Chinese New Year Song

Here's a song I wrote for Chinese New Year- easy peasy! Simple level bordun for accompaniment- add unpitched percussion (UPP) for the percussion line- lots of gongs, drums, etc. to "scare away" evil spirits. Very nice with a big, low gong at the end. Good for your upper level recorder players, too- those who have a solid low "C".
Look on youtube for pronunciation guide - Xin = Shin, Nian= like it sounds, Kuai= kwahee, Le = luh Yi (number 1) = eee, Er (number 2)= are, San (number 3) = sahn, "Jia You" (Let's Go! as in cheering people on) = jya yo.
Enjoy!

Chinese New Year Music and Assembly

We have an upcoming Chinese New Year Assembly that I've been planning with our librarian at school and I'm truly so excited! We're doing some relay races (with "dragon eggs") and brooms (sweeping the old year out) and I'm teaching the fourth graders a fan dance and lantern dance to perform. We're also having a couple contests; orange peeling contest (who can peel the longest peel), a Chinese fortune cookie eating contest and a firecracker contest ( 4 kids stomping on bubble wrap). We have a song that I've written and we're going to read a book with a repeating stanza that I'm going to add a melody to and I am truly so excited to do something that will not only be meaningful and memorable but fun, too! Not always an easy combination!

Concert Program a HUGE hit!

Songs of Night, Songs of Light was a great program and I didn't hear from one parent any negative comments; they really enjoyed the theme and as the theme was stars, moon, light, jingle bells, "light sounds" there was none of the typically negative comments about "too much Christmas", "not enough Christmas", etc. It was truly a lovely mix of songs about stars, moon, darkness, light, etc. Kids did a great job and I figured we had about 140 different kids playing Orff arrangements and unpitched percussion at various times.. fun!

National Conference and Holiday Program

The most awesome conference- that's all I have to say! Typically when I've been to conference I attend a few "bummer" sessions- I get into the room and it becomes pretty obvious that the "clinician" isn't for me. This time around I went to only ONE bummer session and was able to leave pretty quickly. I LOVED pretty much everyone I saw and had an awesome time drumming, playing, singing, and dancing through Pittsburgh! Amazing conference!
Now, back to my approaching concert in a couple weeks- our concert is entitled, "Songs of Night, Songs of Light". I really wanted to sing "Just One Candle" from Music K8 again this year- it's been many years since my students sang this one and they always enjoy it. We are also performing "Stars" from Lynn Kleiner and a song I wrote called "Inky Night" as well as an Elizabeth Gilpatrick Orff arrangement of "Starlight, Star Bright" which my fourth graders LOVE- a little jazzy with an extremely accessible instrument part. We are playing "Kalendara" from Jon Madin as an introit and have several other songs about night, stars, and bells (texture of "light" and shimmery things). We are using the Boyz 2 Men version of "Silent Night" with white gloves and white snowflakes and are performing a movement piece complete with black light! My third graders are performing "All Through the Night" on recorder and are also performing "Trepak" from the Nutcracker as a movement piece with glowsticks. I really wanted to do a flashlight piece, but I was a little concerned about using these as I have a couple students who seizure disorders that can be triggered by flashing lights so I decided not to that in performance. I'm so excited about this performance- it'll be fun! Oh- and Music K8 had a new song that we're singing, too- soooo cute- We Will Jingle- a take off of "We Will Rock You"- kids LOVE it!

Off to National Conference

So excited- I'm off to the Orff National Conference in Pittsburgh and can't wait to come back with some new ideas and inspirations! Hope to see many of you there!

Aquarium Idea

This is an idea developed by my friend Laurie and I. We are presenting in a couple weeks at a workshop and had originally wanted to use slinkies but they are kinky and can be expensive for a classroom set. The solution? Dollar Tree paper plates! Cheap and colorful! Ask your art teacher to have the kiddos cut these into spirals. Hold the middle part and let the rest of the spiral fall.. I know, I should've taken a picture but if you try it you'll get the idea! Use Carnival of the Animals "Aquarium" music. Tell the students you are going to take a trip today under the ocean; share pictures of octopus, coral, whales, jellyfish, etc. Tell them today they are going to be a jellyfish; ask them how jellyfish move; can they move their hand like a jellys? Legs like jellys, head like jellys, bodies like jellys? Now, standing and holding their paper jellyfish (aka spirals) play the music and move to the music; no jellys touching each other because they'll sting each other and die (you'll come tap on their shoulders and they'll sit). Parts of the music have lots of descending passages, demonstrate to the class how to move your jellyfish from high to low. This is a fun, easy activity.. turn the lights out and use one of those rotating ocean animal nighlights.. a true "hit"! Enjoy!

Sing-Off

For all of you out there (haha) I have to put a little plug in for the show "Sing-Off"- I'm actually watching it while I blog right now and truly LOVE it.. it makes me stay up an hour later than I want, but it reminds me of WHY I love music.. pure vocals, amazing talent! It is awesome; if you haven't watched it you really need to- my favorites at the moment are the all girl group Delilah- powerful voices, gorgeous harmonies and no gimmicks! It makes me want to sing in an a capella group!!!