Autumn Splendor

Hello friends!  I am back and am so excited to be teaching a new class of Merry Music Makers again.  It has been a while, but I am no less excited to have a new group of kids to share my love of music with.  I am going to try to remember to take more photos to share so you can see what kinds of things we do in classes, but for now, you can see what we did for some of our fall activities.

One of the many things I talk about in class is seasons.  We also talk about holidays as they come up (and birthdays too).  I decided that for fall (and Halloween) we would talk about all the different ways we experience the season and holiday with our senses.  The kids got to FEEL the bumpy, hard, orange pumpkin.  We talked about some of the things they SEE like ghosts, bats, vampires, and jack-o-lanterns.  Some of the SMELLS of fall are the crisp leaves and the smell of cinnamon.  The TASTES of fall are apples and apple cider.  They HEAR the crunchy leaves under their feet when they walk outside and smell and feel them as they play in them.  (Obviously, some of these overlap.)

It was so much fun and a big hit! 

Another favorite at this time of year is the "5 Little Pumpkins" rhyme.  We worked on it all month long and colored pages to make a book that the kids got to take home on the last day of class in October. 

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late.
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "But WE don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun."
Then woooooo went the wind and out went the lights,
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Happy Halloween and Autumn!!!

An Irish Jig--Learning about Bagpipes

I think that the coolest instrument we have learned about in Merry Music Makers is the bagpipes.  One of my good friends was gracious enough to make an appearance in our class.  She showed us all the pieces of the bagpipes, how to put them together, and then eventually how to make sound.  We then proceeded to listen to her play while dancing an Irish jig.  All in all, I deemed it a complete success! :)

Instruments of the Orchestra

I know these are a bit belated, but I just had to share them.  As you probably already know (those of you who were in Merry Music Makers in the Spring), one of the big things we were learning about was all the instruments in the orchestra and the families they belong to.  We had a variety of musicians come as guests to our class to introduce us to their instruments, and even sometimes let us play them!  Here are a few videos I have from those encounters:

Drums:

French Horn:

Clarinet:

A big shout out of thanks to all of my musician friends who were kind enough to brave our toddler music class with their instruments.  The kids absolutely love seeing, hearing, and learning about all the instruments up close and personal.  These are only a few of the instruments we have learned about.  I plan on reviewing these this fall, and hopefully adding even more instruments to our repertoire.

Haydn's "Surprise Symphony"

One of my goals in my music class is to instill a love for classical music in kids while they are small.  There are so many amazing things about classical music.  Last summer, I took a music class at Utah Valley University, in which we spent the entire semester analyzing all the different eras of musical composition.  It was truly an amazing experience and increased my love for classical music even more.  I hope that, even though I'm working with little kids, I can start to show them the wonder that is classical music.  The complexity of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that can be expressed through classical music is endless.  Too many people are missing out on the world of classical music!

So, one of the things we have started focusing part of our class time on is, you guessed it, listening to classical music.  One fun way to get kids excited about classical music is to have them try acting out the music in different ways.  For example, when we listen to "Flight of the Bumblebee," we run around really fast pretending to be bees flying around in a frenzy.  When we listen to the "March" from the Nutcracker, we march around during the more rigid, marching sounding music, and then run around all twirly and flowy in the contrasting parts of the song that sound as such.

My biggest hit by far, however, has been our acting out of Haydn's "Surprise Symphony," (Symphony No. 94 in G "Surprise").  The song is a whopping 6 minutes and 21 seconds long and the kids stay interested and engaged the WHOLE time.  Like I said, amazing!  We pretend that we are little mice on a mission to make it to the kitchen, stuff our faces and pockets full of all sorts of snacks, and then scurry on back to our mouse hole without getting caught.  During different parts of the song when things change we act out different interactions, but the kids have just really had a blast with it.  They are continually adding more of their own actions and descriptive parts to our adventure story.  They even sometimes remember that it is called the "Surprise Symphony"!  I'm so excited to see them falling in love with classical music and seeing how fun and dynamic it can be.

If you're interested in listening to this song to see what all the fuss is about, check out my playlist on the right hand side of the page.  Currently, it is the last song on the list, #77.  The other songs I use are included in the same playlist.  So, go out there and listen to some classical music!  There's so much to learn and discover about this amazing genre of music with an incredibly long and rich history.  Children will be greatly influenced in their listening by what they hear you listen to and by what music you have playing in your home.  Take a chance and turn on some classical music to share with the whole family.  You won't regret it!

Nursery Rhymes

We have been working quite a bit on nursery rhymes over the last month or so.  Nursery rhymes are a very important element in helping children learn how to read.  I was recently speaking to a friend of mine who is a Kindergarten teacher, and she told me that not very many children know the nursery rhymes anymore.  This makes me so sad!  There are so many great elements to them.  They usually have a strong, rhythmic pulse, that helps kids start to recognize rhythm, and they have lots of rhyming words.  Learning and recognizing rhyming words is an integral part of a child's pre-reading skills.  Nursery rhymes are a HUGE help in lots of areas.  Here are just a few of the many articles out there describing the value of nursery rhymes.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/reading-language/reading-tips/the-surprising-meaning-and-benefits-of-nursery-rhymes/

http://www.funfelt.com/why-nursery-rhymes.html

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/value-nursery-rhymes-11872.html

Here are the nursery rhymes we've learned so far (just in case you don't remember the words):

Hickory Dickory Dock:

Hickory dickory dock
The mouse ran up the clock
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down
Hickory dickory dock

Mary Had a Little Lamb:

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star:

Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat:

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream,
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

Wee Willie Winkie:

Wee Willie Winkie
Runs through the town,
Upstairs and downstairs
In his nightgown.

We have tunes and actions that go with all the songs.  Ask your kids to show them to you.  If I'm really on top of things, I will try to post a you tube video of me showing these songs, but don't hold your breath.  I always have big goals and never enough time to achieve them. :)

Conducting

Today in music class we read a book about some different instruments and the sounds they make.  At the end of the book we saw a picture of the whole orchestra and the conductor in the front.  We practiced saying the words "director," and "conductor," and talked about all the things a conductor does.

We watched a short video about conducting and learned about "crescendo," which is gradually getting LOUDER, and "diminuendo," which is gradually getting softer.  After the video, we made our own batons so we could practice being a director and conducting.  The kids made two batons, one to take home to practice with, and one to leave here to use for later activities.

After we finished, we practiced conducting by taking turns standing on a stool and waving our batons in the air in time to the music.  When we want the orchestra to play LOUD we wave our arms BIG.  When we want them to play SOFT we wave our arms SMALL.  The kids absolutely loved conducting!  Have them practice conducting at home by putting on some classical music, giving them their baton, and letting them have at it.  Make it even more exciting by providing a stool and/or a music stand.

The more you encourage your kids to express themselves musically while they are young, the easier it will be for them to continue to do so as they get older.  So, go forth and conduct!

Harp

Last week we learned about the harp.  We learned that the short strings sound high and the long strings sound low.  We learned the parts of the harp: shoulder, sound board, feet, legs, strings.  When we practiced playing the harp we made a hook shape with our fingers and PLUCKED the strings.

Check out my "Instruments" playlist on the right for a couple songs with the harp in them.