First Grade Music Class
First Grade students receive music instruction once a week for 50 minutes. While in class, students are continued to be introduced to musical concepts on an experiential level. There is a lot of movement, singing, playing, and creating that happens on a weekly basis. The main concepts being taught throughout the year are: Beat, Upwards and Downwards, Loud and Soft, Fast and Slow, Vocal Sounds, Phrases, Repeated Tones and Leaps, Long and Short Sounds, and Same and Different.
What's Happening in First Grade Music?
Listed below are the concepts covered and a brief description of our lessons in music class over the course of the school year. This section will be updated as we cover new topics!
September
Unit 1: Using My Voice
For this unit, the students began to explore different ways to use their voice. We started by listening to the song "Chicka Hanka." and identifying the different sounds we could make with our voices throughout the piece to represent the train sounds. We also talked about the call and response form to the song and how we were using our voice to sing both sections of the song. We then learned how to play the response section of the song on the resenator bars for our class performance of this song.
Next, the students used two different songs "You'll Sing a Song " and "You Gotta Sing" to further explore different ways to use their voices besides singing. Some of the different ideas the student came up with was talking, shouting, whispering, whistling, and humming. We then took those different vocal ideas and used them to perform different verses of the song.
October
Unit 2: Upwards and Downwards Melodies
During this unit students learned about the concept of melodies that go upwards and downwards. The students started the unit by listening to the song "It Rained a Mist ". After listening to the song and identifying when the melody goes upward and downward, we unscrambled a series of puzzle cards to identify the order of the melody and used movement to demonstrate the direction of the melody.
The next song we studied was called "Ebeneezer Sneezer" which has become a class favorite! After discovering how the melody first goes upward and then downward by step, the students learned to play the melody on the xylophone to accompany their singing.
The last song we used to explore upward and downwards melodies was the traditional American folk song, "Cumberland Gap." After learning about the melody, the students were divided into small groups to create a series of movements to reflect the upwards and downwards melodies in the piece. The students then presented their movements to the class and reflected on if their movements matched the melodies in the song.
November
Unit 3: High and Low Sounds
Expanding on our last unit, the students learned about pitch and how to identify high and low sounds in music. We started by listening to the song "Charlie Over The Water" and talking about when we were singing high pitches and low pitches. The students then used movement to show when they were singing high and low sounds in the song. We then did an interactive activity where the students created their own high/low patterns on the board and the other students sang what they created.
We also learned a short song called "The High Low Song" to help reinforce the concept of singing high and low pitches.
December
Unit 4: Peter and the Wolf
For this unit, the students will be studying the classic piece of music, "Peter and the Wolf" by Sergei Prokofiev. By studying this piece of music, the students will be introduced to the concept of a musical theme and several instruments in the orchestral family. To begin the unit, the students are given a short biography lesson about the composer Sergei Prokofiev. After their biography lesson, the students are played a story recording of "Peter and the Wolf" that enables them to hear the music, listen to the story, and look at illustrations to visualize the events taking place. After the listening, the students are lead in a discussion about the various musical themes introduced for each character and what instruments in the orchestra are played for them.
During the next lesson the students review the character musical themes and instruments. They then listened to the entire piece of music without interruption while working on several written activities to reinforce their understanding of the piece. In closing, we watched the Disney cartoon version of "Peter and the Wolf." to show a different perspective of the story.
January
Unit 5: Steps, Repeats, and Leaps
In this unit, students are introduced to the concept of melody and how a melody can move by steps, repeats and leaps. This unit helps us get ready for a more in depth study of melodies in second grade.
To start, we listen to a song called "John the Rabbit." We talk about the story that is being told and how it is in a call and response form which is something we learned about earlier in the year. While listening to the melody, the students are asked what happens on the phrase "Oh yes." The students figure out that the notes to that phrase stay the same or are repeated. We then practice singing the repeated tones and playing the tone on a resonator bar while singing the song.
Next we listen to another new song called "Little Green Frog." While listening, the students are able to identify that during the phrase "Gallump" the melody leaps from a low note to a high note. We then learn how to sing the leap and play it on the barred instruments while performing the song.
To end our unit, the students work with a song we did last year called "This Old Man." We focus on the phrase "Give a dog a bone" to help the students understand that the melody moves upward by step. We then sing and play the melody to that section on the barred instruments.
Lastly, we listen to the song "Morning on the Farm" and have the students identify and sing parts of the melody that repeat, leap, and step. We then sing the song showing through movement where the changes occur in the melody.
February-March
Unit 6: Tempo
The purpose of this unit is for students to gain an understanding of how composers use the concept of tempo (the speed of the beat) in their music writing. We start the unit by reviewing what the students already know about tempo from last year in music class. We then listen to a new song called "Race You Down The Mountain" and discuss the different tempo changes heard in the song. After identifying the tempo changes, the students discuss why the composer chose the tempos used in the song. After it has been decided that a composer uses tempo to help tell the story of the song, the students create movements to go along with the song to show the different tempo changes. We also used rhythm sticks to show the speed of the beat while singing the song.
In our next lesson, the students are introduced to a folk song from the country of Ghana called "Obwissanna." After we learn the song, the students discuss that this is a circle game song that children play in Ghana and that the tempo changes in the song occur because of the game. We then play the circle game while singing the song at differnt tempos. We then move on to the American clapping song "Miss Mary Mack" and try doing the clapping rhythm while singing the song at various tempos.
To end our unit, the students are introduced to the story of the "Tortoise and the Hare." We discuss the story and what this story might have to do with the concept of tempo. After we talk about how the Tortoise is slow and the Hare is fast, the students are given the task to create their own original song based on the story of the "Tortoise and the Hare."
We begin by writing lyrics for the three verses that make up our song. After we have created our lyrics, we then start to write the melody to go along with our words. Once the melody is written, the students talk about different tempo changes they would like to add to help tell the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. We then record a rough copy of our song using the iPad. All of this hard work is done in two 50 minute class sessions!
Listed below is one of our finished songs. Enjoy!