Jazmine Harnishfeger-Brand

Prep 1 Tuesday – Jazmine

We had a wonderful week of Valentine’s Day themed music making!  We started class with our favorite song from last week “Downright/Upright” and had fun exploring how different emotions would be expressed through song (sad is minor and slow, excited is major and fast, etc.)  Then we moved on to vocal explorations with our scarves on Valentine’s Day themed words.  This is a great activity you can do at home to help singers explore and navigate through the full range of their voice (including up into their head/singing voice).  We continued warming up on a descending “sol-fa-mi-re-do” pattern on “I love to sing and play”, substituting other fun activities that the singers enjoy, including “I love to read all day” or “I love to paint and dance” etc.  This is a great way to support singers in matching pitch and singing in their “beautiful singing voices”.  In weeks to come we will start to change the pitch patterns as a way to transition from “gross” motor listening skills to “fine” motor listening skills.  Then, we continued reading and composing Valentine’s Day rhythms using ti-ti’s and ta’s, reinforcing that ti-ti’s have two sounds and ta’s have only one.  We introduced the concept that just like our hearts have steady beats, music also has a steady beat that doesn’t change and stays constant throughout a song.  Next we took our “Windshield Wipers” song and practiced making our ‘wipers’ go fast and slow, and how changing the speed of the ‘wipers’ (or beat) affects the tempo, or speed, of the song.  After reviewing our “Wipers” song, we introduced our first three solfege pitches – la, sol, and mi (including our hand signs).  We practiced singing the “Wipers” song on solfege pitches as well as the words.  This is a great activity to practice at home while it rains this weekend!   Next we learned a fun circle dance called “Circle Round the Zero”, perfect for Valentine’s Day, which is included in the packet attached to this blog.  Then, we played a fun game called “I Have Lost My Valentine” (also in your packet) where we sang louder or softer (introducing the concept of dynamics), as one singer searched for the lost valentine.  Of course, we had to play our favorite Bluebird game, and all of the singers enjoyed taking a turn as the Bluebird who flies in and out of the garden.  Then, we reviewed “Mail Myself To You” including making up fun movements to go with the words.  I was so impressed by the wonderful singing I heard from all of the students!  Then we finished class by singing the book “A Bushel And A Peck”.  

It was a wonderful day full of Valentine’s themed music!  Here you can download a fun packet of Valentine’s Day themed songs, including several of them that we did last week. I will also have printed copies for you if you’d like when I see you in two weeks!    

Prep 1 Thursday – Emily

Dear Parents,

Week 2 of Prep 1 was just as fun as Week 1!  REMINDER: There will be no class next week, as many schools have that week off.  I will see you again Thursday, March 2.

Here is what we did this week:

I started class a bit early, as so many of you arrived before 4 o’clock with the rhyme How Do You Dootee, then we practiced each others names with a game of Telephone.

Many children shared motions with class in the circle dance All Around the Kitchen.

After making a train and moving to the beat, the children derived the rhythm of Engine Number 9.  I wrote it on the board, and we figured out that all four lines have the same rhythm.

We practiced reading rhythms from the board, and then we played the game Lucy Locket.  The children then derived the melody names of this song, remembering so, mi and la.  We practiced singing it with solfege and hand signs, and then the children followed my improvised hand signs.

We then played the game Little Robin Redbreast.  I realized that we were out of time, so we finished with a quick game of Hunt the Cows.

I look forward to seeing your children in 2 weeks!