Boys, Beats, and Basketball

Often in music circles Beethoven, Bach and Brahms are referred to as the three B's.  When I looked at the class list and saw that the first 7th grade general music group of the year consisted of all boys, I knew that Boys, Beats and Balls would likely be a sure hit.  Watch the delight in trying to keep the beat steady as we count out quarter notes, half notes and whole notes using basketballs.  A big thank you to PE teacher Mrs. Sferra for sharing equipment!  

Music is Math!

Try out this activity to see the connections between music and math.  Use the link below to open up Cyber Pattern Player.  Notice each row contains sixteen squares.  Build a measure in 4/4 time with a rhythm of your choice, and hear it played.  Highlight only the first square if all you'd like is a whole note.  Highlight only the first and the ninth if you'd like to play two half notes.  Which would need highlighted to create four quarter notes?  Pairs  of eighth notes?  How about sixteenth notes?  Mix and match your notes in a measure.  Create layers of instruments and give each a different rhythm.  A lot of possibilities here.

 Link to the Cyber Pattern Player

Let's Get a Rolling Start!

The 2013-14 school year is officially under way.  Welcome back!

Seventh grade general music focuses on continuing to read music and build skills at playing the piano, while also learning about the classical, romantic, and contemporary periods of music history.  Many students will probably experience some "seasonal slide", since middle school general music only meets one nine week grading period per year.  To help with the review, I'd like to recommend a few web sites with practice games for note reading.

Speed Note
As notes pop up on the staff, see how fast you can choose their letter names.  Try to improve your speed/score each time you play!  This will be a big help towards playing the piano assignments.

Counting Out Rhythms
Do you remember how to count out rhythms?  Use whole, dotted half, half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests to make up a rhythm, then play it back with a counter.  Pay close attention to how many counts each note and rest get.

Virtual Keyboard
Perhaps you wish you had a keyboard or piano at your house.  This virtual keyboard has the names of the keys labeled with the proper letter names, and you can use it to re-familiarize yourself.  You can play with lots of different sound effects and experiment all you'd like. (something we just don't have much time for in class!)

Have fun playing.  Please check back often.  I will try to add new posts to help you as the nine weeks progress.