I am always very pleased when I present a piece that they are already familiar with. They get so excited to tell me about it! I would love to hear your thoughts.
Kathleen