Halloween is a fun time of year for learning about the subtle difference between major and minor! Students sing "Major sounds happy, do, re, mi, fa, so" and "Minor sounds sad, la, ti, do, re, mi". Using a piece of music like the first few notes of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg is also a great way to tell the difference. Sing the melody to "This is called a minor key, minor key, minor key". This piece is also a great example of a composer using tempo and dynamics to make the music sound more exciting. There is a slight accelerando (gradual speeding up) and an enormous crescendo (gradually getting louder) throughout the piece. Many students were familiar with the melody as it is used in movies (Trolls) and video games.
Students compared two stories about moles who play the violin. Gustav Mole grows up in a musical family but only decides to study music seriously after a piece of music touches his heart! In "Mole Music", Mole takes up the violin as an adult, realizing it's never too late to learn a new instrument. https://youtu.be/WolZlgtFgi0 https://youtu.be/qoa7AWer7iI
This is an optional morning music club for Grade 4/5 students starting Wednesday Oct. 12 and running seven sessions until November 23. Students who sign up will be learning and preparing a video performance of a song that will be entered in the CBC Music Challenge. Background: When my children were little (they are teenagers now) I was always looking for quality children's music to play for them. When I heard that Rachelle van Zanten (formerly of Vancouver based band Painting Daisies) put our a children's album, I bought it right away. The title track "Little Spruce" was one of my favourite songs and my kids loved it too. When I saw this song on the CBC Music Challenge song list, the idea to do the song with Copperfield students started to sprout! Mr. Magowan was very helpful in planning this club which will be Wednesday mornings (a lunchtime club wouldn't work because of the new lunch schedule). It is my goal that students who sign up with gain an understanding ...
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