Music
The month of February has arrived in all its glory. As I write this newsletter I realize that we have reached the 22nd week of the school year. Time certainly does not hold still at Truro Central and the pace is fast. The winter concert was a HUGE success thanks to you and your commitment to the music program. TCS students and families should be proud. There are only two times a year that we gather as a community and enjoy the fruits of the students’ labor. Now it is time to look forward to the String Jamboree, Tuesday March 6, 2012 at the Nauset Middle School and the TCS Recital, Wednesday, March 21, 2012 in the gymnasium.
The spring concert is scheduled for May 22nd. Look for more details as the date draws closer.
If you have specific questions about the music program call Ms. Abt at 508.487.1558 xt 231, email abtm@truromass.org or stop by the music/Spanish classroom Monday through Thursday.
What is going on this winter in music class?
Kindergarteners will be walking, jogging and galloping in February.
We will be labeling a steady walking rhythm with q q (quarter notes), a jogging rhythm with ee (eighth notes) and a galloping rhythm with q e (quarter; eighth).
We will practice playing the bells and singing lower and higher pitches. Some of the songs we will be singing are “Magic Penny”, “It’s So Good to See You”, “Jack Be Nimble”, “The Alphabet Song” ,“ The Farmer in the Dell”, “London Bridge” and “Maria Blanca”.
First graders will be exploring word rhythms, we will discover the four categories of unpitched instruments while we move to longer and shorter beats. We will learn to differentiate between rhythm and beat and read quarter note and eighth note rhythms.
Below is a short list of the songs we are hoping to add to the first grade repertoire: “Chase the Squirrel”, “Jump Jim Joe”, “But the Critter Got Away”, “Marco Polo”, “Double This” “Little Red Caboose”, “Johnny Works With One Hammer”, “Quaker, Quaker”,
Zui, Zui Zukkoribashi” “I’m Gonna Mail Myself to You”,
Second graders will be going on a musical journey in the month of February. We will visit a different continent and explore music there. We will listen and identify h (half notes) and echo and read rhythms with h . We will learn to recognize do-mi-so in a song. Here’s a list of second grade songs for the month of February:“What a Wonderful World”, “This is My Country”, “Land of the Silver Birch”, “Shake the Papaya Down”, “Mama Eu Quero”, “Mama Paquita”, “Sorida”.
Third graders will learn people around the world share songs and stories with each other. Sharing helps make a community. We will learn to move to show equal and unequal beats. We will sing phrases that use so-la-mi. “Colors of the Wind” is a very popular song that we will sing at the beginning of February. Then we will learn the “Raccoon Dance”, “Gi’ Me Elbow Room”, “Treasure Chests”, “Throw it Out the Window”, “Cumberland Gap”, This Away and That Away”, “Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder”
Fourth graders will be learning that music has the power to make people happy and forget about their troubles. We will sing songs like “Happy Talk”, “Paddy Works on the Railway”, “MacNamara’s Band”, “Water Come Me Eye”, “A Modern Dragon”
We will explore music in 6/8 meter and listen and identify musical sounds with 3 equal sounds to a beat. We will learn how melody moves and what gives a pleasing melody its shape.
Fifth graders are discovering that change is a good thing. If everything stayed the same what would our world be like? By changing music elements a musician can make a piece of music sound brand new. We will be singing , “The Star Spangled Banner”, ”Lift Every Voice and Sing”, “De Colores”, “Mango Walk”, “Pop Goes the Weasel”, “My Government Claim”. Like the 4th grade we will explore music in 6/8 meter. W will talk about the key of F major and we will play dominant and tonic pitches.
Sixth graders see and hear musical instruments all the time, on the radio, at the movies, television, itunes and at parties. Musical instruments come in all shapes and sizes. We will explore musical instruments this month. We will play and sing tunes like, “Mama Don’t Low”, “I Love a Piano”, “Winter Ade” in G major and G minor,
“Red Iron Ore”, “The Lumber Camp Song”, “The Guitar Man”, “Al Lado de mi Cabana”, You’ve Got a Friend”
We will continue to develop skills playing chords on the keyboards.
String Ensemble is hard at work every Monday at 7:30am. Each student who plays the violin or cello is expected to join the ensemble.
The experienced string players are preparing music for the String Jamboree.
This year the jamboree will be held at Nauset Middle School. The students who are participating this year are all fourth graders:
Ruby, Molly, Diana, Amber, Kaden, Deb.
The Band meets every Tuesday morning at 7:30am. We have saxophones, clarinets, flutes, cornet, trombone, a bass guitar, ukulele, and drums. We are learning to play “Montego Bay”, “America the Beautiful” and “Truro Will Shine Tonight” to play for the Recital in March and the Spring Concert in May.
Calendar of Events
Mondays TCS String Ensemble rehearsal 7:30am
Mondays Cello with Saskia Keller 4-5pm
Tuesdays TCS Band rehearsal 7:30am
Thursdays Instrument lessons with Mr. Stocks
Month of March Music in Our Schools Month
Tuesday, March 2, 2012 String Jamboree 12-7pm
Wednesday March 21, 2012 Student Recital 5:30pm
Thursday, May 22, 2012 Spring Concert 6:30pm
TBD 5th grade performance of Lewis and Clark
June, TBA Flag Day Celebration
Saskia Keller is at TCS on Mondays from 4-5p. She has set this time aside for students at TCS who may want to know a bit more about the cello.
This is a time for investigation and exploration of the beautiful world of the cello. All students are invited to stop by the music room on Monday between 4-5pm and check out what it’s like to play the cello. Your family may have a budding cellist at home and not even realize it. Please take advantage of this special opportunity.
FYI….. excerpted from interview on ABC
Gabby Giffords: Finding Words Through Song
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_MindBodyNews/gabby-giffords-finding-voice-music-therapy/story?id=14903987
By KATIE MOISSE (@katiemoisse) , BOB WOODRUFF (@bobwoodruff) , JAMES HILL (@jameshillABC) and LANA ZAK
Nov. 14, 2011
…Congresswoman Gabby Giffords suffered from aphasia -- the inability to speak because of damage to the language pathways in her brain's left hemisphere. But by layering words on top of melody and rhythm, she trained her brain to use a less-traveled pathway to the same destination.
"Music is that other road to get back to language," said Meaghan Morrow, Giffords' music therapist and a certified brain injury specialist at TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital in Houston. Morrow compared the process to a freeway detour.
"You aren't able to go forward on that pathway anymore," she said, but "you can exit and go around, and get to where you need to go."
…
"It has been known literally for centuries that speechless people, people who have lost speech, may sing," he said, citing an 1871 article by neurologist Dr. John Hughlings Jackson titled, "Singing by Speechless Children." …
In the past decade, music's ability to access language in the brain has been explored in great detail, and exploited as a means of recovering speech after brain injury.
The therapy can be frustrating and emotional for aphasic patients, whose inability to speak is no reflection on their intelligence.
That frustration was visible in Giffords' face, said Morrow. But the results were well worth the effort. "It took a few days, but she started to give me a thumbs-up," said Morrow. "Then she would start opening her mouth giving a little hum. Then it would turn into words over the weeks."
And through ditties like "Happy Birthday," "American Pie" and her favorite, "Brown Eyed Girl," Giffords slowly paved the back road to language.
"When I first saw Gabby and I first sang the song with her," said Morrow, "I knew that things were going to get better."
