Copperfield Music 2022

It's time for some drumming! Throughout the school year students have learned about the categories of instruments (wind, string and percussion). We are lucky to have a beautiful set of djembe drums. It's important to honour the culture these drums are from (west Africa and specifically Ghana) so here a is video I am showing about how they are made. Students are playing the djembe drums, learning how to correctly achieve the high and low pitches and handing for several rhythms. The universal break (also known as 'chocolate mild and potato chips') is used to start and stop the drumming. Makaru is the most difficult of the rhythms we are working on as it required specific handing and is a complex rhythm. Grade 5's are finishing up their band project and preparing for their upcoming Grade 5 Farewell. Grade 4's will sing to them so they are working on a few songs as well. Grade 2's did a fantastic job of their grade group assembly, based on the Seven Teachings on

 Congratulations to Kennedi in Grade 1, who was the first student to send me a picture of a red winged blackbird this spring! She won a Copperfield t-shirt and ball cap. The bird was spotted on the south side of Wildflower Pond on Tuesday, April 18 around 6:30pm. Keep your eyes and ears open for all the signs of spring in our neighborhood!

 Hello Families, I thought I'd send a note to update everyone on what has been happening in the music room as each grade group has been doing different things! Kindergarten - preparing for Pink Shirt Day assembly on Feb. 22 Grade 1 and 2 - non-pitched percussion instruments     - students have learned to play many non-pitched percussion instruments like the triangle, claves, guiro, cabassa, hand drums and tambourines     - students have learned that non-pitched percussion instruments can be categorized into four groups: woods, shakers and scrapers, drums and metals     - students compared non-pitched percussion instruments with pitched percussion instruments (xylophones) and learned a short, three note melody on the xylophones (Snail, Snail) Grade 3 - RECORDERS!     - students are working hard to earn their 'recorder belts', learning proper playing technique and how to read and play the notation  Grade 4 - UKULELE's!     - students working hard to learn three chords (C,

Grade 1 and 2 students are listening to this song and we are compiling a list of famous black musicians! We are also learning about the djembe drum which is from west Africa.  

Have you ever gone to a music store just to look around? (I highly recommend the Long and McQuade that is just west of Chinook Center) It's a super fun family activity to check out all the instruments in a big music store like that! You don't have to buy anything but it's great to look around and see what's there. You can play a family game, trying to identify the names of different instruments or what category they might belong in.  Did you know that there are many ways to categorize musical instruments?? This week students are learning that the 3 Big Categories are Wind, String and Percussion but you could also categorize according to: - pitched or non-pitched (instruments that can only play one pitch are called non-pitched) - size (big and small) -pitch (high or low sound) -electric or acoustic (does it need to be plugged in?) -price (expensive or inexpensive) -orchestra instruments (woodwind, brass, string, percussion) -how they are played (blown, bowed, plucked,

Thank you so much to all the students, staff and volunteers who did an amazing job for our winter concert! If you took a picture or short video that captured a special moment, please e-mail me at nasayer@cbe.ab.ca and I'll add them here.