Music at Union Memorial School

Ms. Mutz loves it when students tell her they take piano lessons.  Recently, a second grade student mentioned that she had a piece she would like to play for her class during Music.  So this student played the piece with the class sitting quietly in front of her.  Then Ms. Mutz asked this student if she wouldn’t mind having the class stand right near her so they could see what she was doing.  The student said she didn’t mind that, so all the other students gathered round the piano and watched intently as this student played her piece again.  Watch what happened as she plays “March of the Wind-Up Clock”:

Ms. Mutz wishes everyone could learn to play piano.  It is a great instrument to learn first as it gives the whole concept of treble and bass clef.  When students begin playing piano and then learn other instruments later on, they usually find it much easier to adapt.

Students in Mrs. Howard’s Second Grade class learned how to do the grand right and left. We practiced this to go along with a folk song from Cameroon called “Good Morning.”  Ms. Mutz made up the movement so that students could greet each other as they sing. We then looked at ABA form and what that means in music.  We designated the song as the “A” part.  We will perform this song at the beginning and again at the end.  In between, we created a “B” part:  Partners do a clap-clap-pat-pat while they sing the “A-B-C” song! This short video only shows the class learning the grand right and left.

Due to the snowstorm today, all Colchester schools are closed.  So the performance previously scheduled for tonight has been rescheduled for Thursday, March 21, 2013, at Colchester High School in the Gymnasium, beginning at 6:30 pm. We are very thankful that Paton Sensei (a/k/a Stuart Paton) is able to reschedule.  The residency day we are missing today will be made up tomorrow (Wednesday) and the performance will be on Thursday evening. We are also grateful to Colchester High School for being flexible with this date change.  We are hopeful all the Union Memorial School students and their families will be able to attend this new date.  Hope to see everyone on Thursday, March 21st at Colchester High School!!   

Just today in the CSD Spotlight there was a great post about the UMS Taiko Drum Residency with Stuart Paton. Below is a wonderful video that captures all the aspects going into this residency.  Please take a moment to watch!

If you are having difficulty watching the video, copy and paste this URL into your browser:

http://csdspotlight.org/2013/03/18/a-spectacular-artist-in-residence-program-offers-a-trip-to-japan-without-leaving-csd/

Paton Sensei has taught us many things over the past three days. He always makes time for any questions students may have about Taiko drumming and life in Japan.  He has a wonderful way of relating to the children.  Children seem to be enjoying themselves and Ms. Mutz hopes they are learning a lot!

Every UMS student met Stuart Paton today. We learned a lot about Japanese culture already! The way we address Mr. Paton is by calling him “Paton Sensei” — Sensei means teacher.  In the very short video below you will see two kindergarten classes experiencing the drums.  This was a lot of fun — and there is much more to learn!  Looking forward to Day Two tomorrow!

The five-day Taiko Drum Residency will begin on Wednesday, March 13 for five school days, concluding on Tuesday, March 19. Students will be exposed to Japanese culture specifically through the Taiko drumming. Students will learn a drumming piece that they will practice and present to their parents and the community at a public performance on Tuesday, March 19 at Colchester High School in the Gymnasium.  The performance will begin at 6:30 pm, include all UMS students, and last no longer than an hour. Please stay tuned for more details (when to arrive, what to wear, where to go, etc.). 

Teaching music to children is the best job in the world!  I love what I do and feel a huge responsibility to offer quality music instruction to my Kindergarten through 2nd Grade students. This is the age where it all happens!  Below is an article I just came across that may help explain why early music education is SOOOOOO important!  This article was written by Janice Tuck of The Fun Music Company.

New Research:
Why it’s Important to Start Music Young

Teachers and Musicians have suspected this for a long time, but now it’s official:

“Early musical training can produce long-lasting changes in behavior and on the brain.”

This statement comes from a recent research study published in January 2013 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

In the study, 36 highly skilled musicians were tested. The musician group was then split equally between those who had learned music before the age of seven and those who had learned after the age of seven.

Now, I won’t bore you with all the intricacies of the paper. As you can imagine with a Neuroscience journal it all get’s pretty “heavy” with jargon, measurements and technical terms fairly quickly, but I can tell you that after reading it, there are a few key points to note which are very relevant to music teachers and parents:

In the study, they found that despite the fact that the 36 highly skilled musicians had done similar amounts of training and practice, the group who had learned music before the age of seven had more extensive wiring of the corpus callosum: which is the area of the brain which links the two hemispheres together.

What this means is that if a child starts to play an instrument before the age of seven, they have more chance of developing those areas of the brain more fully than if they did not learn to play an instrument.

This is of course very important research when it comes to educating about the value of music programs in schools.

At a time where families are stretched with commitments and music can seem like just one more thing to add into a day, it’s great to know there is real value learning music at young ages while the brain is still developing and this can’t be developed in the same way later on in life.

In the words of the researchers:

“training before the age of 7 years results in changes (in the brain) that may serve as a scaffold upon which ongoing experience can build”

Click here to read the extract of the research for yourself.
Christopher J. Steele, Jennifer A. Bailey, Robert J. Zatorre, and Virginia B. Penhune “Early Musical Training and White-Matter Plasticity in the Corpus Callosum: Evidence for a Sensitive Period” The Journal of Neuroscience, 16 January 2013, 33(3):1282-1290; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3578-12.2013

Music classes have been focusing on rhythm this whole school year. Students have learned several four-beat rhythm patterns, including quarter notes (“Ta”), eighth notes (“Ti-Ti”) and rests (no sound). Students have experienced a variety of drums, including hand drums, tubanos, floor tom drums, and gathering drums. First we establish the heart beat or pulse, and then connect the rhythm to that. We sang the song “Play Your Drum” (from Good Morning Songs and Wake-Up Games, by Konnie Saliba) and inserted progressive rhythms. Students need to first clap the rhythm, then say it, and finally play it on the drum. This was a rotation activity, so students got to play many different drums during the class time!

Thanks to Mrs. Sorenson for video-taping our Sing-Along 2012!  I tried to record the event from just a stationary, unmanned camera, but that did not work.  I was very disappointed when I realized nothing had recorded!  But then I noticed on Mrs. Sorenson’s classroom blog that she had videotaped and posted.  So I have added her video here.  Thank you so much, Mrs. Sorenson!!