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Greetings, Prep 1 Families!
Thank you for another fun and enriching week of music-making in Prep 1. Please read the important information below about upcoming events, and the recaps of what your child is doing in Prep 1 Class!
Recital Season is Coming!
Prep Recitals are a wonderful tradition here at Cantabile. They provide friends and family a little window into our prep classes, featuring songs, dances, games and musicianship activities from the entire season, with brief explanations from the teachers. It is a great opportunity for your child to perform in a low-key and fun setting! We can’t wait to share our accomplishments with you! Here is some information:
Jazmine and Emily’s Prep 1 Class Recital (Tuesday and Wednesday Prep 1):
Tuesday May 17th– 3.30-4.15 pm (*please note day switch for Emily’s class!)
Katie’s Prep 1 Class Recital (Thursday Prep 1):
Thursday, May 19th – 3:30-4:15 pm (*please note earlier time!)
Uniforms
New Cantabile singers will need uniforms for our spring recitals and concert – please order as soon as possible at Merry Mart Uniforms, as they tend to sell out of the Prep skirts fairly quickly. Singers will need to be in full Cantabile uniform for the Prep 1 Recitals. Please note that Prep 1 singers need to be wearing the red polo shirts with the Cantabile logo, and uniform black pants for boys, and skirts for girls.
From Jazmine (Tuesday class):
This week, the Tuesday Prep 1 kids had a great time playing a number of music games and dances – some of our favorites are Naughty Kitty Cat, Looby Loo, Doggie, Doggie, Bluebird, and Alley Alley-Oh. Be sure to have your child share a favorite music game or dance with you this week! They have also been working hard on their pitch-matching and overall vocal development through the use of vocal warm-ups and solfege-based activities, and they are gaining a great rhythmic foundation by identifying and chanting the rhythm of several known songs we have been working on – I am very proud of their progress this semester! The children also showed that they know their recital songs very well! Please continue to help the children review their songs with the help of the Prep 1 Recital Lyrics sheet! See you Tuesday!
From Emily (Wednesday class):
We had a fun class today, and I was very happy to be back! We started our class with the fun game Looby Loo, and then we bounced a ball on the beat with Bounce High, Bounce Low. I gave the students a very big challenge today: they each had their own white board with most of the song written on it, and they had to fill in the missing measure. We did it on the big board first, and then they each did it on their white boards. They needed a lot of help, but they got it!
We then played, Ring Around the Rosy, remembering that it has a lot of notes that we already know—so, mi and la. The children were then able to hear the melody of Percy the Pale Faced Polar Bear from my hand signs and melody names. They both seem to be getting to know this song. I am so glad, as I want them to sing this in their recital on Tuesday, May 17.
Next, the children sang Candle Burning Bright, which I will use to help them learn the concept of a rest in the future. To prepare them to learn the note Do, I taught them the fun chasing game Mouse, Mousie. They really loved running around! We then sang Jim Along Josie, which definitely kept them moving.
We ended the class today by singing Rubber Ducky. We were so lucky because teacher Jazmine came and played the piano part for us. It was extra fun to sing with the piano!
Thank you for having your children listen to the recital songs. I can tell they are learning them, so please keep it up.
I look forward to seeing you next week!
From Katie
- We started off class playing the rhythms of various modes of transportation with the use of Transportation Rhythm cards!
- We decided to hop on a train and use our train whistles to toot as we sang “I am the Train that Stops for You.” The children are really singing out in this song, and doing a great job playing the titi-tah rhythm on their train whistles!
- Our train turned into a long boat and we sang Row Row Row Your Boat – then we split into two boats and tried singing the song in a 2-part canon – this is still challenging, but the kids are trying their best!
- Because the train whistles were still out, we sang A Peanut Sat on a Railroad Track – there is a lot of coordination with playing whistles, beating the drum, and of course, singing, and the kids are doing a great job
- The kids worked on their solo singing and intonation with the song Hickety Tickety Fish in the Sea – this time, everyone shared their favorite animal.
- We kept with our animal theme and sang and danced Naughty Kitty Cat – the kids really love playing this game, especially when we take out our claws at the end, with a big SCAT!
- We did more rhythmic work and made an important discovery with the song Naughty Kitty Cat – the children each got a rhythm sheet with sticks of butter representing the steady beat of the song – the children tapped each beat while singing the song, and then derived the rhythm in tahs and titis. The children then noticed that there were some sticks of butter with no sound – and we learned this is called a REST. We will write in our rests and rhythms next week!
- We got out our night-time scarves and reviewed the Japanese folk song, “Deta Deta.” This is a great song to work on soft dynamics, as it is a lullaby about the moon coming out.
- We kept our scarves and turned them into flowers so the kids could practice one of our recital songs, Garden of People.
- We traded our scarves for rubber ducks, and practiced Rubber Ducky – we used our squeaky ducks to play a rhythmic response after every phrase. The children love this song!
- The children then had a great time with the silly and fun circle dance, Looby Loo, where we picked different body parts to shake. This is a great song for feeling 6/8 meter, and the kids performed some nice swinging motions to show the big 2 beat.
- We finished by practicing one more recital song – Mail Myself to You.
- Please use the Prep 1 Recital Lyrics sheet to review all the recital songs with your child. They are in good shape, but really need to work on memorizing. These are the songs they need to know:
Mail Myself to You
Garden of People
What if the Raindrops
Deta Deta
Rubber Ducky
Have a great weekend!