Journey Montessori April 7

Today we talked about high and low sounds in a variety of songs.  We started using icons to identify when the music was high or low.  Using icons such as simple lines is a first step to reading real notation.  As you listen to music with your children ask them if they can identify high sounds, low sounds, and what instruments they hear playing.  The children are getting very good at identifying key instruments and musical components.

Our Carnival of the Animals piece for today was the Fossils!  We heard instruments from the string family, the clarinet from the woodwind family, and the piano and xylophone from the percussion family.  Watch the video below with your child so they can see all of these instruments playing.  We also heard the familiar tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" hidden in the middle of the piece (listen for the piano to play it around 1:19)!

Carnival of The Animals

It has been awhile since I put an update on here about what we are doing in class.  Over the past month we have continued to work on finding the beat, identifying contrasts in music, creating rhythm patterns, and identifying musical instruments and they family they belong in by listening.  Here are some of the pieces from Carnival of the Animals that we have listened to recently in class.

On Saturday, April 30 the Charlotte Symphony will be performing The Carnival of the Animals with the North Carolina Dance Theater School of Dance for their Lollipops (kids) concert.  The Lollipops concerts are a fantastic way to introduce your child(ren) to the symphony.  They let the kids play the instruments of the orchestra and make their own instruments before the concert!

Click this link to find out more about the concert:  http://www.charlottesymphony.org/Lollipops.asp

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS Saturday, April 30, 2011  North Carolina Dance Theatre School of Dance Jacomo Rafael Bairos, conductor Dancers from the North Carolina Dance Theatre School of Dance strut, prance, pounce, and glide in Saint-Saëns’s musical menagerie, Carnival of the Animals. Hens and roosters, tortoises and kangaroos, and the elegant swan all come to graceful and boisterous life in the Lollipops season finale.

Journey Montessori, February 10

I have so much fun teaching your children each week!  We listened to the Tortoises from the Carnival of the Animals this week.  We talked about how slowly they were dancing and used large, slow stretching movements to go along with this music.  The children are getting more accurate with identifying instruments and what families they belong in each week!  Listen to the Tortoises at home this week and see if your child can identify the animal the music is about and what instruments they hear!  Parents can you hear a slow version of the "Can Can" being played?  If you want to hear the fast/regular "Can Can" go to the May 22, 2010 posting and click the YouTube link there for it, then come back and listen for the slow version the turtles do here!



We also had a wonderful time dancing to the "Russian Sailors Dance."  The children changed the way they were dancing and moving each time the music changed.  We had to move with big and small, loud and soft, fast and slow, and high and low movements.  Try this out at home with your child.  If you don't know how to move to the music just follow what they do, kids are smart!  You can listen to the "Russian Sailors Dance" by clicking on the YouTube link under the January 27, 2011 post.

Your children are creating fantastic rhythm patterns each week.  I am always amazed at their creativity and willingness to share!

If you have the book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" at home, ask you child to sing it to you.  We sang the book to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Journey Montessori January 20-27

The students at the Montessori school have begun studying the families of instruments.
Last week we began this study by reading the book "Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin."  Several of the children said they already have this book at home, but if you have not read it I highly recommend it!
We also used our sticks to pretend we were playing violins (string family), drums (percussion family), trumpets (brass family), and flutes (woodwind family).

To further explore the instrument families and other fun music activities at home check out the San Fransisco Symphonies kids site at sfskids.org.

We have continued working on musical contrasts by moving and playing loud and soft, fast and slow, staccato and legato.  Click on the links in the Music Together post above to play along or move/dance with some of the songs we are using to learn these concepts.

We are also listening to music from Camille Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals.  We are using this music to discuss all of the above concepts; instruments, musical contrasts, and movement.  This week we discussed the Lions and Hens and Roosters.  Below are links to the book we are using in class as well as the first two pieces we listened to.


Lions


Hens and Roosters