Students in third grade played a game called “Pass the Pumpkin” and used xylophones, a rain stick, and the gong to accompany their singing! The song has a minor sound to it. In music, minor means a haunting or sad sound. The opposite of minor is major.
Students in first and second grade listening to and learning about Danse Macabre by French composer Camille Saint Saens. Danse Macabre is French for “Dance of the Dead.” Perfect for the Halloween season!! We have learned (or reviewed) that a composer is someone who makes up a song and writes it down using music notes. We also discuss that music can tell a story, and that many songs have “themes” in them. Danse Macabre, for us, has a “skeleton theme” and a “ghost theme.” The ghost theme is smooth and soaring, like a ghost moaning and flying. The skeleton theme is choppy and bumpy, like a skeleton’s rattling bones! Sometimes the skeleton theme is even accompanied by a xylophone, to imitate the sound of bones.
As a listening activity, students listen to the song and place magnet-backed pieces onto a map of the piece as we listen. After doing this activity once or twice, students can identify every part in the song simply by listening for the tunes associated with each piece without any help from me- it’s quite amazing!
Students in first, second, and third grade have been listening to and learning about Danse Macabre by French composer Camille Saint Saens. Danse Macabre is French for “Dance of the Dead.” Perfect for the Halloween season!! We have learned (or reviewed) that a composer is someone who makes up a song and writes it down using music notes. We also discuss that music can tell a story, and that many songs have “themes” in them. Danse Macabre, for us, has a “skeleton theme” and a “ghost theme.” The ghost theme is smooth and soaring, like a ghost moaning and flying. The skeleton theme is choppy and bumpy, like a skeleton’s rattling bones! Sometimes the skeleton theme is even accompanied by a xylophone, to imitate the sound of bones.
In first and second grade, students listen to the song and place magnet-backed pieces onto a map of the piece as we listen. In second and third grade, we watch a real orchestra playing the piece. Third graders learned about the instruments of the orchestra last year, so it was lots of fun to identify the instruments by sound and sight!
Students in 3rd grade learned about half rests and whole rests, and reviewed the “real names” for many other music notes and rests. Then they practiced drawing them by using them to create jack-o-lanterns. On the back of each Jack-o-Lantern, students filled in a chart to show which four notes/rests they used, what the name for each note or rest was, and how many beats each note or rest gets.
Students in first, second, and third grade have been listening to and learning about Danse Macabre by French composer Camille Saint Saens. Danse Macabre is French for “Dance of the Dead.” Perfect for the Halloween season!! We have learned (or reviewed) that a composer is someone who makes up a song and writes it down using music notes. We also discuss that music can tell a story, and that many songs have “themes” in them. Danse Macabre, for us, has a “skeleton theme” and a “ghost theme.” The ghost theme is smooth and soaring, like a ghost moaning and flying. The skeleton theme is chopping and bumpy, like a skeleton’s rattling bones! Sometimes the skeleton theme is even accompanied by a xylophone, to imitate the sound of bones.
In first and second grade, students listen to the song and place velcro-backed pieces onto a map of the piece as we listen. In third grade, students each have their own individual “board game” of the song, and they use a bingo chip to keep track of where we are in the piece as we listen. In second and third grade, we have watched a real orchestra playing the piece!
Students in Mrs. Hayne’s second grade class watch a real orchestra play Danse Macabre and do their movements along with the music.
Students in 3rd grade reviewed the “proper names” for many music notes and rests, and then practiced drawing them by using them to create jack-o-lanterns. On the back of each Jack-o-Lantern, students filled in a chart to show which four notes/rests they used, what the “proper name” for each note or rest was, and how many beats each note or rest gets.
Students in fifth grade read biographies of famous composers and used the information to make a “head stone” for their assigned composer.
Students in first, second, and third grade have been listening to and learning about Danse Macabre by French composer Camille Saint Saens. We have learned (or reviewed) that a composer is someone who makes up a song and writes it down using music notes. In first and second grade, students listen to the song and place velcro-backed pieces onto a map of the piece. In third grade, students each have their own individual “board game” of the song, and they use a bingo chip to keep track of where we are in the piece as we listen. In second and third grade, we have watched a cool PBS cartoon made to go along with the piece, as well as a real orchestra playing the piece!
Students in Mrs. Hayne’s second grade class watch the orchestra play Danse Macabre “on the big screen” as we like to say. Students love to act out playing the different instruments while we watch. Students learn, in depth, about the instrument families and individual instruments of the orchestra in January of second grade.
First and second graders have been playing Monster Mash freeze dance these last few days. It is one of their favorite games and they love to go home and listen to the song!
First and second graders learned the song “Skin and Bones,” one of my FAVORITES because I get to scare the living daylights out of everyone! I sing the song very quietly and slowly with my guitar, getting quieter and quieter until I shout BOO at the end!! After we learned the song, we acted it out by choosing and old woman and someone to hide in the closet…. obviously this is a favorite activity during the year.
Emma, in first grade, playing the Old Woman
Mrs. Hayne’s second grade class singing and anxiously watching Jasmyne approach the closet!
The West Elementary Music Blog! 