What a wonderful start to the year! This week was my first week with everybody @ Gordon L. Willson and North Freedom Elementary. I feel so lucky to be here in Baraboo, WI and every classroom has shown me how wonderful all the students here really are. We’ve had a fun (and challenging time for some of us!), learning new names and getting to know each other in the music room.
This year, we are really opening our ears to all kinds of music! Each class will start out with a small listening activity in which we describe the music we have heard. Last week, we listened to Patriotic Marches by John Philip Sousa (i.e. Stars & Stripes Forever and The Washington Post March). We will explore the musicians/artists that make the music, the composer of the pieces, and why the composer may have named them or what their intent during composition was. So much information packed into that first five minutes of class! Recently, I have been poking around bookstores in the Madison area and have found some fantastic CD’s for us to listen to. Ranging from Tchaikovsky to Gershwin, we will keep ourselves busy!
Also this Labor Day weekend, I have been finding some books to accompany our classroom activities. One of my favorite finds is called “The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Music: A Guide to Composers and Recommended Recordings.” This book has about a page or two of each composer PLUS many pictures of them, their original writings, etc.! It is veeery cool, and I hope to show all of you the composers as we hear their different works!
As the Labor Day weekend comes to a close, I get excited for our next week together. The weather has been beautiful and I hope we have all been able to enjoy it to the fullest—see you soon!
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