Good King Wenceslas

Our 2nd-5th grade students are building their music literacy this year through a curriculum called Conversational Solfege.  This program is going to help our students hear, read, write, and create their own rhythmic and tonal patterns and songs.

Because this is a new program to our school this year, all students in grades 2-5 will start out on Unit 1, learning about rhythms in duple meter.  To start, we needed to build our repertoire of songs in duple meter.

One of the songs fourth and fifth graders learned for this purpose was "Good King Wenceslas."  For added fun, we sang this song on the neutral syllable "bum" and added motions.

Once we were comfortable with singing the song in unison, we sang it as a round - first in two parts, then four, then eight!  It was challenging, but we loved the effect that happened at the end (stay tuned - we will show you at our Holiday Programs in December!).

Once we knew the song really well, students were able to decode the rhythmic patterns that they heard in the song, singing with rhythm syllables.  We're off to a great start!

Hear Mrs. Hyland's fourth grade class sing this song in the video below.  Check out our Holiday Program in December to hear it as a round!

Chorus Sign-ups

Chorus sign-ups are underway!  Our Memorial School Chorus is open to students in grades 3-5.  Students meet after school on Wednesdays every week to learn songs and prepare for performances.  Our students perform several times throughout the year, including at our school-wide Veteran's Day assembly, Christmas programs, Winter Concert, Evening with the Arts, and Spring Concert.  For more information, please see the attached flier.  Return all Chorus sign-ups by Monday, September 25th.  I hope you'll join us!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iDvsT_rA8yO4Gw3Q_fiFBMGYiR0Aa6REcviSUOZ2T_8/edit?usp=sharing

Ricka Bamboo

2nd graders started off their year with the echo song "Ricka Bamboo."  This song helped us practice matching pitch and singing with the correct vocal placement, which was an important refresher after a long summer.  After we were familiar with the echoes in this song, students sang a line as a solo to help them further build their independence as musicians.

See the lyrics to the song below:

Oh Ricka Bamboo (oh Ricka Bamboo)
What do I see? (what do I see?)
It is a bird (it is a bird)
High in a tree (high in a tree)
It's red and gold (it's red and gold)
And purple too (and purple too)
That's why it's called (that's why it's called)
'Ol Ricka Bamboo ('ol Ricka Bamboo)

Hear Mrs. Curci's class perform the song in the video below:

The Littlest Worm

3rd graders started off their year with a new echo song called "The Littlest Worm."  Echo songs are a familiar form of song for our third graders, and they are a great way to help students match pitch and sing with proper vocal placement.  This song was a good way to refresh our singing voices after a long summer.

Students enjoyed this silly song about swallowing a worm.  See the lyrics below:

The littlest worm (the littlest worm)

I ever saw (I ever saw)

Was stuck inside (was stuck inside)

My soda straw (My soda straw)

The littlest worm I ever saw,

Was stuck inside my soda straw.

He said to me (he said to me)

"Don't take a sip (don't take a sip)

'Cause if you do ('cause if you do)

You'll really flip" (you'll really flip)

He said to me, "Don't take a sip,

'Cause if you do you'll really flip."

I took a sip (I took a sip)

And he went down (and he went down)

Right through my pipes (right through my pipes)

He must have drowned! (he must have drowned)

I took a sip and he went down,

Right through my pipes he must have drowned!

And now he's gone (and now he's gone)

This is the end (this is the end)

He was my pal (he was my pal)

He was my friend (he was my friend)

And now he's gone, this is the end,

He was my pal, he was my friend.

Hear Mrs. Adler's class perform this song in the video below: