What's going on in my music room?
I am in my third year of teaching in Olentangy (my fourth year of teaching so far) at both Wyandot Run and Alum Creek Elementary. I absolutely love it! I teach 1st and 2nd grade general music, and 4th and 5th grade strings, What were some of the highlights of what are doing, and will do this year?
First Grade students at Wyandot Run are working on in-tune singing, and pitch matching. Tey learned about the beat, rhythm, fast and slow, loud and soft, and high and low. They will soon begin learning rhythm writing, including tas, ti tis and rests. They will use popsicle sticks to write their rhythms, and work as a class to write them on the board. They have played gathering drums, tambourine, egg shakers, rhythm sticks, and more instruments. They learned, and are learning too many singing games to list! They sing alone to Stinky in front of their class and practice both pitch matching and will soon practice the solfege they will learn. They will learn solfege handsigns for "mi" and "so" and will be introduced to Mr. New who they will get to know better in 2nd grade. We are also looking forward to the spring and to the musical we will perform for the whole school. I see first and second grade general music classes for 35 minutes two times a week.
Second grade students reviewed the above concepts, learned about "La" and are now working on "low." (do) They will also learn about re this year too. They already know about barlines, time signatures, and measures, and will soon start working on tika tikas, or sixteenth notes. They love to write melodies on the staff, and are learning many more challenging singing games. We have an upcoming program in March.
Fourth grade strings students learned about their new instruments, how to care for them, and how to hold them. We start out plucking, but by Christmas we will be learning to bow. In order to remember how to hold our bow, we will learn a cool story about a captain and his crew, told to us by Nonon Mooney, Miss McDonnell's famed music teacher who still teaches at Montrose Elementary. We will also have a phone contest. And we have 2 concerts, one in the winter and one in the spring. There are 58 students in 4th grade strings this year! WOW!
Fifth grade students started with some review of fourth grade material but were soon ready to continue on. They are doing an awesome job and are already getting prepared for our winter concert, at which many of the 30 fifth graders will perform a solo or group piece. Some of the fifth grade students also attended summer strings camp!
I am currently working on my Master's of Music Education and Kodaly certification at the Kodaly Institute at Capital University. Last summer I was lucky enought to have the opportunity to work with some amazing teachers. To name a few: Julie Swank, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, Bruce Swank, Lensi Igo, and Peter Erdei. I also played in a chamber group (brass quintet) under the guidance of teacher Marta Erdei. I was lucky to meet Mrs. Kodaly, who came to see our final performance of Mozart's Requiem, conducted by Peter Erdei. It was an illuminating experience, and my teaching will forever be changed. I look forward to my final three weeks of coursework this summer after my wedding, and my graduation.
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Meghan Lee McDonnell (tbonegrl7@hotmail.com)