"Good King Wenceslas" - Rosner/Mason Practice

Here's a small taste of what's in store tomorrow, from today's dress rehearsal of 3rd grade home school. If you listen closely you can here the lunch bell ring and the MPR filling with hungry kinder and first graders. Mr. Rosner and Ms. Mason's students never lost their composure. Good job!

Holiday Show Tomorrow!

cover art from tomorrow's show

After a week of dress rehearsals the big holiday show is tomorrow. I'm very excited to be working with such talented kids. It should be a great time. Shows are at 8:30, 10:30 and 1. I hope everybody can make it!

Ms. Oasay's Class - Recorder Intro for "Pat-a-pan"

Hi 4th graders -- a couple of you are playing this little fanfare at the beginning of "Pat-a-pan". Here is a recording and the music. Practice it for next week. Note that I have only indicated the fingerings the first time a note appears in the music.

"Ahri-rang" -- measures 11&12

Measures 11 and 12 complete line 3. The note pattern is B-A-B-G-E-D-E-D.

"Ahri-rang" -- measures 9&10

Here's the first part of the third line. The pattern is D-D-D-B-A (note that the first D is actually two quarter notes tied together).

"Ahri-rang" -- measures 7&8

Measures 7&8 complete line 2. The note pattern is G-A-G-G.

"Ahri-rang" -- measures 5&6

Here's the first two measures of the second line. The note pattern is G-A-G-A-B-A-G-E-D-E.

Mr. Earl & Mr. Hall's classes -- "Ahri-rang" continued

A couple of weeks ago we began work on "Ahri-Rang," a beautiful Korean folk tune which we will also be singing. I'm posting the lines two and three here (you can review line one by clicking on the blog archive for "November"). Please listen to the audio clips and follow the instructions. I'd like to get as many of you playing this by next week as possible.

Incidentally you may wonder why I do not also post line 4. It's because it is exactly the same as line 2 (measures 5-8).

Ms. Lopez & Mr. Anderson's Classes -- Lyric for "Zum Gali Gali"

Fifth Grade Magnet -- here is the lyric from our other song, "Zum Gali Gali." As with "Hitotsu Toya" I've given the teachers recordings and pronunciation tracks to help you practice. For our performance will sing the song as it appears here -- with two verses in Hebrew and one in English.

Zum gali gali gali
Zum gali gali
Zum gali gali gali
Zum gali gali

Hechalutz le ‘man avodah;
Avodah le ‘man hechalutz;
Avodah le ‘man hechalutz;
Hechalutz le ‘man avodah.

Zum gali gali gali
Zum gali gali
Zum gali gali gali
Zum gali gali

Hechalutz le ‘man ha’ b’tu lah
Ha’ b’tu lah le man hechalutz
Ha’ a mim le ‘man ha’ shalom;
Ha’ shalom le ‘man ha’ a mim.

Zum gali gali gali
Zum gali gali
Zum gali gali gali
Zum gali gali

We are building, building a land;
Out of rock and desert and sand;
Men and women labor in pride;
We are working side by side.

Although we have been working with the lyrics on poster paper in class, I would rather not have cue cards for our performance. In other words you need to memorize the song. The Hebrew words are not hard, however, as they repeat quite a bit.

We will discuss all this in class on Thursday.

Ms. Lopez & Mr. Anderson's Classes -- Lyric for "Hitotsu Toya"

Hi Fifth Grade Magnet. As you know, we are doing two songs for are part in the show. The first one is Hitotsu Toya. I have given your teacher a recording in Japanese and in English. We will be performing one verse in each.

Here are the lyrics as we will perform them:

Hitotsu toya,
Hitoyo akureba.
Nigiyahka de.
Nigiyahka de.
Okazari tate taru
Matsukazari
Matsukazari

Temple bells will chime, oh
Chime for the bright new year
That comes to us tonight;
Comes to us tonight.
Now on ev’ry door their hangs
A spray of lovely pine;
A spray of lovely pine.

Remember, as part of this song we will be performing our dance/Orff instrument improvisation.

"Still, Still, Still" Intro Cello

Here is the cello part (played on tenor recorder).

"Still, Still, Still" Intro Violin 2

Here is the second violin part.

"Still, Still, Still" Intro Violin 1

Here is the first violin part.

Ms. Abu-Bakir & Mr. Oasay's Classes -- "Still, Still, Still"

Hi 4th graders -- as discussed we will try to add a little string intro to vocal performance of "Still, Still, Still". The music is posted here and I will post audio clips of each part above, so you can here how it sounds. Since I don't play violin, I have recorded these on recorder.

Remember, if you are interested in being part of the strings section bring your instrument on Monday and we will have auditions at lunch time. Have a great weekend.

Mr. Albert's Class -- lyrics for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

A couple of students in fifth grade home asked me to post the lyrics for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Here they are:

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
By Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Let your heart be light.
From now on all troubles will be out of sight.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Make the yuletide gay.
From now on our troubles will be far away.

Here we are as in olden days;
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.

Through the years we all will be together,
If the fates allow.
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough,
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Recorder Lesson 3 -- F#

...and lesson 3 for F#. Please note that you will probably not be able to access these videos on school computers and smart boards, but you should be able to view them on home computers.

Recorder Lesson 2 -- E, low D, low C

Here is lesson 2.

For All Third Grade -- Recorder Lesson 1 -- G, A, B, C, D

Since a few of you are having trouble with the basic fingerings I am reposting the video review clips I had made last week. I hope you find them useful.

Mr. Rosner/Ms. Mason - "Good King Wenceslas" Vocal

As discussed today here is a vocal track for "Good King Wenceslas." Remember -- we are doing it as both a vocal and instrumental piece so you need to learn the words.

"Bransle" - Part 2 complete

Here's the complete second part. Try to play along. Or just for fun try to play the Part 1 melody against it.

"Bransle" - Part 2 (Measure 7 & 8)

Last two measures and you're there -- the pattern is D-F#-G-G

"Bransle" - Part 2 (Measure 5 & 6)

Measure 5 and 6 -- seems like we've seen these 4 notes before!

"Bransle" - Part 2 (Measure 3 & 4)

Measure 3 and 4 -- the pattern is D-D-F#-F#

"Bransle" - Part 2 (Measure 1 & 2)

As always I'll play the pattern and you'll play it back -- accompanied by my trusty metronome. The notes are D-D-E-E.

Mr. Rosner and Ms. Mason's classes -- Deconstructing "Bransle"

Hi Third Graders -- to continue our work on "Bransle" I have broken out the 2nd part, which accompanies the melody. Sometimes in instrumental music there will be 2 or more parts on the same instrument to create some pretty harmonies, but it can be confusing to look at a musical score with multiple parts -- "Bransle" also has a triangle and drum part -- and figure out what you are supposed to be playing. If you want to look at the whole score, check our posts for November in the archive.

The second part of "Bransle" is super easy, but presents a few challenges because the notes are low and because the part contains a few F#'s. If you worked on F# for "Good King Wenceslas" it should be a piece cake for you here.

Listen to the audio posted above and follow my directions.