We had an excellent day today in second and third grade. Second graders continued their work using the pitched percussion instruments and as they did began to focus more on the principles of musical composition. Many Orff instructors do not do much with musical notation -- it is certain more tedious than free improvisation. However, I think teaching the basic concepts of how music is written down is essential and, fortunately, the Wonderland kids have the focus to engage with it.
For Third Grade we continued our work on Renaissance music and dance. That gave me an excuse to talk about the development of Irish line dancing (in advance of the fantastic presentation Starz put up -- see the videos posted above). We also spent a little time time talking about notation here and how reading music is especially useful when musicians are playing together polyphonically.
Ensemble rehearsal was cancelled because of the Irish dancing assembly, but a few players showed up and we made some progress on "D'aquel Fraire Flaco." Those of you who did not make it -- no worries. Just keep working on your parts.
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