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 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!

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

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!

5th grade singing at Friday night's BT Family night

May Day 2013

Please plan to join us for our annual May Day celebration! The date for this year's festivities is Monday May 6, 2013. Fifth grade students are invited to sign up to participate in our traditional ribbon weaving dances around the May Pole. Permission slips are coming home this week for three after school rehearsals. They will be held on the following Wednesdays: April 17th, April 24th and May 1st.

Share Day is coming!

Please encourage your child to think of a musical talent they might like to share with their classmates during our special "Share Days" in music class. Beginning this Friday, March 22nd and every day next week (Monday 3/25-Thursday 3/28) all students in Ms. Dominick’s music classes grades 1-5 are encouraged to perform for their classmates. This could be in the form of a dance, singing a song, or performing a work on an instrument. Students of martial arts may wish to share some forms or sequences they’ve learned for their Share.

Performance is an important part of any musical training and also may inspire other classmates to learn something new. It is also a wonderful opportunity for students to feel pride in their accomplishment and hard work!

Please understand this is just for the class and not for any sort of formal “audience”—creating a safe place for students to perform is an important aspect of this day. The specific dates for each class are listed below.

All students planning to share should arrange to have any music, instruments and other special equipment with them on their share day. We have a piano available as well as a full drum set for students to use. I can play DVD’s of student performances as well as CD recordings if students have them available. Any equipment may be dropped off in music room 110 and will be completely safe and secure!

Thank you for your support and encouragement! I stress to the students this is a “want to” and not a “have to”. No one is required to perform—being a member of the audience is a valuable and inspiring experience too!

Homeroom Share Day
1 McCann Thursday 3/28
1 Novak Wednesday 3/27
1 Weidman Thursday 3/28

2 Lopez Wednesday 3/27
2 Drake Wednesday 3/27
2 McCarty Wednesday 3/27

3 Evans Friday 3/22
3 Wheeler Wednesday 3/27
3 Overman Tuesday 3/26
3 Machado Tuesday 3/26

4 Belford Friday 3/22
4 Miller Thursday 3/28
4 VanZandt Tuesday 3/26

5 Finnegan Tuesday 3/26
5 Farina Wednesday 3/27
5 Schaal Thursday 3/28
5 Virtucio Monday 3/25

Connecting Music and Art: The Firebird Suite

Edmund Dulac "Firebird"

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra is delighted to present Igor Stravinsky's masterpiece, The Firebird Suite, as part of its PSO BRAVO! concert on May 3.  This year, the PSO is offering a new opportunity to a limited number of their PSO BRAVO! partner schools:

Firebird Program Art Contest!

While 5th grade students are learning about the composer Igor Stravinsky, the composition and the Russian folktale upon which it is based in music class, Mrs. Johnson will work them on program artwork submissions during their regularly scheduled art classes . The artwork is sought for the May 3 PSO BRAVO! Orchestra Concert program, on the theme of the Russian fairy tale, The Firebird.  Winning entries will be included in the program, along with the artist's name and school.  In addition, artwork by 20-24 finalists will be displayed at JaZam's, Palmer Square East in Princeton, for the month of April.

From the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Program Notes:

"Stravinsky composed The Firebird between November 1909 and May 1910; the ballet was first performed by
Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Paris Opéra on June 25, 1910. The complete ballet score calls for three
flutes and two piccolos, three oboes and english horn, three clarinets, clarinet in E-flat and bass clarinet, three
bassoons and two contrabassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, triangle,
tambourine, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, bells, xylophone, celesta, piano, two harps, and strings. Playing
offstage are three trumpets, four tenor tubas, and bells. Performance time is approximately forty-seven minutes.

... [librettist] Fokine’s adaptation of the fairy tale pits the Firebird, a good fairy, against the ogre Kashchei, whose soul is preserved as
an egg in a casket. A young prince, Ivan Tsarevich, wanders into Kashchei’s magic garden in pursuit of the Firebird.
When he captures her, she pleads for her release and gives him one of her feathers, whose magic will protect him from
harm. He then meets thirteen princesses, all under Kashchei’s spell, and falls in love with one of them. When he tries to
follow them into the magic garden, a great carillon sounds an alarm and he is captured. Kashchei is about to turn Ivan to
stone when the prince waves the feather; the Firebird appears. Her lullaby puts Kashchei to sleep, and she then reveals
the secret of his immortality. Ivan opens the casket and smashes the egg, killing Kashchei. The captive princesses are
freed, and Ivan and his beloved princess are betrothed."

Please join us for a great night and support our 5th grade kicking off the game with the Star Spangled Banner!
Special ticket pricing and for all BT families--Friday March 22, 2013

for more information please contact tmvogler@aol.com or bdominick@hvrsd.org

5th Grade's Got the Blues

Fifth graders have begun the final phase of our blues unit, composing and arranging their own blues lyrics using the 12-bar blues chord progression. Students have learned to identify the chord roots using the 1st, 4th and 5th notes of a major scale and label them using roman numerals (I, IV, and V) as well as the standard musical labels of "tonic," "subdominant," and "dominant." These three primary chords (we likened them to the primary colors of red, yellow and blue) are the basic chords upon which most popular music, rock songs, and folk songs are built around. Students have listened to legendary blues musicians including Bessie Smith, Huddie Ledbetter and Robert Johnson. Who are your favorite blues musicians?