DM-K Mrs. S’s AM class 10/23/15

ogden harp
(Photo courtesy holywellmusic.co.uk.)

Today in Mrs. S’s class I brought in a small lever harp. Seeing it in it’s black zipper case, the children wondered what it was. Some children knew. “How did you know?” I asked. “Because of it’s shape!” a little girl volunteered. It is fun to see what music children have been exposed to in their young lives.

We began class singing the DM theme song, and then we sang our Solfa scale “up and down the mountain” (an ascending and descending scale, beginning with middle C as Do). I sang slowly, as they had just begun learning the hand signs two weeks before. I took one girl and one boy volunteer to perform in front of the class. If a child does a sign wrong, I sometimes take the time to correct it–just in a little way to help them learn it. For example, if their fists are up high, I’ll say encouragingly, “Move your fists down by your belly button. Good job!” Or if “Ti” is difficult, I say, “Make some glasses in front of your eyes with your hands. Now POP the first finger up! And then move your hands back out in front of you. That’s right!”

After our scale, I reminded the children how we talked about each note having it’s own name and it’s own voice, just like each of them have their own unique voices, like we talked about last week. Some notes are higher and some are lower. I picked two notes (starting with “Daddy Do” and “Baby Do”) and asked which sound was higher and which one was lower. Daddy Do! I pointed out that “Daddy Do” is taller than “Baby Do” and showed them this by pulling the individual bells out and standing them up next to each other in front of me for the children to see.

I told them that each note sings its voice and we hear different notes because of the vibrations. (One little girl reminded us that “sound is vibrations that travel through the air to your ear that sends a message to your brain.” (I am always amazed at how much young children can remember even with such few repetitions and so much time elapsing in between lessons.) I explained that vibrations can travel at different speeds. “What is speed?” I asked. I ran fast across the front of my teaching space, and ran back the other way. Then I walked slowly back and forth. We talked about fast and slow. I asked them if they had ever seen a speed limit sign (I forgot my visual of one). It shows how fast you can drive your car down a road. “Do you ever say to your Dad or Mom, “Dad! You’re driving too fast!” (I always like getting the children to smile.) We tell cars how many miles per hour they can drive. We can also tell how fast or slow vibrations are going, and that is what gives them their PITCH. I had them repeat that word two or three more times. Pitch is how fast or slow the vibrations are going per second. Middle C (“Daddy Do”) is 256 Hertz, or oscillations per second. So there are 256 sound waves passing by in one second. Wow! That’s fast! Some pitches are a lot slower, like 80 Hertz, or a lot faster, like 440 Hertz. Symphonies tune to A at 440 Hz or above (A above middle C).

I took the cover off of the harp and pulled it to the front. As some of the strings were out of tune, I got out the tuner and started to tune them. One of the children guessed that the red strings were Do (C), and she was right! I showed them how each of the red strings had the same pitch, except that some were lower and some were higher. I meant to show them that the longer strings had the lower pitches and the shorter strings had higher pitches, but I think I might have forgotten that! (You can ask your child.)

I showed them a glissando going up the harp from low to high and going down from high to low. I told them that harpists do not use their pinkies to play the strings–only their thumbs through fourth fingers. I had them all come up and play a glissando on the harp. Then they sat back down and watched Chanson dans la nuit” (French for Song in the Night) by Carlos Salzedo and played by Yolanda Kondonassis (video here). I told them that the song was describing sounds that you might hear at night, such as wind. I asked them what they hear at night. They answered crickets, ants, birds, trees, dear (“reindeer”), bears. So we listened and they loved it. “Can we watch it again?” one little boy asked. I wished! We were out of time, and we sang our goodbye song.

(Glissandos begin at 3:00. Lots of technique talk until then.)

Tip: If you don’t own a harp (what are the chances?!) or know someone who does, you can Google “Suzuki harp teachers” or “harp teachers locally” or “wedding harpist” and see what comes up! Or check with your local university to see if there is a harp teacher in your area. Inviting teachers or students to come demonstrate their instruments can be good advertising for them and good exposure for your students! (Plus, you don’t have to haul it around!) It is always so beneficial for the students to get to see and touch different instruments, because it influences them on future choices of what they might learn to play later.

DMK 1.2 What is Music? Mrs. Livingston

Today was a blast! It was week 2 of teaching Mrs. S’s AM kingergarten class, and the children were bright and beautiful and wiggly: perfect for music time!

I never follow my lesson plan exactly, but today was pretty close. We didn’t get the name song made last week (I had to teach a 20 minute lesson, so I saved that until this week). After I reviewed the ascending and descending Solfa major scale on the bells with them singing, and then I put the notes up on the board to show the change in pitch. The resulting image looked like a “mountain,” I pointed out, so we stood up and “hiked” up the mountain by marching in place, singing up and down the scale as I pointed to each note. Then we “ran” back up and down. It was a nice movement to music in the middle of the exercise.

(The only challenge about moving to music is that the children can sometimes be wigglier at the end than when you start, so it kind of has to be used with that in mind.)

One little girl asked when we are going to write our own songs? “Soon!” I told her, but we were going to write our own song right then with our names. I showed them a piece of sheet music that had lyrics, and how the notes on that music were just black, whereas ours were colored(!) (More fun!) and how the lyrics were written in a line below the notes. Then I got out Mr. Owl and we sang “Whoooo are you?” a couple of times and then started writing the children’s names under the notes. I told them which note they were so that after we sang it once, I had them pop up and sing their name when we got to their note. By the end of the song, everyone was standing.

Joshua Bell Romance of the Violin

After doing the name song, in which I started learning their names, we moved to “I Got Rhythm” played by Joshua Bell (album: Romance of the Violin). We contrasted that with “Nocturne,” (from the same album) and discussed which song was slower and which was faster, and how one was kind of chipper and upbeat and the other slower. We did a little ballet to “Nocturne.” I just go with the movement–whatever seems appropriate. We have a good time.

Then we talked about what music is. One child said, “A note!” I agreed and said that we did that earlier when we put notes up on the board to create our song. “Notes all together makes music! But what makes the sound of each note? How do we hear sound?” Then I explained using the visual that I had put up on the board. We repeated “Sound is vibrations that travel to my ear that sends a message to my brain to tell me what I hear” several times until they could almost say it without my help.

I showed them the little wave demonstration from the OMSI online exhibit where you can click on a circle to make a sound and waves emanate out from the circle. I didn’t have time to do the rubber band or pebble dropped in a bowl of water. (I’ll save that for next time!)

We had a little impromptu addition to our lesson somewhere in all of this. I told them I wanted to teach them a song (“My Grandma Has a Green Thumb”), and somehow we segued to what a “solo” and a “performance” are. So I told them what a solo is, demonstrated briefly, and explained what audience manners are when someone performs: “You have to sit quietly with your lips zipped and your eyes on the performer. Then, at the end of the solo, you give wild applause, and the performer bows.” We had a little girl volunteer to sing a solo for us. She announced her piece: “You are my sunshine”  and proceeded to sing it beautifully! We gave her an enthusiastic round of applause, and she bowed, just like I had demonstrated. It was terrific! I love spontaneously delightful moments like that!

I taught the children the “Green Thumb” song quickly, sang “Adios Amigos” twice, and said goodbye.

I might have some videos to share along with this post. If you are interested, check back later!

 

Music and the weather

Music can help us express how we experience the world around us. I especially enjoy music about the weather! Here is a list I found today of some great songs that reflect the many moods of our natural world (google any one of these to find a video you enjoy!):

Seasons

Antonio Vivaldi – “The Four Seasons”

Astor Piazzolla – “Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas,” or “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”

Joseph Haydn – “The Seasons”

Alexander Glazunov – “The Seasons,” Op. 67

Piotr Tchaikovsky – “The Seasons,” Op. 37b

Jean-Baptiste Lully – “Les Saisons”

John Cage – “The Seasons” (1947 ballet score for Merce Cunningham)

James DeMars – Piano Concerto, “The Seasons”

Charles-Valentin Alkan – “Les Mois”

By individual seasons

Spring

Robert Schumann – Symphony No. 1, “Spring”

Johann Strauss II – “Voices of Spring,” waltz

Christian Sinding – “Rustle of Spring”

Edvard Grieg – “To Spring”

Igor Stravinsky – “The Rite of Spring”

Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Sonata No. 5, Op. 24, “Spring”

Richard Strauss – “Fruhling,” from “Four Last Songs”

Benjamin Britten – “Spring Symphony”

John Knowles Paine – “In Spring,” symphony

Claude Debussy – “Rondes de Printemps” for orchestra, from “Images”

Aaron Copland – “Appalachian Spring”

Richard Wagner – “Du bist der Lenz,” from “Valkyrie”

William Bolcom – “Spring Concertino” for oboe and small orchestra

Summer

Felix Mendelssohn – “Midsummer Night’s Dream” overture and incidental music

Hector Berlioz – “Les Nuits d’Ete,” song cycle

Autumn

R. Strauss – “September,” from “Four Last Songs”

Grieg – “In Autumn,” overture

Debussy – “Feuilles Mortes” or “Dead Leaves,” from Preludes, Book II

Winter

Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 1, Op. 13, “Winter Dreams”

Franz Schubert – “Die Winterreise,” song cycle

Wagner – “Wintersturme,” aria from “Valkyrie”

Weather

Thunderstorms

Beethoven – Symphony No. 6, Op. 68, “Pastoral”

Gioacchino Rossini – Overture to “William Tell”

Wagner – Prelude to “Valkyrie”

Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 17, Op. 31, No. 2, “Tempest”

Wagner – Opening of “Flying Dutchman”

Giuseppe Verdi – Storm in “Otello”

Vivaldi – Concerto “La Tempesta di Mare”

Berlioz – “Royal Hunt and Storm,” from “Les Troyens,” Act IV

Earthquake

Haydn – “Four Last Words of Christ”

Avalanche

Alfredo Catalani – Opera “La Wally” ends with an avalanche

Sunrises

R. Strauss – opening of “Thus Spake Zarathustra”

Maurice Ravel – “Daphnis et Chloe”

Haydn – Symphony No. 6, “Morning”

Ferde Grofe – “Sunrise,” from “Grand Canyon Suite”

Moonlight

Debussy – “La Terrasse des audiences du clair de lune,” from Preludes, Book II

Debussy – “Clair de Lune” for piano, from “Suite Bergamasque”

Beethoven – Piano Sonata No. 14, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight”

Rain

Frederic Chopin – Prelude, Op. 28, No. 10, “Raindrop”

Debussy – “Jardins sous le pluie,” from “Estampes” for piano

Grofe – “Cloudburst,” from “Grand Canyon Suite”

Johannes Brahms – Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 78, “Regenlied,” or “Rain Song”

Wind

Debussy – “West Wind,” from Preludes, Book 1

R. Strauss – “Alpine Symphony”

Alkan – “Le Vent” and, from Op. 39 Etudes, “Comme le Vent”

Clouds

Debussy – “Nuages”

Franz Liszt – “Nuages Gris”

Snow

Leopold Mozart – “Musical Sleighride”

Debussy – “Footsteps in the Snow,” from Preludes, Book 1

Debussy – “The Snow Is Dancing,” from “Children’s Corner,” for piano

Mist

Debussy – “Brouillards,” from Preludes, Book 2

Lift, place bowing: Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp K.299, Andantino


When you watch the violinists at the beginning of this piece, did you notice them lifting and placing their bows?

Did you see their bow holds? What about their shoulders?

Did you notice how the bows are going parallel to the bridge and the end of the fingerboard?

The violinists (and other string player) sometimes wiggle their left hand as they play. That’s called vibrato. (We learn that later on, after we get really good at placing each finger and moving our fingers around the fingerboard.)

Did you notice that everyone waited for the conductor and that the conductor looked to the soloists (the flute and harp players) before beginning the piece?

Did you see that everyone is dressed in black?

This lovely piece of music is part of a concerto, which is a song made up of 3 parts, or “movements.” The movements are named after the feeling or tempo of the part. Andantino means “slightly faster than walking pace.” Do you remember which language these musical terms comes from? Yes! Italian!

Mozart wrote this concerto, and this video is the movement andantino. Can you close your eyes and see if you can figure out the approximate bpm (beats per minute)? Remember that 60 bpm is 1 beat per second, so something slower than one beat per second would be fewer beats per minute and something faster than that would be more beats per minute. Andantino is often around 80 bpm (just a hint!).

The K in the name of this piece (K.299) stands for Köchel, the last name of a man (Ludwig von Köchel) who made a chronological list of all of Mozart’s pieces (“works”). The number stands for the number of the piece in that list. There are 629 works catalogued on his list!

Here’s some trivia for you: notice which fingers the harpist uses when he plays? Never the pinky finger! Also, did you know that flutes can be made out of nickel, silver, brass, and wood, or some are even made of gold! (A famous flutist named James Galway wrote a book about his life and career called The Man with the Golden Flute. He has a photo of himself holding his golden flute on the cover.)

Here is a video of a young harpist playing another Mozart concerto. (Check out the pinkies!) You can just leave this on as fabulous background music if you don’t want to watch it all…

Song Recommendations

I love recommending delicious music, because there is SO much of it! (“Delicious music” fits these standards.)

Here’s a pop song that is so cute: “All the Pennies” by Mindy Gledhill.

Religious music is a huge part of music history and includes some of the most beautiful classical music ever. Tonight a song came to mind that I heard when I was a child and haven’t thought of in years:

“How Lovely are the Messengers” by Felix Mendelssohn

And then I saw a video on the side bar by Kiri Te Kanawa, an world-famous soprano whose amazing voice my parents shared with me (The video is nothing to watch. But the listening is wonderful!):