This month we had our Winter Concert in the Upper School Gymnatorium!

3K

3K musicians performed our “Hello Song” called “Hello There.” We sing this song every class to get students ready to make music. They also played an exercise chant game from Ghana called “Hands Like This” where they must respond to prompts from the teacher while performing movements and clapping.

Pre-K

Pre-K musicians performed the songs “Vamos a la Mar” and “Sun, Sun, Sun” as arranged by Jose Luis Orozco in his book “De Colores.” They learned these songs as part of a unit on the music of South America that started in September with Hispanic Heritage Month.

Kindergarten

Kindergarten musicians performed the fingerplay rhymes “Bate Chocolate” and “Chip Chop.” These rhymes incorporate rhythmic speech with symbolic movement to teach fundamental music skills. They also sang the songs “A la Rueda, Rueda” and “Look at How I’m Walking” which teach basic movement concepts of “alone” and “together” as well as “self space” and “general space.” Musicians also learned to accompany singing with pitched percussion instruments like the xylophone.

Grade 1

Grade 1 musicians performed the movement chant “Hey There, Friend,” as well as the songs “Santoki” and “Frosty Weather.” These songs and chant all reinforce the concepts of “alone” and “together” as well as teaching basic folk dance formations and movements like walking the circle, changing partners, and in and out.

Grade 2

Grade 2 musicians performed the song, “Circle the Earth with Peace,” which is a “Hello Song” we started class with during November. They also performed a “Fall Rondo” made up of the songs “Trees in the Forest,” “Donguri Korokoro” (a song in Japanese), “A Little Seed,” and “Jump Jim Joe” and a “Winter Rondo” made up of the songs “Warm Hands Warm,” “Trrom, Trrom,” and “I Went for a Walk.” A “Rondo” is a type of music Form, musicians learned that music is made of patterns and a Rondo is a Form where an A theme is introduced and whenever a new them comes the music returns to the A theme. They performed movements and accompanied their singing with pitched and unpitched percussion.

Grade 3

Grade 3 musicians performed the song and movement game “Paw Paw Patch.” Musicians sang, performed a three step movement game, and accompanied with pitched and unpitched percussion as well as the ukulele.

Grade 4

Grade 4 musicians performed music from the Native American Folk music unit. They learned to play the stick passing games, “Lummi Melody” and “Apache Melody” where they accompanied on pitched and unpitched percussion while playing games that come from North American Indigenous culture. They also learned to do the “Duck Dance” a traditional song and dance with binary form where they move in one way for the A section and in another in the B section.

Grade 5

Grade 5 musicians performed music from the West African Drumming Units 1 and 2. They learned the songs “Funga Alafia” and “Take Time in Life” and accompanied their singing with pitched and unpitched percussion as well as the recorder. They learned about binary form where the music moves back and forth between A and B themes or a verse and chorus format.