Welcome to Quarter Two!
We have a very busy and exciting quarter planned! Our big goals are to begin the Laura Jeffrey Academy Choir, continue learning and exploring the keyboards through composition, and developing the ability to listen, describe, and analyze music. Students will also gain an understanding of the relation between music, history, and culture by creating a book that documents music through the five senses throughout history.
Developing the choir will focus on individual accountability and group responsibility. Students will learn breathing and vocal technique, sight reading, and sing a variety of music in two parts. Students will take turns peer evaluating rehearsals to gain an understanding of the dynamics of individual contribution. At the end of the quarter students will compose a written comparison of the rewards and responsibilities of being a member in choir and a member in a community outside of choir.
We will continue developing our understanding of music notation through composition on the keyboards. Students will learn about the qualities of good melodies and compose their own. They will notate pitch, rhythm, and articulation onto the musical staff and perform their composition at a class recital in the middle of the quarter.
Students will create a book that documents the history of music and culture through the five senses. We will learn about the music and society of the renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, and 20th century periods. Students will create a page for each period describing the music through the five senses ( this music feels like, tastes like, smells like, etc) and write a paragraph explaining the how the music relates to the culture of this time. At the end of the book students will write an essay explaining how music and society has changed throughout history.
On January 14 we will be taking a musical field trip to Macalester College to attend a performance by the African Music Ensemble in preparation for the study of world music. I am looking forward to the next nine weeks!
-Annie Dau
