2nd Grade Music
Welcome to 2nd Grade Music! In addition to our weekly 40 minute music class, 2nd grade students have the opportunity to join the school chorus. Here are some of the things that we will do this year.
We Sing
In Kindergarten and 1st grade we did a lot of singing and we will do more this year! We will learn new songs and also use some ones from the last two years to help us learn to read music. Many of our songs have some fun games to go along with them!
We Read Music
In 2nd Grade we begin to learn how to read music. We will learn to read both rhythm notation (quarter notes, eighth notes) and tonal notation (do, re, mi). We use a program called Conversation Solfege to help us learn to read music. Scroll down to see more about this program.
We Play Instruments
Xylophones, Metalophones, Glockenspiels, Drums are all part of a program called Mallet Madness! Each student will get to play the different instruments in the music room. We learn how to properly play the instruments and work together as a group to make some great music! Want to learn the piano? We do that too! We spend some time at our keyboards learning some basic skills on the piano.
We Dance and Move
In Kindergarten and 1st grade we learned how to move to the music. We will do new Move It! activities where students will copy movements lead by the teacher. We will also learn folk dances and have a blast dancing around the music room.
We Learn About Instruments
We learn about the instruments in the orchestra. Throughout the year we will listen to a piece of music called "The Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra." Each part of the song features an instrument in the orchestra. We go on a virtual safari trip to learn more about each instrument. You can do the safari adventure at home by clicking HERE. You can also listen to the entire song and learn more by clicking HERE.
What is Conversational Solfege?
We use a program called Conversational Solfege to learn how to read music in a way similar to how we learn language as a baby. There are 12 Steps in our learning process.
Readiness
1) Rote - we learn songs and rhythm chants that will be used throughout the unit
Conversational Solfege
2) Rote - the students echo patterns that the teacher says or sings
3) Decode Familiar - the teacher says or sings familiar patterns on a neutral syllable and the students have to say or sing the rhythm or tonal patterns that match
4) Decode Unfamiliar - the same as step 3 but with patterns that the students have never heard before
5) Create - students make up their own patterns
Reading
6) Rote - students are shown rhythm or tonal patterns and have to echo them after the teacher
7) Decode Familiar - students are shown a familiar rhythm or tonal pattern and have to read it on their own
8) Decode Unfamiliar - the same as step 7 but with patterns the students have never seen before
Writing
9) Rote - students copy rhythm or tonal patterns
10) Decode Familiar - the teacher says or sings a familiar pattern or song and the students have to decode the pattern and then write it
11) Decode Unfamiliar - the same as step 10 but with patterns and songs the students have never heard before
12) Create - students create their own patterns and then have to write them
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In 2nd Grade we cover the following 4 units:
Unit 1 - Reading quarter and groups of two eighth notes in 4/4 time
Unit 2 - Reading dotted quarter notes and groups of three eighth notes in 6/8 time
Unit 3 - Same as Unit 2 but with the addition of quarter notes and eighth notes
Unit 4 - Reading the solfege syllables Do, Re and Mi