Fun Music Websites

San Francisco Symphony Kids
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids
Sphinx Kids
New York Philharmonic Kids
Noteflight (music notation software - requires you to make an account)
Classics for Kids
Creating Music
Unifix Cube Drum Machine
Pattern Block Rock
Arts Alive

Important Christmas Concert Info!

Parkside Elementary School Christmas Concerts

December 8, 2011;

Grade 3-6 Concert: 1:15PM

Grade K-2 Concert: 6PM

PARENTS OF Mme Cashin's Students (Class 3X) Please click here for info!!!!

Parents of Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, and Grade 6 Students:

·        Concert begins at 1:15 PM in the gym, Thursday, December 8, 2011.

·        In the interest of safety as well as smooth transitions, the public entrance/exit to the concert will be the BACK GYM DOOR as the front gym doors will be locked.

·        Please send your child to school dressed in his/her concert attire.

·        Choir members should be in uniform (any combination of black and white clothing).

Parents of Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 Students:

·        Concert begins at 6:00 PM in the gym, Thursday, December 8, 2011.

·        Please drop students off at school between 5:30 and 5:45PM at the FRONT DOORS closest to the office. Students will go directly to their homerooms.

·        Choir members should be in uniform (any combination of black and white clothing).

·        In the interest of safety as well as smooth transitions, the public entrance/exit to the concert will be the BACK GYM DOOR as the front gym doors will be locked.

·        Public exits through BACK GYM DOOR, and we appreciate you staying for the entire concert!!

·        Please wait outside along the front of the school to pick up your child after the concert.

·        Please let us know ASAP if your child will not be attending the concert!

PLEASE NOTE…

·        Parkside Home & School will be having a bake sale at both concerts – all proceeds going towards our spring production of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians Kids: the musical! Food donations for the sale are greatly appreciated!

·        There will be a donation box placed at the entrance to the gym. Any donations will be greatly appreciated, and will go directly back to our music program to buy new instruments and resources for your child’s use in music class!

November 18 Music Room Update!

Wow! What a great week of vocal auditions! Over 3 days, the musical audition committee saw over 80 students! We are so pleased with the level of interest in the musical! We were also very impressed with the level of preparedness and confidence that many exhibited in their auditions. Older students were all given a sample of the script to practice this week. Next week, will will call them back to read the lines in an acting audition. Older and younger students will also be called in to go through some simple choreography/movement exercises. We are aiming to have the entire cast decided by the middle of December. This way, students with speaking parts will be given the script to practice over Christmas vacation.

Parkside's Christmas concert will be on Thursday, December 8, 2011. Students have been working very hard this week at learning the lyrics and tunes for their class's concert songs. Grade 3-6 classes will be performing at 1:15 PM. Grade K-2 students will be performing at 6PM. A more detailed letter will be sent home in the coming weeks.

Remember that ALL concert song lyrics and some youtube videos are available above by clicking on the "CHRISTMAS CONCERT" link at the top of this page. Please have your child download the lyrics and practice them! You can print them if you like. You can also use the YouTube videos to sing along with the songs (where available).

Have a great weekend everyone!

Miss Gallant

Christmas Concert 2011

Parkside's Christmas Concert will be on Thursday, December 8, 2011.
Classes from grades 3-6 will perform at 1:15 pm in the afternoon.
Classes from grades K-2 will perform at 6:00 pm in the evening.
Both concerts  will be held in the gym. Please use the rear entrance.

See the "Christmas Concert" link at the top of this page to download lyric sheets and vew YouTube videos of songs that students are working on. These are great resources for your children to use to practice at home for our concert!

Call for Auditions!

In the spring of 2012, Parkside students will be presenting the musical, "Disney's 101 Dalmatians: Kids." All students who are interested in the possibility of a part in the musical must audition. All interested students received an audition letter today (Tuesday). If you did not receive a copy of this letter, or yours has been misplaced, you may download it here: Auditon Information & Permission Letter

Please note that students who wish to audition MUST have a signed form. This form needs to be returned to the school by Monday, November 14, 2011. Please read the letter in its entireity as it contains very important information regarding the audition process as well as the show as a whole.

Auditions will begin on Wednesday, November 16 during recess times at school. A formal schedule will be forwarded to participating students once we know how many and which students wish to audition.

End of October update!

So much has been going on in our music room lately!

Grade 4, 5, & 6
Grade 4, 5, and 6 students have been working very hard on their composition projects. Students first wrote a series of rhythms (Grade 4: 8 measures; Grade 5: 12 measures; Grade 6: 16 measures). Then, they practiced, practiced, practiced their composed rhythms until they knew them inside and out!! Then, they began to experiment with pitch. Students are currently working on finalizing their melodies, and will soon begin to notate their composition on staff paper for future publishing on music notation software. I am so excited to hear the final products - the students have been very focused and motivated as they have been working on their compositions!
Here are a few pictures of some Parkside student composers hard at work! 

Grades K, 1, 2, and 3
Primary students have been enjoying some Thanksgiving and Halloween-themed activities and songs that also help us to practice our musical elements! Halloween poetry and songs are especially fun because we can use a variety of instruments to add spooky and silly sound effects!

Coming Up...
Now that November is almost here, we will soon begin working on songs for our Christmas concert in December. Can you believe that it is already that time again? Students will bring home lyric sheets in the coming weeks so that they can practice their songs and memorize their words at home.

December will also bring the beginning of auditions for our spring musical, "101 Dalmatians." Stay tuned for more information!!!

This week in Music Class!

September 30, 2011

Kindergarten
This week in kindergarten music classes, we have focused on how music can be LOUD and SOFT. We were introduced to a mouse named, "Piano" who loves to sing softly, and a lion named, "Forte" who loves to sing loudly! We've been singing many of our favourite songs with Piano and Forte, trying our best to match our voices to their preferences! We've also been working hard at developing a steady beat while listening to and singing music. Also - kindergarten students should know all of the days of the week after this week in music! They have had a blast singing and doing a circle dance to our new favourite song, "Learning the Days of the Week!"

Grade One
This week in grade one music classes, we have focused on the difference between the beat and the rhythm. We've used colours, our names, poetry, and various songs to help distinguish between these two musical elements!

Grade Two
This week in grade two music classes, we have focused on practicing our rhythms, as well as learning how musical pitches can move. We used xylophones and glockenspiels to decode the mystery of the melody to the song, "Here we Sit" by figuring out the pattern of the high and low pitches.

Grade Three
This week in grade three music classes, we have focused on practicing our rhythms, as well as learning how musical pitches can move. We've also looked at Franz Joseph Haydn's "Surprise" symphony - ask your child to explain their experience with this music!

Grade Four
This week in grade four music classes, we have focused on practicing our rhythms. We have also looked at how tempo can affect music - especially a ritardando (gradually slower) or accelerando (gradually faster. We have applied various tempi to the song, "Hi Ho the Rattlin' Bog"! That link will lead you to a YouTube video of this song by the Irish Descendants. The lyrics are slightly different than the version that we've done in class, but wow, they sure can sing fast!

Grade Five
This week in grade five music classes, we have focused on practicing our rhythms. We have also looked at how pitches can move, and we've worked hard at decoding melodies based on how the pitches move up, down, or repeat.  We've also begun learning about songs that use unison singing (everyone sings the same part) and harmony lines (an additional part the compliments the melody).

Grade Six
This week in grade six music classes, we have focused on practicing our rhythms. We have also looked at musical form. We've learned about various symbols that help us to determine the "road map" or the "form" of a song. We've looked at the segno, the coda, and the D.S. al Coda. We've also learned about Rondo form (ABACADA...etc) and we composed a fun class Rondo.

This Week in Music Class - Elementary Edition!

This is part two - scroll down to see what's been happening in the primary grades this week!

GRADE FOUR
This week in grade four we have been working on the elements of music. We listened to two different versions of "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder (one was the original, the other was a cover version recorded by the publisher of our music textbooks). We created a chart listing our observations. From the chart, we derived a list of major categories that can be used to describe music (Voice, Instruments, Style, Dynamics, Tempo, Form). 

Then, we focused on just the 'voice' element. We listened to "Manana Iguana" by Bobby McFerrin. Bobby McFerrin can do all sorts of incredible things with his voice! Ask you child to explain it to you! We created this anchor chart to remind us of some of the ways we can describe voices:

GRADE FIVE

This week in grade 5 music we have been reviewing rhythms from grade 4. We have been using these rhythms to compose our own ostinati (an ostinato is a repeating musical pattern). Our ostinati will be used as a base to an accompaniment to the song, "We Go Together." We've used non-pitched percussion instruments to begin practicing our ostinati.

We also listened to a piece of music (Jamaican Rumba!) in which the entire accompaniment is built on different instruments playing different ostinati. Later in the year we will learn this tune and write our own accompaniment for it!

GRADE SIX

This week in grade 6 music we have been reviewing rhythms from grade 4 and 5. We have been using these rhythms to compose our own ostinati (see grade 5 section for explanation). Our ostinati will be used as a base to an accompaniment for the song, 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight." We have been using glockenspiels to play the different pitches that create the 3-part chord struture. We will be expanding on this accompaniment using different instruments in the days to come!

This week in Music Class - Primary Edition!

This is part one of two! Scroll up to read about what we're doing in grades 4-6!


KINDERGARTEN
This week in kindergarten music, we have been learning about:

1. Keeping a steady beat - it's so important to rhythmic development!
2. Our four voices: speaking voice, singing voice, whispering voice, shouting voice
3. High sounds and low sounds

The students in kindergarten have been so keen and quick to learn new songs and activities! Not only are they developing their singing voices, and developing musical skills - they are also learning to interact in new ways with each other, practicing counting skills, practicing phonemic/syllabic awareness, practicing fine and gross motor skills...The list is endless!
Have your child teach you some of these songs and activities that they have been learning in music class!!

• The Hello Song
• Rockin' in my school shoes
• 3 Little Monkeys (with 3 different voices!)
• 5 Green and speckled frogs
• Stamping Land
• Peanut Butter and Jelly
• My Head and My Shoulders
• The Three Bears
• Hello, Everybody (yes indeed)
• Good Day Song (when cats get up in the morning)
• The Goodbye Song

GRADE ONE
This week in grade one music, we've been learning about:

1. Keeping a steady beat!
2. Our four voices (speaking voice, singing voice, whispering voice, shouting voice)
3. Loud and soft sounds
4. Using our bodies and using instruments to create sound effects!

Here are some of the highlights of the songs and activities that we've been enjoying in music class over the past week! Have your child tell you about them!

• The Hello Song
• Rockin' in my School Shoes
• 3 Little Monkeys (with three different voices!)
• 1 Little Elephant
• The World is Singing a Song (poem)
• The Bakery Shop
• I'm Gonna Take My Little Car for a Ride

GRADE TWO
This week in grade two music, we've been learning about

1. Rhythm! We've been reviewing rhythms from grade one (tah, ti-ti, sah) and we have learned a new rhythm: tah-ah (also called half note). Have your child write out some rhythms and clap them for you!
2. We've been playing various non-pitched percussion instruments using echoed patterns and reading/playing our rhythm warm-ups!
3. Scat singing
4. Melodic direction & contour
5. Echo singing

Here are some of the highlights from music class over the last week! Have your child tell you about them or teach you some of the songs!

• Welcome to Music
• Scat Song
• Rockin' Robin (hand clapping game)
• Kye Kye Kule (pronounced: chay chay, cool-ay)

GRADE THREE
This week in grade three music we have been learning about:

1. Rhythm! We've been reviewing all of our rhythms from grade two. We warm up by reading and clapping rhythm patterns
2. Melodic contour and direction - reading patterns of pitches that go up, go down, and repeat!
3. Beat vs. Rhythm - remember, the beat is the steady pulse!

Here are some of the highlights from music class this week! Have your child teach you some of the songs and activities!

• Everybody Sing Hello
• Rockin' Robin (Hand Clapping Game)
• Miss Mary Mack
• Rocky Mountain
• Showing melodic contour using pipe cleaners
• A Lemon and a Pickle (poem)
• Down by the Banks
• Long-Legged Sailor

First Day of School!

Hello everyone! We had a fantastic day in the music room today! We spent a lot of time reviewing the expectations for behaviour in the music room, but we had a lot of fun, too! Here are some things that your children may have come home singing today:

Kindergarten and Grade One:
Today the K & 1 classes heard a story called, "Pete the Cat: Rockin' in My School Shoes" by Eric Litwin. It's Pete's first day of school too - and he's wearing brand new red shoes! Pete visits various places around the school, singing his song:

Grade 2 and Grade 3:
Grade 2 and 3 classes listened to "Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day and began learning a fun partner-clapping accompaniment!

Grade 4, Grade 5, and Grade 6:
The  upper grades kicked off the year by beginning to learn a simple accompaniment using boomwhackers (for the bass line), drums, and tambourines to the song, "What I Am" by Will.I.Am."

About Miss Gallant

Hello and welcome to the Parkside Music Room Blog! My name is Alexandra Gallant, and I have been teaching at Parkside since 2008. I have a Bachelor of Music Education (2008) and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction (2011). I am an active member of our province's Music Educators' Association - in fact, I served for 4 years on the executive committee as treasurer.

I studied alto saxophone in university, but my other major instruments include piano and guitar. I also love to sing! It's very important to me to practice my instruments and to always focus on getting even better! I play piano and sing every Sunday at my church. I also play saxophone in various community events. For example, I played alto and soprano saxophones in the orchestra in the 2010 productions of "A Christmas Carol" and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." I was also lucky enough to have the opportunity to play synthesizer in the 2012  Fandango production of "Beauty and the Beast."Those were wonderful experiences for me - and it was really neat to see how a musical works from behind the scenes! It's very important to me to practice my instruments and continually upgrade my skills.

My favourite music to listen to is jazz - especially Harry Connick Jr. and his big band! I'm also a big fan of classic rock.

I love to teach music - in my opinion it's the best job in the world! In my music classes, you'll usually find us singing together or learning new instrument parts. We don't sit still for very long! I look forward to a brand new school year and working with all of my students in learning new things about music and performing new pieces!