Music is the universal language of mankind.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Language development and literacy is a huge part of the elementary program, and music is the universal language which allows us to communicate across cultures, traditions, and languages. It is another means to explore and express our feelings.
Kindergarten and Grade 1 have been exploring different vocal qualities ---- speaking voice, singing voice, stage voice and whispering voice. They have also begun exploring their own body as a musical instrument. Apart from the four main body percussion, that is, snapping, clapping, patting and stomping, students created original body percussion sounds to add to this repertoire of sonic resource. Grade 2 students started to explore "opposites" in music. Through songs and pieces that they have sung and listened to, students noticed that there are many "opposites" in music, e.g. high vs. low, loud vs. soft. These "opposites" create what musicians call "polarities" in music.
While Grade 3 students begin to explore the basic rhythmic building blocks of music, Grade 4 students extended their understanding of rhythm into "meter" as indicated by time signatures as they begin to examine the topic "Music in Motion and Motion is Music." They are also performing different ostinato patterns which are part of a multi-voiced texture. Grade 5 students delve deeper into music literacy by exploring 16th notes and the corresponding rests. Looking into solfège gives students the basic vocabulary to analyze melodic and harmonic structure of a piece of music.
No comments:
Post a Comment