Laura Jeffrey Academy Music

This week students will begin researching for their presentations. I have discussed the following internet and computer expectations with the girls and will be reviewing them everyday. Students who do not follow the expectations will lose their internet privileges for this project.

1) Only look up information relevant to your country and its music

2) Visitng youtube is not permitted

3) Be careful and respectful with the laptops

4) No printing

5) Close down and promtly put laptop away when asked

If students wish to find a video on youtube I am asking they do this at home under the supervision of an adult. Youtube has wonderful videos but I cannot ensure the content will always be school appropriate. Students may write down and give me the web address for the video they would like to use prior to their presentation. I will be downloading videos and showing students in class that they may use for their presentations.

We have successfully performed as a percussion ensemble in class! We are playing djembes, tubanos, shekeres, and an agogo bell in our ensemble. We will continue to develop our listening and playing skills as an ensemble. We will also begin playing question and answer patterns as a gateway to improvisation.

Students should come to class Tuesday with a first and second choice for the country they would like to present on. I will be discussing the expectations for the presentations and use of Internet in class on Thursday.

Students will be working on developing open tones on Tubanos and Djembes and learning bass tones. Students will be introduced to and play the Agogo bell. We will practice call and response as well as question and answer patterns (improvisation). We will also begin working on a polyrhythmic piece as an ensemble. 

We will continue playing the hand game that we learned last week from Zimbabwe and begin a new rock passing game from Ghana. 

We will begin the week in music by discussing our learning targets and essential questions for the quarter. Our key word for the week is respect. We will be talking about how we respect each other as musicians and how we respect our new musical instruments!

Students will play the shekere and the tubano in call and response patterns as well as question and answer.

We will also be learning a hand movement game from Zimbabwe called Sorida. This game helps develop physical and musical coordination. 

In the next few weeks students will be working on preparing a presentation on the music from a country of their choice. Students should decide by Tuesday what country they would like to research and present on.

Homework for Tuesday: Students choose country to present on.

Yesterday students made history by performing in the first music concert at Laura Jeffrey Academy! Students played and displayed their dulcimers made in the elective Making Music. We began the concert with four piano compositions written by students. The LJA Choir performed a variety of songs, some of which included instrumentalists on oboe, violin, and percussion. I was impressed with the professionalism and musicality displayed by the girls. I am extremely proud of their work this quarter and look forward to making more music at LJA!  

This week in class we are discussing the parallels between a choir and a community. I want the girls to start thinking about how what they do in music class relates to the world outside of class. We are discussing individual accountability, individual roles, how contribution affects the quality, mutual responsibility, and participation. I understand this is a complex concept that takes time to understand. The girls will compose a paragraph sharing their ideas, which is due this Friday. I will give them time in class to work on this so I can be present to help them. 

This week we are also rehearsing for our big concert next week! Hope to see everyone there!

Laura Jeffrey Academy was honored by the Women’s Consortium of Minnesota last night at an event in Minneapolis. I was asked to bring a small group of girls to provide music during the dinner. Students performed piano compositions and sang two of the choral selections we have been working on. I am extremely proud of the level of professionalism and musicianship that they displayed.

I know that many students were disappointed that they could not attend. Ideally, I would have loved to bring everyone but I was limited to a small number of students. Rather than choosing individual students, I chose the class that was the best prepared with their choral pieces. I am happy that so many are interested in performing and I hope to provide more opportunities to all students through choir, electives, and possibly an intercession.

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The musicians at LJA have had a busy quarter and are inviting you to a music celebration at the school on Wednesday February 11th at 2:00PM. The girls have been working on composing piano solos and notating the pitch and rhythm of their pieces on the music staff. We have developed a school choir and are preparing a variety of choral pieces to perform. Choir rehearsals consist of warm-ups, sight-reading, vocal development technique, and repertoire. The girls have been working on singing in two parts as well as singing in harmony.  

In Making Music, an elective class, we are building one-string dulcimers (a fretted, plucked instrument) using wood and cigar boxes. We have sanded the wood, marked the frets, and screwed on the tuning peg and are ready to glue on the nut and bridge this week!

Please come see us February 11th and bring your families! A short reception will follow.

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 20^th 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