\”Note\”able Notes

     We are in the “off season” right now.  We will be spending the rest off the school year and the summer looking for new pieces.  We will keep you informed when the season starts again!

     We are currently working on a unit in melody.  We first learned the meaning of melody and how it differs from rhythm.  The younger students are learning that melodies can go higher, lower, or stay the same.  The second and third grade students are taking that a bit further by studying exactly how they move higher or lower.  For example, do they move by step or by leap?  The older students are studying about contours and phrasing of melodies.

     All of the children are learning about the staff, treble clef, lines and spaces, and note names.  With the very young children we do it with a puppet names “Freddie” and a book called The Thump in the Night.  Freddie is a frog who lives on Treble Clef Island.  Through Freddie’s adventures, the students are introduced to the treble clef staff as a map of where Freddie lives.  Various lines and spaces represent each part of the story.  The older children have used Smartboard activities to help learn and reinforce the note names.

     Singing is a big part of our curriculum of course, and we continue to do that everyday!  We have begun to prepare for our spring concert “The Wheel of Music”.  The concert will be held on Tuesday, May 4th  at 7:00 p.m.  We will have a great show for you so mark your calendars now!  We are also very fortunate to have a student teacher working with the 5^th graders.  Mr. Jared Opp is dividing his students teaching assignment between instrumental and vocal music.  

     We are so excited to have Mr. Jared Opp as a student teacher in the music department!  He is sharing his time between instrumental and vocal music.  It is really great for our male singers!  Mr. Opp has been spending some one-on-one time with the boys working on pitch matching.  The boys are really making progress!  It is important for the boys to have a male model the pitches.  Yes, I can sing most of their parts, but it is sometimes hard for them to really understand and hear their part.  Now when Mr. Opp sings their part, they are really beginning to understand just where the male voice belongs.

     The junior high choirs are preparing for their spring concert, which will be held on Thursday, May 6^th at 7:00 p.m.  We are always striving for correct pitch, part recognition, proper vowels, breath control, and interpretation.  The students have been singing a wide variety of music – everything from classical to some of their favorite pop music.  They have made great progress this year!

     We are very busy preparing for our large group contest that will be held on Wednesday, March 31st.  It takes place at the Johnson Fine Arts Center on the campus of NSU.  

     We will be performing three songs; Things That Never Die, Set Me As a Seal, and Let Me Ride.  Things That Never Die is a contemporary classical piece.  It has beautiful, rich harmonies and a very fluid line to it.  The piece needs to be sung very smoothly, with concentration on constantly changing time signature.  Set Me As a Seal is an acapella selection.  That means it is sung without piano accompaniment.  This is a great piece for teaching listening.  The students must always listen to the other parts being sung in order to keep the song in tune.  It is also a very legato piece of music with a sort of haunting melody.  Let Me Ride is an upbeat spiritual.  This piece must be sung with crisp consonants and attention to rhythm.  It has a very fast tempo, so the students have to stay focused or it could ‘fall apart’! 

     We are very fortunate to have a student teacher this nine weeks.  Mr. Jared Opp is a senior music major at NSU.  He is sharing his duties between vocal and instrumental.  He wil be helping direct the choir at contest.  Mr. Opp will also be preparing a song for our spring concert.