Recorder Ensemble also presents "Tourdion"

We also recorded this famous, but very challenging French piece. This kids did a fantastic job!

Recorder Ensemble presents "La Volta"

Welcome back from Spring break! When last we left the Recorder ensemble they were performing wonderfully at the Renaissance Faire. Alas, I did not get good video of their performance. I sought to rectify that today by videotaping two of their songs. This first one, "La Volta" was written by Michael Praetorius, one of the great recorder composers of the Middle Ages. Enjoy!

"Imagine" - 5th grade culmination song #2

Hi fifth graders: Here is the second song we will be doing for culmination. Please give it a listen over the break and have a great vacation.

K-1-2 performs "The Right Biome"

A preview of coming attractions -- later this year, Ms. Raphael's K-1-2 class will be performing the musical "The Right Biome." Here's an early look at one of he songs from the show.

Third Grade and Ensembles perform "Ungaresca"

Here's some video of the finale of the Recorder Ensemble and Choir performance. We were joined by the combined third grade classes for a dance to the medieval song "Ungaresca," which they choreographed themselves.

Huzzah!

On Tuesday evening we held our Renaissance Faire/Art Show/Open House. This was a bit earlier than last year and it was a bit of a scramble to get everything ready. All the hard work really paid off, with was what everybody seemed to agree was the best faire ever. All though I suspect "food trucks" would have been the answer to the question what was the most outstanding feature, they were many excellent displays and performances including the incredible Art Show put together by Mrs. Mutchnick, excerpts from "Romeo and Juliet" by Mr. Anderson's class, multiple dance performances courtesy of Miss Cynthia, fencing lessons, fortune telling, print making and lots more. It was a great day!

On the music department side both the choir and the recorder ensembles made their debut. I was extremely pleased with the job they did! We also had grade level dances from first grade and third grade and a preview of a show Jane Raphael's class will be performing later on the year entitled "The Right Biome." Amazing work from everyone!

I want to take a moment to pay special tribute to my colleagues Amy Mutchnick who put together a beautiful display of the children's art throughout the year, Cynthia Miltenberger who put together an wonderful dance program and still found time to shoot some video for me (see above) and Cathy Weiss who thought it all up. Congratulations to you all on a job well done.

Tinilinking times two

This week in music many grade levels prepared for the Renaissance Faire on April 12 and 5th grade continued to learn their culmination. However, we did manage to get some singing and dancing for Kinder, 2nd and 4th. 2nd grade spend another week working on their tinikling dancing, this time using four sticks. Kindergarten continued to develop their understanding of the relationship between rhythm in spoken language and music using the song/game "Who Has A Penny." And 4th grade learned a little bit about chromaticism using the Hebrew song "Tumba."

"Greensleeves" -- for First Grade

Hi First Graders. Here is a recording of "Greensleeves" the way we will do it for the Renaissance Faire. I'm putting this up so you can practice the words to the song in class or at home. I am also putting the lyrics up for you. Feel free to print them out (clicking on them makes their appear bigger on the computer screen.)

Music from China/Dancing from the Philippines

Not all the music classes these last couple of weeks have been devoted to preparation from the Renaissance Faire. This week, for example, the second graders learned a Chinese fishing song -- "Pu Yu Ko" -- and experimented with a form of pole dancing from the Philippines called "tinikling." The object is to hop in when the polls are apart and out when the polls come together. This takes anticipation, team work and in the beginning a little luck. The kids enjoyed it so much we will be continuing working with the poles next week.