Blending In and Standing Out, part II

Anyone working with children certainly appreciates the challenges of teaching meaningful lessons the week before a break.My answer to this quandary is to hand classes over to my students with something I call Share Day. Share Day in music is my absolute favorite time of the year … I invite every one of them to share a musical talent with their class. Sort of a mini-talent show, students are welcome to share a song, dance, instrument, or anything that may fall under the umbrella of Performing Arts. Even students who just want to see what it’s like to play piano or drum set or ukulele (or whatever!), get a chance to perform. I tell them “listen to your heart, play what you hear and try to give it a beginning, middle, and an end” This past week, as always, I was blown away, not only with the myriad performances, but also with how supportive and encouraging every one of them were for their classmates … It was absolutely beautiful … I wish I could share some footage with everyone, but that would negate everything I’m trying to foster. So, parents out there, please know your children are amazing and I am so incredibly grateful to know them When they are given a chance to shine they rise up ❤️

Students in Fourth Grade music classes just finished composing and notating original songs for the recorder in G pentatonic. This week they began their unit on Instruments of the Orchestra. Students will learn about the method of sound production for each instrument and will design and create their own woodwind, string, brass, or percussion instrument.

Students in Fifth grade music class are finishing up their unit learning about chord progressions and building chords. We've been singing and playing songs containing I-V and I-IV-V accompaniments. The students have been identifying the tonic, dominant and subdominant chords in various key signatures and learning about how chords work together to support songs. Beginning next week we will start studying the blues and writing blues songs over the 12-bar blues progression.

BT Treble Makers and BT Family Night at Trenton Thunder!

The BT Treble Makers are scheduled to sing at this year's BT Family Night at The Trenton Thunder! We will sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh inning stretch--please come on out and join the fun!

Click HERE for more information and to print out a ticket order form!

Recorder Karate is back in third grade!

Students in third grade are always delighted when recorder time hits. This year our formal evening concert will be at The Bear Tavern Evening of Fine Arts on Thursday, May 29th. More details on times will be sent home in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, please encourage your child to PRACTICE! Every recorder folder contains fingering charts, songs to work on and composition activities to inspire the composer within each of our third graders. Beginning next week, students may start working on earning their recorder "belts" by successfully performing the progressive belt songs they are receiving in music classes this week. In order to earn a belt, students must be able to perform the song with correct notes, fingerings, steady beat and rhythmic accuracy, and a clear tone. Please check your child's recorder folder for a copy of the belt song rubric. We encourage the students to logon to the following website for practicing at home:

Recorder Karate Dojo


When you click on the "streaming audio" link, located on the left side of the screen you will be prompted to enter the following credentials -

username: karate
The password is written inside your child's Recorder Folder

I Dream a World

Bear Tavern Elementary and Toll Gate Grammar School students presented “I Dream A World” on March 12 at the Hopewell Valley Performing Arts Center. The performance was the culmination of four weeks of study with artists-in-residence Pauline Houston McCall and Robb McCall of RaisingMusic.org in Philadelphia. During that time, the students crafted clay busts of their own faces and placed them on colorful mats where they wrote their dreams for a better world under the instruction of staff teachers and artist Houston McCall. Musically, the students composed and performed six songs with musician Robb McCall about how they could improve the world around them, dealing with issues such as homelessness and bullying. It was an enriching and enlightening experience for everyone! What a fantastic job done by all involved!

Fifth Grade Prezi Link! Aaron Copland's "Billy the Kid" ballet suite

Prezi for our unit study on Copland's "Billy the Kid" ballet suite:

click on this link

Tap! Scrape! Shake! and Turkeys

First graders are learning about ways to make sound on classroom percussion instruments and categorizing them as "tappers," "scrapers," or "shakers." We also noticed the different shapes of the instruments and thought it would be fun to use the shapes and create turkey sculptures. Have a look at some of the very creative collaborations among first graders this week!

What's in a name?

A whole lot is in a name and our Vocal Ensemble members have voted on a new name for our group! With an overwhelming response, the official name of our 2013-2014 Vocal Ensemble is now:

The Treble Makers!

We'd love to get t-shirts made to wear for our gigs on the road. Let us know if you can help!

Mrs. Miller's 4th Grade

During our study of syncopation the students learned this clapping duet from the Orff volumes and made their own arrangement. The first line is played alone with students clicking the sticks, the second line is played alone tapping sticks on the floor, and then both lines performed together for the duet.

Mrs. Drake's class

Ms. Lopez's class

Mrs. Baxter's Class

Third Grade: Music and Culture of the Lenni Lenape Indians

First Grade Music--budding composers

Primary goals with first grade during October include:
1. Keeping a steady beat
2. Pitch-matching (sol-mi-la)
3. Listening walks and "found sounds"
4. Sounds their voices can make
5. Moving safely through shared space
6. Feeling one sound, two sounds or no sound on a beat (preparing reading quarter notes, quarter rests, and paired eighth notes)

The students will work together composing, arranging and performing an original piece inspired by the changing colors of the leaves.

We're also going on a listening walk through the school, noticing the ambient sounds all around us as we go through our day. Inspired by Paul Showers' book "The Listening Walk" (1991. New York, NY: Harper Collins), the students will collaborate to write about our own walk around the school and describe the different sounds they hear. During music class we will record their ideas of sounds using their own voices, classroom instruments or body percussion and create a sound track.

Kindergarten Music--Spooktacular October

Our primary goals in kindergarten music this month focus on
1. Keeping a steady beat
2. Pitch-matching (sol-mi)
3. listening to sounds around us ("found sounds")
4. Sounds their voices can make (whisper, sing, shout, speak)
5. Moving safely through shared space.

I've been teaching all the children my favorite song "The Tree Song" (New England Dancing Masters. 2000. Down in the Valley. Brattleboro, Vermont.). It's a beautiful about the changing seasons and they really love it. We've also sung a song about different ways to get to school (walk, bike, ride the bus, etc.) and created ways to move showing each. This month we will continue our study with a focus on leaves changing, the season of autumn, Halloween and pumpkins.

The Tree Song
This is my trunk
I'm a tall, tall tree
In the springtime the blossoms grow on me
They open, they open.

This is my trunk
I'm a tall, tall tree
In the summer the breezes blow through me
I bend, I bend.

This is my trunk
I'm a tall, tall tree
In the autumn the apples grow on me
They drop, they drop

This is my trunk
I'm a tall, tall tree
In the winter the snowflakes fall on me
Brrrrr. Brrrrrr.

This is my trunk
I'm a tall, tall tree
In the springtime the blossoms grow on me
They open, they open.

Second Grade Composers!

Second grade have begun writing original melodies using the notes do, re, and mi. They were so excited to sing and refine the order of pitches this week. Next week we will begin arranging them with the Orff instruments, and voices!

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June Share Days are coming!

Please click here to sign up for our June Share Days in Music!

Our first annual Evening of Fine Arts

Please join us this Thursday, June 13th, for our Evening of Art and Music! Everyone should come with their families. We will have food, music, art AND FREE RAFFLES!

We could still use volunteers and it's not too late to RSVP! Please follow the links below to help us make the evening a success.

Click HERE to RSVP

Click HERE to sign up to perform a musical selection!

Click HERE to volunteer!

First and Second Grade Violinists

The first and second graders have been thrilled to learn music through the violin for the past couple of weeks. An extension of our former primary string program, these violin mini-units (approx.8 weeks) provide our students with the unique opportunity to explore music making on an orchestral instrument.

The major goals of the unit include:
Fostering an appreciation of the string instruments
Developing fine motor skills through violin playing
Encouraging musicianship through performance
Understanding principals of tone production and affecting sounds of strings through finger placement

These early experience prepare our children for the third grade primary string program, with regular weekly large group lessons on the instrument, in addition to their regular general music classes once a week. I sincerely hope your child is enjoying our time on the violins as much as I enjoy introducing them to the violin