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=Welcome to the GLS Music Wiki!=

Week of February 27th, 2012

Hello Gateway Families!

Here is a quick briefing of the GLS music department.

3rd Grade: Our Latin percussion residency sponsored by GLS and the Delaware Division of the Arts was an astounding success! The entire school got the chance to witness a one of a kind, interactive performance by some of the most exciting and unique musicians in our area. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.

In a couple weeks, our third graders will be beginning a recorder unit. There will be several goals of this unit. 1. To assist the students in learning to decipher western musical notation, 2. To prepare the students to perform at our May arts festival, 3. To prepare students for the challenges and rigor of playing a musical instrument. Please keep an eye out for further communication about this upcoming unit.

4th-6th Grade:

This week we are beginning to prepare the music for our Spring arts festival. The theme will be "Springtime of Hope" Our chorus will be performing selections intended to highlight our hopes for the future of Gateway through a multicultural lens. Once the program has been finalized, I will post some links to video performances of the pieces so you and your student can check them out.

7th Grade

Update to come...

Week of Jan. 9th, 2012

Hello Gateway Families!

Happy New Year and sorry for the late update. Here is a quick peek at what is going on in music class:

Our concert has been rescheduled for Thursday, Feb 2nd. Students who are performing should arrive at 7pm and report to the gym. The concert will begin at 7:30. Please check your students' folders for a note that will be going home next week with more details.

Our first 10 week guitar club session is at the halfway point. This means that a new enrollment period will be beginning in a few weeks. If your child is interested, please email me, since it will be first come, first serve. The club meets Tuesdays from 4:30-5:30.

We currently have 5 students signed up for instrumental music lessons during the school day. The instruments we currently offer are clarinet, percussion, saxophone and trombone. If your child is interested in starting or continuing on one of these instruments, let me know so we can discuss how your child can participate.

I think that does it for new business. As always, contact me with any questions or concerns.

Week of Dec. 12th, 2011

Hello Gateway Families:

At conferences a few weeks ago, many of you voiced concerns that without homework, it was becoming difficult for you to keep tabs on what your children are doing in school. To remedy this situation I will update the wiki each week to let you know what we have on the docket. As always, call or email me if you have any questions or if you want to volunteer in my class. You are always welcome!

This Week: 3rd Grade We are going to start emphasizing singing as a way to lay the foundation for reading musical notation, a main goal of our class. For many students, decoding musical notation can give help build skills necessary to read printed words. We are going to start the half note rhythm and we are continuing to use manipulatives to explore the notes of the treble clef.

4th/5th/6th Grade From now until the concert we have to tackle our chorus music full force. We rehearse for the full 43 minute block with a 5 minute warmup at the beginning and a 5 minute movement break in the middle. Developing the necessary focus has been challenging but many students are succeeding remarkably well. We should all be very proud of them. I have arranged three pieces for us to sing,"In the Bleak Midwinter", "The Water is Wide," and "Siyahamba." The 6th grade will also be performing "Sally Gardens" a popular Irish tune arranged by eminent composer Benjamin Britten. I am looking forward to an excellent performance in January.

7th Grade: This week we continue to delve deeper into Afro-Caribbean drumming traditions with a skit I wrote that will help students understand the cultural significance of Kpanlogo, the Ghanaian rhythm we have been practicing. We are developing cultural sensitivity and understanding as well as our drumming technique. My hope is that many of are students ill be able to share Kpanlogo with you at the winter concert.

We are also starting our first project for the trimester. I will upload the rubric soon. Students will be composing pieces for a small percussion group along the lines of "Stomp." Along with the musical aspects of their projects, students will also be assessed on how well they used their time and how well they followed behavior expectations.

Guitar Club:

Tuesday is the first meeting of our guitar club. We have 6 students participating and one student serving as my assistant. This club is the first step towards establishing our instrumental music program at Gateway. Next step: Band!

This week I am also beginning instrumental music lessons for a few students who already own instruments. We will meet once a week for half an hour. I will not be able to meet with every student each week, but I feel it is important to make sure that you all know that I see it as a priority. Of course it will also be great for the students

That is all I have for this week.

Take Care and stay warm as the mercury drops!

Week of Dec. 5th, 2011.

Hello Gateway Families:

Our winter concert is tentatively scheduled. The date is Thursday, January 19th. Time TBA. All students grades 4-7 are encouraged to attend. 3rd Grade students will be participating in a project with guest artists from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency. More on this later! 3rd Grade students and families are welcome to attend the concert.

This week: 3rd Grade: We are continuing to explore musical notation using different media. Popsicle sticks and improvisation to focus on rhythm, manipulatives will be used for learning pitch and notation. We will also be singing and learning solfege syllables do, re, and mi. This trimester I will be working with Ms. Rathmell to solidify math concepts in music through various songs and lessons.

4th Grade: Until the concert we will be focusing heavily on singing, developing ensemble skills such as blend and pitch accuracy. Students will be assessed daily in large group settings to see if they are on par with where they need to be. We are learning the following songs: "In the Bleak Midwinter" "Siyahamba" and "The Water is Wide" These are great introductory pieces for students with little or no choral experience. They are doing a fantastic job! We are using our choral songs to continue to build fluency with reading musical notation.

5th Grade: Students were working on skits focused on important events in the life of composer J.S. Bach. I have put theses projects on hold until after the concert in January. Until then we will be focusing heavily on choral singing in preparation for the concert. Building confidence with the voice is crucial at this age. Otherwise students may never "find their voice". We are working on blend, pitch as well as literary techniques used in our lyrics from simile and metaphor to repetition.

6th Grade: Heavy focus on choral singing, decoding musical symbols, as well as breathing techniques and ensemble skills. All in preparation for the concert, which is now less than a month away. We are still building competency with classroom procedures with the goal of maximizing our rehearsal time and holding students accountable for behavior.

7th Grade: We have concluded our unit on song form. We will revisit it later in the year from a different angle. Until the concert we will be focusing on Afro-Caribbean drumming techniques. Each class will prepare a drumming style for the concert. I will be looking for student input for instrumentation/dynamic and other performance ideas. Each class will choose a beat to perform at the concert. I am looking for select students to accompany one of our choral pieces on percussion.

That sums it up for this week folks. As always, contact me with any questions or concerns. I appreciate all you do for your children each day.

chris.santantasio@gls.k12.de.us