Buker Music News
September 2019 Welcome Back – I hope everyone had a great summer! The school year has begun and I am looking forward to another great year at Buker. We are doing some exciting things in music class and a preview of our September activities for each grade level can be seen below! 5th Grade – Towards the end of last year, we spent a large chunk of time learning ukulele. In September, we are working towards regaining that knowledge by playing through popular songs such as “Best Day of My Life” and “I’m Yours”. We are starting to remember previously learned chords and I am looking forward to adding both new songs and chords into the mix as we keep progressing! In addition to this, any 5th grade student who took group instrumental lessons is welcome to sign-up for band this year! The sign-ups will open in a couple of weeks and I am happy to have anyone that would like to be a part of the ensemble. 5th grade students are also eligible to begin learning an instrument this year. It is never too late! 4th Grade – Like 5th grade, we have been learning ukulele, however, this is our first experience with this instrument for most of us, so we are starting from the beginning. Last week, we started by learning the chords “C” and “F”. The great thing about this is that many pop songs can be played with just these two chords! We started off by playing along to the song “Best Day of My Life” and will be adding more songs and chords in the near future. In addition to this, 4th grade is an exciting time because students are able to pick up a band instrument if they are interested. The instruments offered by our district are trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet, saxophone, and percussion. Both myself and the other instrumental instructors will be doing a live demonstration for the kids on September 18th if students are unsure about which instrument they might be interested in. 3rd Grade – Before I even tell the students, most of them know that 3rd grade is the year for recorder. For many students, this is their first real instrumental experience which is very exciting! Before we jump into recorder in a few months, we need to make sure that our note reading is ready to go. We have been doing many activities that challenge and develop our ability to read notes on the staff. I am looking forward to making some more progress in the coming weeks so that our experience with the recorder is the best it can be! 2nd Grade – At the beginning of 2nd grade, we spend a large portion of our time reviewing activities from 1st grade. We are doing many circle games which encourage students to both sing with the rest of the class as well as individually with little pressure. We are practicing our instrumental abilities on a brand-new instrument this year, the steel drum. This is a lot of fun to play and it also gives students a taste of a difference culture at the same time. In the coming weeks, we will be continuing these activities to strengthen our musical foundation which will become important in later years. Kindergarten/1st Grade – Kindergarten and 1st grade are both working on developing basic musical skills in all areas of the subject. We have been exploring pitch through the use of a slide whistle. After I play a series of notes on it, the students try to sing back as accurate as they can. Like 2nd grade, we have started circle games. Circle games are a great way to get the entire group singing because it creates a low-pressured environment in which students do not need to feel embarrassed about joining in with the rest of the class. We have started to explore instruments, such as drums, to introduce rhythm. We have been developing our sense of steady beat by tapping along to popular songs such as “Happy”. I am looking forward to pursuing these activities in greater depth over the next few weeks! If you have any questions or concerns, always feel free to reach out and email me at [email protected]. Thank you! Mike Comments are closed.
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Mr. FerreiraK-5 General Music |