Welcome to 2024! I hope you had a restful Winter Break and that you and your students were able to get out and enjoy the snow this week!

In the music room, all grade levels had the opportunity to listen to the next movement in The Planets suite by Gustav Holst. "Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age" is one of the longest movements in the suite, and so we studied an abbreviated version with a listening guide, which I've linked below. This was a great movement to introduce DYNAMICS to many grade levels, and we will continue to use terms like soft, loud, forte, piano, mezzo forte, mezzo piano, crescendo, and more as we apply different dynamic levels to our own performances.

Exciting news - Opera for the Young (OFTY) will be visiting our school on January 29th and will be performing a unique production of Andre Gretry's "Beauty and the Beast"! This adaptation of the beloved well-known fairy tale takes place on an enchanted island, complete with exotic birds and kid-sized fruit. OFTY offers a unique experience in that students not only are exposed to professional opera singers and repertoire, but also that the student body is involved in the performance itself!

All students in grades K-5 have been introduced to the different opera voices (ask your child if they remember what the difference is between a soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, and baritone!) They have also been exploring different versions of "Beauty and the Beast" from around the world and learning some of the music from this particular show.

5th grade students are studying the opera in greater detail and are learning the chorus songs so that they can fulfill the roles of an offstage chorus. Most 5th graders will be seated to the side of the performance space and will be singing from their seats, while 16 students will actually be fulfilling the roles of birds, as well as Strawberry and Banana!

The performance will take place on Monday, January 29th at 9:30 AM. All students at DES will attend this performance, and we are also extending an invitation to any 5th grade families who would like to watch their students perform. If you have any questions, please let me know!

I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank-you to our DES PTO and to our Music Boosters for funding this incredible opportunity for our students!

As part of our opera learning stations, students also enjoyed experimenting with Google's Blob Opera! This is a fun, unique way to create and listen to operatic music!

Students have now fully transitioned into using our red lesson books, which means they should have a firm grasp of where their first five notes are on the staff. While some students are demonstrating fluency, others are still struggling to find their notes. We have discussed and practiced many strategies in our lessons, some of which I have listed below - please encourage your student to use these tips at home!

1) All lesson books show where a note belongs on the staff - students can refer to P. 7-8 OR the fingering chart on the back cover if they are really stuck.

2) Acronyms are useful tools to help us remember things! For treble clef notes, we've used the acronym "Every Good Boy Does Fine" to remember that the bottom line is E, the next line is G, then B, D, and F. "FACE" tells us the notes that are in the space. (For trombones and baritones, the bass clef line notes can be read as GBDFA - Good Boys Do Fine Always, and the space notes can be read as ACEG - All Cows Eat Grass.)

3) Once you know the first note, see if you can figure out the next note by seeing if it goes up, down, or stays the same. Most songs on P. 8-9 move in steps, which means you can just use the alphabet to figure out what the next note is. If the note moves up one step, it should be the very next letter in the alphabet, whereas if the note moves down one step, it will be the previous letter. (G moves down to F, etc.)

4) Before playing any song, point to the notes and sing the letter names slowly. Then try singing the notes and fingering or sliding along with your instrument.

5) As a last resort, students can write the letter names underneath the notes. I don't encourage this as a long-term solution, but it can help students who are struggling to build speed.

6) PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!! As I told all of my band students, you don't get better at reading if you never read. You don't get better at shooting free throws if you never pick up a basketball. And you won't get better at your instrument if you are never taking it out of its case in between our lessons. Even 5-10 minutes a day helps!!

January 29th

Opera for the Young Performance @ DES - 9:30 AM

March 4th

All-Band Concert (5th-12th Grade)

March 7th

All-Choir Concert (6th-12th Grade)

March 14th

2nd & 3rd Grade Concert

May 9th

Kindergarten & 5th Grade Concert

Mrs. Ashley Meyer

K-5 Music Teacher

Email: meyera@deerfield.k12.wi.us
Website: http://www.deerfield.k12.wi.us/faculty/meyera
Phone: 608-764-5442