Rocky Mountain

Do  do   do  do   do remember me!
Grade 5 recorded Rocky Mountain today.....sight reading the notes!
Click HERE for an cheerful earful.

100 Days of School!

LINK IS FIXED!



For the young it must seem like a 1000 days....but we've hit the mile stone, 100 days into the 2010-2011 year. Click HEREto listen to Grade 1 cheerfully sing all about it. Their song says it all:

One hundred days of school, One hundred days of school

it's time to say Hip Hip Hooray

One hundred days of school

We're very proud to be, a learning family

Let's honor everyone in this community

100 days taller and there's room to grow, 100 days smarter and there's more to know

One hundred days of school, One hundred days of school

it's time to say Hip Hip Hooray

Recorder Recording

Grade 2     makes it's first ever WWW Debut! Can't imagine life without Hot Cross Buns, good 'ole HCB. That icon of three note tunes never gets stale. There's actually quite a bit to it: 4 measures, 17 sounds, quarter notes, half notes and eighth notes, ABA phrase form not to mention playing with 20 others and holding it all together after 1 hour of instruction. So...well done grade 2! Congratulations on learning your very first melody on the recorder. Here it is, recorded as is:

Hot Cross Buns


Now on to the      Fabulous grade 3's    . We're playing with two hands as of early this month.  That means we're playing the full D Major scale.  Is it ever great to have access to the thousands of melodies possible with the full Major scale! We recorded two today. The first is Mozart's

"Ah Je Vous Dirais Maman"....the theme from his variations. Better Known as Twinkle Twinkle (DEAD LINK) star. It features low D, E and F#::
But we are not merely sedate classical parlour musicians...have a listen/dance/toe tap/air guitar (or air recorder) to
Recorder Rocks

Grade 2 Starts Recorder

Our recorders arrived! A big thank-you to all the parents for supporting this aspect of the music program by buying a recorder.  The class was thrilled when our parcel arrived from Empire Music

The recorder is a REAL instrument...not a toy! Grade 2's will soon appreciate this ( and so will their families...promise!). Our amazing Grade 3's are into their second year of playing and I thank them for their musicianship and for giving grade 2's an idea of just how beautifully the instrument can be played.

We started this week with the basics, posture, breath and playing patterns and rhythms on notes B and A. Next week...........Hot Cross Buns!

The instrument has been around for centuries in pretty much the same form. The oldest surviving one (above), the Dordrecht Recorder, dates from the 13th century.

There's much to know about the recorder. Some in depth reading can be done here .

Want some music to play along with on a snowy day at home? 

The recorder comes in a variety of sizes, we play one of the smaller ones...the soprano.  Perhaps we should have all bought one of these:

Yes, It's real!  It's a contra sub bass recorder! How would you get that in a back pack?
 

Grade 5-6 Makes a Recording

Dead of winter but we're on safari with the fabulous grade 5-6 class. Here they are reading and playing the D Pentatonic scale based SAFARI...

Download the Safari  mp3   Right Here