This quarter we will be working in 2 new units. Our units are Form and Historical and Cultural Contexts. In the form unit, we will be focusing on the musical "puzzle pieces" that make up almost every song we listen to. Throughout this unit we will be dissecting songs from various cultures and genres. We will move from understanding verses and choruses to naming sections and actually outlining the form with letters. 

In the Historical and Cultural Contexts unit, we will do a lot of learning through movement. We will explore traditions, history, and language from countries all over the world. We will be singing and dancing our way around the world as we compare and contrast musical stylings!

Week of 1/9

We had a great week in music class! We kicked off our new units by learning about the Olympics. We learned about Olympic events, athletes, traditions, and the offical Olympic theme music. We analyzed the form and found it to be in ABCBA form. To demonstrate the form of the song we assigned movement to each section. We acted pretended to ski during part A, pretended to do tricks on a balance beam for part B, and became Olympic ice skaters for part C. It was a blast! We also watched real Olympic footage from London, Rio, and Sochi. We were also able to identify and define dynamics within the dynamic theme. How amazing are these students?! It was a very productive week! Check back next week as we study form through traditional Mexican music!

We are having a blast learning about African music and instruments. We learned how to play shekere and compared an authentic African marimba to a modern American marimba. We've also done a lot of dancing! We danced to a song called Kye Kye Kule (pronounced Chey Chey Coolay) that originated in Ghana. In the process we even learned a little bit about like in west Africa. Our most recent dance has been to a song called Funga Alafia. It's very exciting!