rests and names: especially for 4th graders!!!!

Dear 4th graders,


Your music test in the elements of music theory will contain rests also :)!


Please, take a look at the picture below - it will help you remember the names!

4th, 5th grade and 6th grade music test: due dates / helping notes!

Hi all!


Please take a look at the terminology below, it will help you study for your music test (due date: 4th grade - January 6th, 14:00 , 5th grade- January 7th, 13:00 and 6th grade- December 16, 13:00)

• Stave /Staff: the 5 lines we use to write music notation on.

• Clef: Treble (G) and Bass (F). The music symbol that indicates the pitch of the written music notes

• Stem: the line which extends from the notehead. Look at the picture below to see the parts of an eight note:

• Bar lines: The vertical lines drawn through the staff to mark off metrical units:

• Accidentals: The symbols which mark a music note and alter their pitch. There are 3 accidentals:  Sharp (+ a semitone or half pitch), Flat (- a semitone or half pitch) and Neutral (brings the note in it's original form)

• Dynamic markings:

 p: piano (soft)

mp: mezzo piano (moderately soft)

pp: pianissimo (almost as a whisper)

f: forte (loud)

mf: mezzo forte (moderately loud)

ff: fortissimo (very loud)

Diminuendo: from forte to piano

Crescendo: from piano to forte

Photo album from Beauty and the Beast

Our performance in "Beauty and the Beast" on Friday went amazingly well!

What a feeling for everyone!

Thank you all for this great show, for your time and patience during the rehearsals, and for your indescribable energy and enthusiasm during the performance!

YOU ROCK!

http://picasaweb.google.com/ceri.his.photos/20101210BeautyAndTheBeastElementaryDeptPerformance#

So....what's next??/

Directions to Science Park Theatre (Beauty and the Beast)

View Hsinchu Science Park Theater in a larger map

How to prepare before performing

The day we will perform our show is really close now!
As you already know, performing for a crowd sometimes can be a nail-biting experience!
With a proper preparation you will be able to give a dynamic performance that everyone will enjoy...including YOU!


Here below you can find some good advices to prepare yourself for the day of your performance:

1. PRACTISE until you can perform in your sleep! The more you rehearse, the better you get - but be careful: try NOT to memorize your mistakes; A mistake accidentally repeated over and over is more likely to appear AND in YOUR performance. Perfect practise is more likely to yield perfect results!
2.  Perform to YOUR FAMILY. The more you perform in front of people, the more comfortable you will feel to perform in front of a crowd. Try to perform EXACTLY as you would on stage.
3. TAKE NOTES OF YOUR TROUBLE SPOTS. Highlight the lines in your script that you easily forget and practise these areas OVER and OVER AGAIN until you can perform them perfectly every time.
4. Get adequate sleep before your performance. Sleep deprivation can inhibit judgement and reaction time and can cause stress and anxiety.
5. EAT A HEALTHY SNACK AND DRINK SOME WATER before you perform. Right before you go on stage, be sure that you stop by the restroom. Save yourself any embarrassment and don''t consume anything that could cause flatulence such as beans, cabbage or broccoli.
6. MAKE USE OF YOUR SPARE TIME. If you have to wait backstage before you perform don't waste time thinking what could go wrong. Run the script in your mind and listen to the music. This will help you to focus.
7. EXPECT NERVOUSNESS! Even the most experienced performers can get butterflies in front of a crowd. Instead of letting this hinder your performance,  channel your jitters into energy for your act.

APPEAR CONFIDENT. Remain calm, hold your head up and SMILE!  The more confident you appear, the more confident you'll feel!




Try to follow the above advises! They have been tested from many others before and they really WORK!


THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL:


HAVE FUN! 

Saturday's rehearsal

Customize your own photo album

Rehearsal on Saturday, November 13th!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms05La1pDIU

On Saturday, November 13th 12:30 -17:30 is the big rehearsal for the whole play!


We were waiting for that moment and  we all have to attend it.


This is our chance to wear our costumes, and put the whole play together in a non-stop pace.


See you all at our auditorium!

Rehearsing at Ms. Fay's

Take a look!
We had a Great Time!!
Thank you everyone for your positive mood, the fun we had and the delicious deserts you brought!!!

This free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

sneak a peak!!!

http://smilebox.com/playBlog/4d546b334e5455794d6a633d0d0a&blogview=true

Rehearsals! Sneak a Peak!

Welcome again to our weekly "sneak a peak at the rehearsals" photo show!


Enjoy our young elementary actors while they're learning all about the musical world!

1st, 2nd and 3rd graders learning choreography for the "Be our Guest" scene

it's all about balance!

4th graders at the first row!

let's learn a little can - can steps!

on the stage now! let's learn how we...fall!

...well, acting is real fun!

hm...master.. it would be a good idea if you calmed down a little bit?

Waltzing all around the music class!

Music History: Violin instrument analysis

The parts of a violin

The violin is the first of the symphonic orchestra instruments we learned while breaking down a romantic symphonic orchestra.

It belongs to the "string family" and it has 4 strings tuned in perfect 5ths (G,D,A,E).

It is played with a bow made of grey male horse hair.

Please check the music notes I gave you for more information.

Below you can find a usefull link for violin players:

http://www.theviolinsite.com/

Rehearsals - Drama Class

4th graders learning a scene

Hello again!


Drama classes have begun and we all enjoy our new exploration of the theatrical world!
We learn how to speak clear and loud, how to breath properly in order to sing and act at the same time and how to move on the stage.
Acting is our main goal and there are so many new things we are excited to try for and have fun with, such as: 
-how can we alter our voice? 
-how we perform cogently enough the character we are impersonating?  
-how we control our stress on the stage?


Enjoy us in the rehearsals of the Beaty and the Beast during our Drama Session:

1st, 2nd and 3rd grade learning a choreograhy

Stay tuned!

Every week we will have more snap-shots from our theatrical progress!

1st and 2nd grade introduction to note values!

Note duration is a basic element in music. Without knowing how long we have to play or sing a note we can't perform or compose any music.


Kids in 1st and 2nd  grades are very young to understand the meaning of common or combound fractions or decimal numbers.


So, this week we were introduced to the "musical magical train". We had tickets for our seats, in fact note value tickets and we pretended to be "fatty whole", Mr.or Ms. Halfnote and other funny note characters.


You can take a look to our tickets:

and:

Ask your child to explain you how we played this game: in this way he/she can remember it again and comprehend the note values.

Music Books!

Hello everybody!!


We are very fortunate in having some really special books in our library for music.


Mr Coyle, although he is very busy,  did as a favour and prepared a list 


with these music books for our convenience:


80 Music

781 General principles & musical forms

782 Vocal music

783 Music for single voices; the voice

784 Instruments & instrumental ensembles

785 Ensembles with one instrument per part

786 Keyboard & other instruments

787 Stringed instruments

788 Wind instruments


534 "Sound & related vibrations" 




Analytically:

	The Usborne Internet-linked introduction to music        [ Book ]   780 OBR    O'Brien, Eileen, 1955- Published 2000 Reading Level: 6.0  Interest Level: 3-6
	The science book of sound        [ Book ]   534 ARD    Ardley, Neil. Published 1991 Reading Level: 5.4  Interest Level: 3-6
	Things hoped for        [ Book ]   FIC CLEMENTS    Clements, Andrew, 1949- Published 2006 Reading Level: 5.0  Interest Level: 5-8
	Sound and music        [ Book ]   534 ARD    Ardley, Neil. Published 1984 Reading Level: 3.9  Interest Level: 3-6
	How music came to the world : an ancient Mexican myth        [ Book ]   398.2 DBE    Ober, Hal. Published 1994 Reading Level: 2.2  Interest Level: K-3
	The magic school bus in the haunted museum : a book about sound        [ Book ]   534 MAG    Beech, Linda. Published 1995 Reading Level: 4.2  Interest Level: K-3
	The heart of the wood        [ Book ]   [E] DAV    Davol, Marguerite W. Published 1992 Reading Level: 4.9  Interest Level: K-3
	Little Bobo        [ Book ]   E ROM    Romanelli, Serena. Published 1995 Reading Level: 3.5  Interest Level: K-3
	The singing man : a West African folktale       [ Book ]   398.21 MED    Medearis, Angela Shelf, 1956- Published 1994 Reading Level: 4.9  Interest Level: K-3
	The Usborne story of music        [ Book ]   780 MUN    Mundy, Simon. Published 1980 Reading Level: 6.3  Interest Level: 5-8
	Fun-to-sing songbook        [ Book ]   784.6 NEL    Nelson, Esther L. Published 2004
	Frog went a-courtin'        [ Book ]   782.42 ROJ    Langstaff, John M. Published 1983 Reading Level: 2.7  Interest Level: K-3
	Who were the Beatles?        [ Book ]   782.4 EDG    Edgers, Geoff. Published 2006 Reading Level: 5.5  Interest Level: 3-6
	Join the band!        [ Book ]   784.4 PIL    Pillar, Marjorie. Published 1992 Interest Level: K-3
	Brother Billy Bronto's Bygone Blues Band        [ Book ]   PB BIRCHMAN    Birchman, David Francis. Published 1992 Reading Level: 5.5  Interest Level: K-3
	Froggy plays in the band        [ Book ]   E    London, Jonathan, 1947- Published 2002 Reading Level: 2.7  Interest Level: K-3
	Like me and you        [ Book ]   782.42 RAF    Raffi. Published 1994 Reading Level: 2.9  Interest Level: K-3
	Sitting on the farm        [ Book ]   782.42 KIN    King, Bob. Published 1992 Reading Level: 1.6  Interest Level: K-3
	Spider on the floor        [ Book ]   782.42 RAF    Russell, Bill, 1905-1992. Published 1993 Reading Level: 1.5  Interest Level: K-3
	Take me out to the ball game        [ Book ]   782.42 KOV    Kovalski, Maryann. Published 1992 Reading Level: 1.7  Interest Level: K-3
	There were ten in the bed        [ Book ]   782.4 CAL    Calitri, Susan. Published 2003
	Thump, thump, rat-a-tat-tat        [ Book ]   PB BAER    Baer, Gene, 1927- Published 1989 Reading Level: 1.8  Interest Level: K-3
	Tiny's hat        [ Book ]   E GRI    Grifalconi, Ann. Published 1999 Reading Level: 1.9  Interest Level: K-3
	The zebra-riding cowboy : a folk song from the Old West        [ Book ]   782.42 MED    collected by Angela Shelf Medearis ; illustrated by María Cristina Brusca. Published 1992 Reading Level: 4.5  Interest Level: K-3
	The cat came back : a traditional song       [ Book ]   E SLA    Slavin, Bill. Published 1992 Reading Level: 1.9  Interest Level: K-3
	The itsy bitsy spider        [ Book ]   782.42 TRA    Trapani, Iza. Published 1993 Reading Level: 1.3  Interest Level: K-3
	Mary had a little lamb        [ Book ]   782.4 TRA    Trapani, Iza. Published 1999 Reading Level: 3.6  Interest Level: K-3
	The Penguin Quartet        [ Book ]   PB ARRHENIUS    Arrhenius, Peter. Published 1998 Reading Level: 4.9  Interest Level: K-3
	There's a hole in the bucket        [ Book ]   782.42 WES    Westcott, Nadine Bernard. Published 1990 Reading Level: 1.4  Interest Level: K-3
	The Usborne book of easy guitar tunes        [ Book ]   787.8 DAN    Danes, Emma. Published 1995 Reading Level: 8.5  Interest Level: 5-8
	What instrument is this?        [ Book ]   784.19 HAU    Hausherr, Rosmarie. Published 1992 Reading Level: 5.5  Interest Level: 3-6

Please  go ahead, take a look and enjoy!