How Do We Judge The Quality Of Our Performances?

This is the Essential Question!!  As part of the National Core Arts Standards, it is important for students to respond to understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning.  One way to evaluate our work is to view the performance video during a follow-up music class.  While viewing, students have paper and either colored pencils or crayons in hand.  Students apply personal and expressive preferences in the evaluation of music, starting in Kindergarten through Second Grade. Below are three short YouTube videos showing the result of students work.  These videos are separated by grade level.  It is interesting to note that Kindergarten students show more through colorful drawing, whereas First and Second Grade students do a combination of both drawing and writing.

A Two Night Success!!

Great job, Porters Point School students!  Our performances of "Squirm!" by John Jacobson and John Higgins last week were superb.  The two below videos are about the preparations (and are not the actual performances).

Half our school performed Wednesday:

 

And the other half of our school performed Thursday:

What To Wear To The Musical

I have received a lot of questions from parents wondering what their child is supposed to wear to our musical "Squirm!"  To be honest, the answer is "clothes"!  Regular school clothes.  Nothing fancy is required.  Students may choose to wear a color that is included in their headpiece they made in Art Class.  Now that may be confusing because students are not necessarily wearing THE headpiece they made in Art Class.  By dress rehearsal, all students should know what their headpiece is and if they want to wear something that goes along with those colors, that is fine.  I am asking all students to PLEASE WEAR SNEAKERS!!!!  Also, no bulky layers as the stage lights get hot...

"Squirm!" Parent Notice #2 Sent Home last Friday

Just to keep everyone updated on progress, Parent Notice #2 was sent home last Friday, January 29, 2016.  Students are beginning to get very excited about this performance!

So far, speaking parts have been distributed and those students have now had their first after-school rehearsal last week.  There will be one more rehearsal this week:

Wednesday 2/10/16 Performing Classes:  Weds. Feb. 3, 2016 -- from right after school until 4:00 pm in the PPS Music Room

Thursday 2/11/16 Performing Classes:  Thurs. Feb. 4, 2016 -- from right after school until 4:00 pm in the PPS Music Room

This week, we will add other parts to our performance, including movement and props helpers.  Having other jobs to do during performances helps keep students focused and is another way for students to participate in this whole school experience.  Regardless of whether students do any extra parts, the music is the most important part of a musical, and that is one part ALL students have!

Speaking Parts Have Been Distributed

For our whole-school musical "Squirm" to be performed in February, all the speaking parts were distributed last Friday, January 22, 2016. I am happy to announce that if students expressed an interest in a speaking part, I was able to cast them for a part! However, if students requested a specific part and were not willing to accept a different part, it is possible they did not receive a part. I explain to students that if there is one main part, then only one person will get that part.  So if 8 students requested that part, 7 students would not get that part.  But if they were willing to take another part, then I would try to cast them for an alternate part.  We do not do auditions!!  I firmly believe that anyone who wants to do a part can do it...

So that is how we do speaking parts.  But there are other parts which will be given out in the coming days.  Those parts are for "movement" and also "props helpers".  I like to wait on that a bit and my hope is that many more students will be interested in this, especially if they were not interested in speaking parts.  

Our Whole School Musical is in February

It's that time of year when Porters Point School students prepare for their whole-school musical.  This year we will be doing "Squirm!" by John Jacobson and John Higgins.  These two men really know how to write an age-appropriate (and fun) mini musical!  We have done several musicals written by them, including "How Does Your Garden Grow?", "Three of a Kind", "Hats", and "The Cheese Stands Alone", just to name a few.

During music classes, the story and songs have been introduced to students.  We draw on past experiences of performing in a different space from our own building -- Colchester High School.  We are fortunate to have that space, otherwise our school is just too small to take on a project like this.  Students practice and practice at our home school, then take a bus to the High School for a dress rehearsal.  The same evening as the dress rehearsal is when we perform for parents, friends and the community.  It really is an event not to miss!

Click on this link for Squirm-PPSParent Notice #1.

Please stay tuned for more details and look for notes going home with your children from the "Porters Point Music Department".

CHS Freshman Chorus HERE!!

Today we were graced by a special performance from the Colchester High School Freshman Chorus, under the direction of Mrs. Melissa Towle.  Our students were mesmerized listening to their beautiful harmonies.  It is always fun to have older students visit our K-2 school and when it is for a musical event, all the better!  Thanks so much for coming!!!

CHS Freshman Chorus with Mrs. Towle

Off To A Good Start! And The Beat Goes On...

We have been in school now for four weeks.  I have met all students four times for 40-minutes once a week.  In that time we have really done a lot, musically speaking...

  

Ask any student of mine "What is the purpose of beat?" and they will tell you in a variety of ways that  "It is so important, Ms. Mutz asks us about it in every class!"  We need to be able to walk it, talk it, sing it, dance it, and we can play instruments, too.  The beat helps to hold everything together in music.  The truth is, not every single song will have an identifiable beat, but most of the music we will do in class will have a definite beat.

Summer Time

It's almost mid-summer (I'm being optimistic).  Flowers are blooming and the sun is warm.  I recently went to the University of Hartford -- Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut.  Former Porters Point students may remember when we had Peter and Mary Alice Amidon for a week-long residency at our school -- maybe five years ago?? Anyway, I went to a week-long course at Hartt with the Amidon's designed for music educators.  What a GREAT week!  The course was called: "Rich Traditions and New Creations - Dance, Song, Storytelling and Literature in the Music Classroom".  Course requirements were to retell a story (no books allowed!!) and to create a song to sing to the group.  Quite a challenge.  I tell stories to my students all the time.  I love to use books to tell (or sing) a story.  This was different, though.  The "class" was all adults -- all music teachers.  I also had to write a song, and so I chose a personal subject -- my Mother.  It wasn't easy, but once I got started it was hard to stop.  It went very well.

Now the best parts of this class were all my classmates!  There were 30 people in the class and every one of them was excited to be there.  They participated all of the time.  We danced and sang harmony and just had a wonderful time.  Peter and Mary Alice are great teachers and they taught us all how to teach...  I'm so glad I took advantage of this opportunity with two fabulous people:  Peter and Mary Alice Amidon.

New iPad Mini's for PPS Music!!

Thanks to a generous donation from the Friends of Colchester Music, Porters Point School has received two iPad Mini's to be used exclusively in the Music Room at PPS.  This is good news because I will be able to load music apps and have the iPads available for all classes.  Our first project was done with First Graders.

Students launched into a project called "What's In A Name?"  Using the Garage Band app, students used the Sampler to record a sound based on their first name.  Once their name was recorded, they then used the onscreen music keyboard to record an 8-bar (measure) track.  Students were so surprised at how funny their voices sounded when listening to high and low sounds.  They really learned a lot about such musical concepts as high-low, loud-soft, and fast-slow.  

After recording their first track, students selected a bass guitar loop to include with their creation.  They also added a drum track to compliment their recorded track by adding sounds from the available drum kits. They had options to choose from as far as types of percussion instruments and how they wanted the track to sound.  

Students then presented their projects to the class, and the reaction was to get up and dance!  This stuff sounds really fun!!!  So how can we use such a project?  We brainstormed times when students write a story and how music could be added to go along with parts of the story -- or throughout the story. The music could be used to dance to, and a song with words could be added to it.

As a music teacher, I had so much fun seeing students create these projects.  I had a student approach me after this project was all done and she told me she wrote a song.  I said, "OK, so now you can write the music track to go along with it, right?"  She responded with a big smile...     

Students Process Their Performance

An important step in performing is to process afterwards. We always videotape the performance for this purpose. This recording is just for us to use in-class following the performance so students can see what the audience saw. We cannot make this recording available to the public (as in a money-maker) because some students do not have permission to be videotaped for public viewing.  But of course, the video is NEVER as good as the real thing!

So in addition to watching the video recording, students process their performance through writing and drawing a picture. It is always fascinating to me to see what students' ideas are of their performance. Students are generally very proud and say their parents were so excited to see them up there on the big stage...

 

WE DID IT!! Great Job, Everyone!!!

Porters Point School students performed "Too Much Noise!" by Brian Hiller and Don Dupont for their parents and the community on February 11 and 12, 2015.  Half the school performed on Wednesday and the other half of the school performed on Thursday.  Even though it is the same script, the students bring in their own personalities which makes them different performances.  It is a joy to watch the students with that twinkle in their eye as they perform and receive the applause from the audience.  Great job, everyone!!  Below are just some highlights:

"Too Much Noise"!" Wednesday and Thursday THIS WEEK!!!

Just a last minute reminder that our performances of "Too Much Noise!" are Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 and Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015 at Colchester High School in the Theater.  Both evenings begin at 6:30 pm and are about 30 minutes in length.  All students should arrive at Colchester High School by 6:15 pm on their performance night and meet their classroom teacher in the Cafeteria.  Parents, please take your child's coat/boots/etc. with you into the Theater.  Do not leave anything in the Cafeteria during the performance!

Wednesday Night Performing Classes are:  Mrs. Reynolds (K), Ms. Donnelly (1), Ms. Warren (2), Mrs. Hooper (2), Mrs. Plunkett (1), Mr. Shepherd (1).

Thursday Night Performing Classes are:  Mr. Allbee (K), Mrs. Hershman (1), Ms. LaRose (2), Mrs. Bissonnette (2), Ms. Silverberg (1), Mrs. Belaski (K).

Students should wear regular school clothing (nothing fancy is needed).  Sneakers are preferred!!  No clogs, heels or boots.  Students need to feel comfortable standing and sitting on stage, and it can get hot, so no bulky layers are needed.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the performances this week!!


"Too Much Noise!" was written by Brian Hiller and Don Dupont

Our Musical Is Next Week!!

Students have been working very hard to learn the songs and prepare for our performances next week of "Too Much Noise!"  Below is the last Parent Letter with the details you probably want to know before coming to Colchester High School...

Final Parent Letter

Looking forward to seeing everyone next week!

More Musical Prep -- How Do We Learn The Songs?

Our musical "Too Much Noise!" will be performed on February 11 and 12, 2015.  All students have been introduced to the story, and each week we are adding more songs to put it all together.  There are six songs students will learn.  How do we learn these songs?

First, we listen to the music.  The beauty of this musical is that almost all the songs are based on children's nursery rhymes, lullabies, and songs.  The creators of this musical, Brian Hiller and Don Dupont then composed original music to go along with these words.  Many of the songs have a component where students must use inner hearing to think the words while they hum the melody. The natural rhyme scheme of the words make it predictable for students to quickly feel comfortable learning the songs.

Anyone who works with children that are 5-8 years old has probably figured out that students need to MOVE!!!!  They are more engaged when they can wiggle and move around.  So another feature in these songs is that they all include some sort of movement.  This really helps students to connect to the beat of the music and feel the natural rhythm inherent in the lyrics.

Although students only have music with me for 40 minutes once a week, teachers are provided the music so students can hear the music in their classrooms during such times as their Morning Meetings, snack times, indoor recess, and at the end of the day.  Repetition really is the key to learning something new.  So by the time we get to the performances in February, students will have learned all the songs.

Musical Preparation Time

January is the month we will begin preparing for our whole school musical.  This year we will perform "Too Much Noise - an Eastern European Folktale", by Brian Hiller and Don Dupont.  The details are included in the first parent letter (see link below) that will be e-mailed or sent home today (Wednesday, January 14, 2015).  Please let Ms. Mutz know if you have any questions!!!  Stay tuned for more details...

Parent Letter #1 - Too Much Noise!

It's December In Our Town

It's December in our town...

A wonderful place to be...

It's December in our town...

Excitement, look and see

(From Roger Emerson's December In Our Town)

December at Porters Point is a time to explore observances and holidays that take place during the month and seek out musical opportunities to learn.  We do not celebrate holidays at our school, but we do look for cultural examples from all over the world to broaden our understanding of music.

Porters Point has a long standing tradition of holding a whole school Sing-Along in December.  This is viewed as an "assembly" as opposed to a concert.  Students and faculty gather in the multipurpose room and raise their voices in song, sometimes unaccompanied (a cappella), sometimes with pre-recordings, and sometimes adding instruments to the experience.

In the song, “African Noel”, students explore the tubano drums, always connecting to the beat. All students had a turn to play the drums during music class. At our sing-along, there were 12 tubanos and one student from each class played during this song.

Students sang songs about Christmas, Chanukah, Las Posadas, winter, and Kwanzaa.  

SECOND GRADERS AND RHYTHM

By Second Grade, students begin to really understand basic rhythm concepts.  We got a lot of mileage out of the "Create A Rhythm" activity done at the beginning of the year.  First of all, every student contributed to it.  We have used it for reading rhythms.  We have selected a line and created an ostinato out of it. Students did some writing, too.  At first we used stick notation and then we changed that into actual quarter notes and eighth notes by adding the noteheads:

This is all part of music literacy.  But that is only a small part of what we do in Music Class.  Students always begin with a song, dance, or play party.  We then can incorporate instruments to accompany the songs.  Here is slideshow of some of our activities we have done this fall:

MELODIC EXPLORATION IN KINDERGARTEN MUSIC

Kindergarten students cannot wait to play instruments in Music Class.  Preparation for making music together takes time as students really need to listen to each other for that to happen.  It's amazing how motivated students become when they see the instruments out in the room!  Students have explored playing mallet instruments:  metallophones and xylophones.  They start with mallet technique using one hand, then both hands. Wrists must be relaxed!  Students discover just how hard (and soft) to play the bars.  The concept of high and low is easy on these instruments because the bars are different sizes.  To play an ascending line, they start at the "bottom" playing the bigger bars and work their way "up" to the smaller bars.  

Students also played Melody Bells.  At first students were asked to just look at the bells and tell what they noticed about them. They made predictions about what they might sound like when played.  While playing, students learned to start and stop and take turns.  We also discussed that instruments can be LOUD!!!  We all need to take care of ourselves to not hurt our ears.  I told students I sometimes wear earplugs when I go to concerts to protect my ears from extremely loud music.  And I can still hear the music!

In addition to melodic instruments, students have used rhythm sticks, triangles and shakers.  We recently made some "Pumpkin Stew" in music class -- of course, we just pretended to make stew as our music class is only 40 minutes!  

Pumpkin stew!  Pumpkin stew!  

What shall we put in the pumpkin stew?

Put it in the pot and stir it alot, 

and then we'll have some pumpkin stew!

Students played a triangle on the word "pumpkin" and then we added the playing of fruit and vegetable shakers on the question mark and followed up with putting them into the big pot, complete with a stir xylophone.

Check out a short video to see what students have been up to in Music Class this fall:

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS IN FIRST GRADE

There is no question that the single most important wish of students in the music room is to play instruments!  Once steady beat is established, students are ready to combine that with rhythm patterns.  Students learn that playing instruments with others does not always mean playing all the time.  In fact, different instruments can be playing different things at the same time!  We learn to speak the rhythms, clap the rhythms, and finally play them on instruments.  Students learn basic notation for reading rhythms.  The instruments we play are called rhythm percussion instruments.  The below video shows students over several weeks of using these instruments.  Enjoy!