Ms. McMillan's Music Class

   UPCOMING DATES Performing Arts Club: Thursday, June 4th EMBRACE MUSIC WHILE SWIRLING AROUND IN YOUR LIVES WITH KIDS: Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty, what would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? Sing and dance. I find that movement is a better term to use with kids as it seems like a more universal and achievable objective. Combine singing and movement, especially when you want to find your voice. I encourage this with kids all of the time because movement helps to stimulate and activate your body to produce better sound. Even classical singers employ movement exercises to activate everything before singing - especially important in this style because during a performance, the singer needs to remember and embody the freedom and joy of movement while maintaining a posture of stillness. But this is elementary music - we are not performing in a recital format so singing while experiencing the freedom and joy of movement is totally fine! I recommend ...

   UPCOMING DATES Performing Arts Club: Thursday, May28th Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Dress Rehearsal: Wednesday, May 27th @ 1:15 pm Volunteer Tea featuring Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Collaboration: Thursday, May 28th @ 10:30 am Note: Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Club students will share their   Trolls musical  at this year's Volunteer Tea on the morning of Thursday, May 28th at 10:30 am (the Tea starts at 10:30. The performance will likely start at 10:45 or so). We look forward to performing for those in attendance at the Tea. These kids will also participate in a dress rehearsal of their show on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 27th at 1:15 pm. Family members who wish to see their child perform at this time are welcome to attend.  If you are attending the Tea and also want to come for the school performance, you are most welcome.  Should you have any questions about anything related to these performances, please email me, Katie McMillan at kamcmillan...

  UPCOMING DATES Performing Arts Club: Thursday, May 21st Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Dress Rehearsal: Wednesday, May 27th @ 1:15 pm Volunteer Tea featuring Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Collaboration: Thursday, May 28th Note: Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Club students will share their rendition of   Trolls  at this year's Volunteer Tea on the morning of Thursday, May 28th. We look forward to performing for those in attendance at the Tea.  These kids will also participate in a dress rehearsal of their show on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 27th at 1:15 pm. Family members who will not attend the Volunteer Tea but wish to see their child perform are welcome to attend at this time.  Should you have any questions about anything related to these performances, please email me, Katie McMillan at kamcmillan@cbe.ab.ca. EMBRACE MUSIC WHILE SWIRLING AROUND IN YOUR LIVES WITH KIDS: Ella Fitzgerald. So much to love about Ella and this particular recording: https://www.yo...

  UPCOMING DATES Performing Arts Club: Thursday, May 14th Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Dress Rehearsal: Wednesday, May 27th @ 1:15 pm Volunteer Tea featuring Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Collaboration: Thursday, May 28th EMBRACE MUSIC WHILE SWIRLING AROUND IN YOUR LIVES WITH KIDS:  Lots of John Williams around for May 4th Star Wars week. Ennio Morricone is a beautiful juxtaposition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7w-IeNR9ko https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue8emVM2xE8 LEARNING INTENTION LEGEND ( Blue  =  Kindergarten ,  Green  =  1 / 2 ,  Purple  =  3 / 4 ,  Red  =  5 / 6,  Pink  =  ALP )  -I can distinguish voice sounds; develop tuneful and accurate singing voice. -I can explore movement to show expressive musical elements such as tempo and dynmaics.. Kindergarten students participated in music movement activities this week following their focused time in the gym for Cricket. We worked on changing d...

  UPCOMING DATES Performing Arts Club: Thursday, May 7th Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Dress Rehearsal: Wednesday, May 27th @ 1:15 pm Volunteer Tea featuring Grade 5/6 and Performing Arts Collaboration: Thursday, May 28th EMBRACE MUSIC WHILE SWIRLING AROUND IN YOUR LIVES WITH KIDS: Think about the mood evoked by a piece of music. Or you could do this with several pieces of music. This has been a theme across grades this week and has led to some thought provoking conversations - thought provoking for me, anyway, and I hope for kids as well. They are starting to connect what they hear to other pieces of music that they have heard, which is excellent because it tells several things: one, that they are listening to the music that I am playing for them and also, that they hear patterns in the music that represent something they have already experienced. In the midst of these music-y conversations,  I get very excited and think to myself, "This is why I love music so much." Then I ...