Montessori Music Class
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I can hardly believe we have already had three wonderful music classes at Journey Montessori this year! The students are doing great in music class and we are having lots of fun. We have several songs that we have been singing for the last three weeks. Some of the songs will change soon and some of them will stay as part of our routine in music class. We will always start class with our Hello song and end with a Goodbye song. Right now I am just looking to see that the students can help me find the steady beat with both of those songs. As the year goes on we will add some more difficult rhythms with the Hello and Goodbye songs. We are also working on using our singing voices and finding the tonic (first note of the scale/key we are singing in) the dominant (fifth note of the scale/key we are singing in). These are the easiest notes for our ears to hear and voices to sing. The kids don't know they are working on all of this though, they just think they are having fun singing in silly voices up high and down low!
Some of the songs we have been singing that will change soon are, Open and Shut Them, Marry Wore Her Red Dress, and Yankee Doodle. Below is a list of what musical concepts we are working on while singing those songs.
Open and Shut Them - This is a familiar song for many children. We are using this song to calm down and prepare for music class. We are also using this song to work on audiation. (The definition of audiation is in the Music Together post below.) Because it is a familiar song I am listening/watching to see if the children can sing part of the song, then hear the next part in their heads while we continue with the hand movements silently, then sing the following phrase, and so on.
Mary Wore Her Red Dress - This has been a fun way to get to know each of the students. Each student gets a turn in this song to tell me something they are wearing and the class sings about it.
Check out the book Mary Wore Her Red Dress at your library or Amazon. You can look inside the book on Amazon and see the song notated.
http://www.amazon.com/Dress-Henry-Green-Sneakers-Along/dp/0618752498
Yankee Doodle - We have used this song to work on marching (large motor skills) and group work. The students are separated into two groups in class, the green group and the yellow group. Each group had two phrases of the song to march across the room and back to their line. They had to work as a group and listen closely to the music to all make it back to their line in two phrases!
We also used this song as a play along. They learned about all the different non-pitched percussion instruments we have in the room and what family (box) they belong in. Click the link below to play along with the song at home!
Some of the songs we have been singing that will change soon are, Open and Shut Them, Marry Wore Her Red Dress, and Yankee Doodle. Below is a list of what musical concepts we are working on while singing those songs.
Open and Shut Them - This is a familiar song for many children. We are using this song to calm down and prepare for music class. We are also using this song to work on audiation. (The definition of audiation is in the Music Together post below.) Because it is a familiar song I am listening/watching to see if the children can sing part of the song, then hear the next part in their heads while we continue with the hand movements silently, then sing the following phrase, and so on.
Mary Wore Her Red Dress - This has been a fun way to get to know each of the students. Each student gets a turn in this song to tell me something they are wearing and the class sings about it.
Check out the book Mary Wore Her Red Dress at your library or Amazon. You can look inside the book on Amazon and see the song notated.
http://www.amazon.com/Dress-Henry-Green-Sneakers-Along/dp/0618752498
Yankee Doodle - We have used this song to work on marching (large motor skills) and group work. The students are separated into two groups in class, the green group and the yellow group. Each group had two phrases of the song to march across the room and back to their line. They had to work as a group and listen closely to the music to all make it back to their line in two phrases!
We also used this song as a play along. They learned about all the different non-pitched percussion instruments we have in the room and what family (box) they belong in. Click the link below to play along with the song at home!
