“So Ms Fraser, we just make it up?” “Yes, you come up with an idea, try it out, and then write it down. It’s composing!” “So we just make it up?”
IRC students are all composing original music for a Spring Talent Dance in April. They are starting by each writing a melody but soon we’ll form bands and use GarageBand. We’re all excited and a little bewildered.
IRC’s Community Open House will take place on December 6th from 6-7:15. Visit different activities in different classrooms. When you and your child come to the music room you can learn “Winter Wonderland” on a ukulele, guitar, drum, or mallet instrument. We’re going to teach you and then jam! These are some grade 3s demonstrating that “practise makes better!”
I love these Guitar Club kids. I gave them a chord progression challenge -they had to have witness initials- and they ate it up. So much amazing peer teaching and encouraging!!
This year’s IRC Remembrance Day Assembly included a tableau presentation by the Grade 6s about The Law of Great Peace, an IRC parent speaking about her appreciation for Canada, traditional trumpet music, and the Primary Choir singing “Thanks a lot.” Sitting in a circle together was my favourite part.
Our Junior (Grades 3-6) choir just recorded Ruth B’s “Lost Boy” for the CBC Canadian Music Class Challenge. IRC Dad, Rob, brought in a recording team and the students, Ms Greenwood, and I dug deep as we recorded multiple takes. I’m so proud of our hard work! A big thanks to Ms Hagen for taking on this challenge with me!
…as we gear up for composing.
Guitar Club’s performance of “We Can Work It Out” sounded even better than in rehearsals – love it when that happens!! The entire school sang along with us.
In Drama we’ve started the year with tableaux. The lyrics of Ruth B’s ” Lost Boy” inspired these silent, focused, and still pictures. 
IRC students are writing notes and soon those notes will become songs! We’ve also been playing “treble clef hopscotch” which is my favourite way yet of teaching the names of the staff’s lines and spaces!
This year all of my Gr2-6 students worked on developing an original character. We then wrote scripts using these new voices, and later we developed class plays. Grades 2 and 3s had time to create settings and costumes for their plays and we presented them to Kindergarten classes on the IRC stage. Much fun, excitement, and learning!!