April 29, 2013

Grade 7:
This is week 11 in term 2. Students should practise twice outside of class this week and have 22 practise signatures on their practise record sheet.
Our goals for this week are to demonstrate an understanding of the lyrics and the melody of the blues through performance, and to demonstrate their understanding of the elements of music using musical terms.
During our first class of the week, students will continue to chant their blues lyric verses in "blues time" and be assessed. They will echo/improvise patterns using the blues scale notes and then perform their individual (composed) two bar blues melody for an assessment. Students will also complete their score study of Blues Rock by learning all of the new notes/concepts used in the first section, or more, of this piece.
During the second class of the week, students will complete assessments on blues lyrics and blues melodies. They will receive their final journal question and will be given class time to complete it. This journal question will be marked and used to evaluate their understanding of the elements of music and the terminology covered this term.

Homework: Practse the first section of "Blues Rock" and be prepared to perform it in class next week.


Grade 8:
This is week 11 in term 2. Students should be practising twice outside of class this week.
Our goals for this week are to secure our understanding of 16th note rhythms and understand how they can be used to create monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic compositions. 

During our first class of the week, we will review 16th note durations. We will take up the homework and use the examples created by students to create short monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic pieces. We will discuss the musical importance of each part, and then will discuss the roles needed in each stomp group to ensure success.
During the second class of the week, students will form groups and will begin composing the polyphonic section of their "STOMP" routine.

Homework: Practise your rhythmic pattern - be sure to memorize it.