Go Beethoven!

In prepartion for our field trip to the Orchestra on Thursday October 9th, the Fourth Graders have been practicing thier listening skills and knowledge of composers. This week we focused on Beethoven and listening for music specific vocabulary. We watched the Beethoven's Sport Cast which is a recreation of one of  Beethoven's most well known pieces,Symphony No. 5 Mov. 2. We had so much fun watching this hilarious variation of this amazing work by a deaf composer!

Watch below and see if you can hear and discuss the vocab with your families!

e Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5  M. 1

•  Beethoven – An Austrian composer from the Romantic Time Period of Music (1770 – 1827). He began losing his hearing around 1800 and by 1817 was completely deaf.

• Brass – A family of instruments in the orchestra containing the Trumpet, French horn, Trombone, and Tuba. All brass instruments have coiled tubing and require the player to buzz their lips into a mouth piece to produce sound.

• C-Major – A scale containing C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C1. The home tone is C. Music written in C-Major will have a “happy” sound.

•C-Minor – A scale containing C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, and C1. The home tone is C. Music written in C-Minor will have a “sad” sound.

•Cadenza – A passage for a solo instrument. The conductor will not lead the solo and the performer may go as fast or slow as he/she pleases.

•Composer – Someone who writes music.

•Conductor – The leader of a music ensemble.

•Double Bar – The symbol at the end of a musical composition.

• Fugue – A melody is introduced by an instrument and passed in whole, or parts, to other instruments.

•Horn – Short for “French” horns. This is an instrument in the brass family.

•Motif – A brief melody that is repeated multiple times throughout a composition.

•Oboe – An instrument belonging to the woodwind family. It looks similar to a clarinet but plays with a double reed.

• Recap – Occurs near the ending of a composition when the opening melody is heard again.

•Timpani – An instrument belonging to the percussion family. A timpanist will usually play 4 kettle drums and adjust the pitch of each drum by pressing and releasing a foot pedal.

• Tutti – All instruments play.

•Violin – An instrument belonging to the string family. This instrument often plays the melody and is the highest pitched string instrument. The player can make sound by plucking or bowing the strings.

•Woodwinds – A family of instruments in the orchestra containing the Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon. All woodwind instruments contain multiple holes and keys to be pressed and covered by fingers.

The Blog Blues :(

Hello!

First, I would like to say, that if you have had trouble with the blog, I apologize. I think I have it working now. Unfortunately, I lost some of the awesome posts I wrote earlier in the year about what we have been doing in music. I finally had some time over spring break to fix the bugs, and I am back up and running! I can't wait to share the fun things we have been doing and the great events that are coming up this spring.

March is Music in our Schools Month, so I am pumped to celebrate and get the word out about the wonderful advocacy we have been doing in and outside the classroom! March is a time for me as an educator to reflect on the influence music has on our children today. I was excited to receive information from the National Association of Music Education this month, promoting music education with their new campaign, "Think Beyond the Bubbles"

 Music not only impacts academic achievement, it also shapes the way our students understand themselves and the world around them. Let's think beyond the bubbles and educate the whole student. 

check out their website for more info!

For starters the Fourth Graders had wonderful violin concerts last week. They performed for their families during the morning and showed them all of the techniques they have been cultivating on their own violins! I was so proud of them! My favorite quote of the week from a parent was, "I can't believe that fourth graders can sound THAT GOOD on the violin!" and from a lovely student, "Mrs. Morgan, my Mom and Dad were so proud of me." Great work fourth grade!

Beautiful flowers from a violin student! Thank You!