Hooray for Disney’s Mulan Jr.!

            Three Cardinal cheers go out our St. Cletus School 6^th-8^th graders for their efforts and professionalism on their spring musical! It keeps getting better every year thanks to all of our students, teachers, staff, and volunteers. This ambitious play wouldn’t have been a success without everyone’s help!

            I am immensely grateful to all our volunteers for their help during our spring musical. They were easy to work with, extremely helpful, and were very supportive! St. Cletus Cardinals are the best!

            The Roll Family has placed their photography committee pictures of the musical on a special website. There are over 800 pictures of our students there for free download. These pictures are from our final dress rehearsal. Go to www.davincifx.smugmug.com with passwords saycheese and cardinals.

            Ms. Delaney and I are trying to return any costumes or accessories we borrowed for the show. If you lent us a costume, accessory, or prop that has not yet been returned to you, please email Ms. Delaney with a description of any item that we need to give back to you.

Summer Theatre Camps Closeby

1. Nazareth Academy is offering a drama camp from July 5th-30th and they will be performing Disney’s 101 Dalmations. Performances are on July 30, 31 & August 1. Their full brochure is online on the Naz website.

2. MusicMakers of Western Springs Drama Camp is performing Disney’s High School Musical, Jr. They will have classes June 7^th-24^th, with performances on June 24^th-27^th. Detailed information can be found at  http://www.musicmakerstudio.com/theater

3. Theatre of the Highlands, the troupe that usually works out of LTHS, is not presenting a musical this summer.

Life in General Music Class

Preschool –During Lent we explored how the early church members shared their belongings.  We sang short songs praising God and looking at ways to be good neighbors. We also moved like dinosaurs and told Dr. Seuss stories. In April, Preschool will explore more spring songs. Soon, Preschool will begin working on their Mother’s Day and PreK Celebration music.

 Kindergarten –Through movement and playing, we will be preparing eighth notes with songs such as “Los Pollitos”. We played the leader/group game “John the Rabbit” where students tried to remember what naughty John the rabbit did to the garden. In “The Oak Tree” students will experience scale through boomwhacker playing as they individual say or sing about something they would plant in the garden. Kindergarten will soon be introduced to quarter note as the notation for one sound in one beat. We will explain rhythm as if they were sounds in a cup, which represents a beat. They will soon be working on their songs for their Mother’s Day and K Celebration songs.

1^st grade – We practiced our Holy Thursday prayer service music. We have been exploring melodic contour in preparation for the pitch LA with the songs “Jack and Jill” and “Acka Backa”. This week we will play and sing the moral story “Little Rabbit Foo Foo”. They have been working hard on SLM (Sol La Mi) songs as well as our Mr. Everybody Songs. All of our 1^st and 2^nd graders can read the pitches middle C, D, E, and first space F on the treble clef.

2^nd grade – Second grade has been reviewing the music for First Communion. They have been working hard on their SLM (Sol La Mi) and MRD (Mi Re Do) melodies. In the song “My Song” each student composed a short MRD song and sang it to the class.

3^rd grade – We are continuing to play BAGE melodies such as “Snail, Snail” and “Lucy Locket” on our recorders. We have spent a lot of time sight-reading with our singing voices and with our recorders. They will be beginning their unit on the instruments of the band. We will view a short video on marching bands, listen to the sounds of the instruments in a band and arrange instruments by family. It will culminate in the “Band Instrument Jeopardy Game”.

4^th grade – Fourth grade is beginning their unit on the orchestra. We will sing the folk tune “The Orchestra song”, explore websites about orchestras and string instrument, view a video on stringed instruments and look at the parts of a violin. We will finish with an “Orchestra Jeopardy Game”. Our fourth graders can read all the music notes on the treble clef, plus the most common flat and sharp pitches.

5^th grade –We just finished our opera unit with a trivia game. We are currently working on major scales and I and V chords through the song “Chumbara”. Our next unit focuses on the bass clef  which will culminate in a short individual composition written in bass clef.

6^th-8^th grades – Our upper grades will be enjoying our rhythm and melody games and practicing for upcoming Masses. Sixth grade will be exploring major and minor scales in relation to mood and music in preparation for their short unit on silent movies. Seventh grade will be exploring two or three musical choices for next year before the final decision is made in early May. Seventh grade will be learning about the job of a jingle-writer and will dramatize commercials for class. Eighth grade will be reviewing basics of acting as well as preparing for May Crowning and Graduation.

General Music Newsletter

MulanCalendar1-20-10

February 17, 2010

Mrs. Gibbons

Grades 6-8 Spring Musical—Disney’s Mulan, Jr.— Wednesday, March 24th at 4:00pm & Thursday, March 25th at 7:00pm in the Morrissey Hall Gym. Tickets will become available in early March. They are $6 each to offset the cost of production and are first-come, first-served. Thank you to all the volunteers who came out in the snow for our volunteer meeting. I can’t express how much that collaboration brings all the major elements of production together!

Congratulations to 5^th grade on their Music Informance Performance! – Fifth grade looked great and were very respectful as they displayed aspects of the fifth grade music curriculum. Thank you to our parents, guests, teachers, 4^th grade students, and preschool buddies who attended the event!

Children’s Choir Upcoming Masses - Children’s Choir will sing on March 7^th at 11:00am for parish Mass, which is also Girl Scout Sunday. Our Easter Sunday Mass has been changed from 12:15pm to 11:00am.

Life in the General Music Classroom

Preschool has been enjoying the folk culture of Mexico and Valentine’s Day songs. Next, we will have some fun with Dr. Seuss, “The Good Samaritan”, and the alphabet letters n, o, p, and q.

Kindergarten – Kindergarten has been visiting “Mallet Town”, where we have discovered how high and low pitches are played correctly on our xylophones. In the book Up, Up, Down by Robert Munsch we explored the high and low sounds of our voices. Our next unit is tempo (the speed of music) and transportation.

1^st grade and 2^nd grades - 1^st and 2^nd grades have begun a music-reading unit utilizing the highly-recommended series Mr. Everybody’s Musical Apartment by Miles Feltenberger. In this 3-book series, students associate characters with specific places on the treble staff. For example, the character Crazy Cat stands for middle C and always is walking on a clothes line in the basement. These students have begun creating patterns with C, D, and E. This series also encourages students to learn how to play by ear as well as reading basic music patterns.

3^rd grade has enjoyed our game “One on One” where they challenge each other to see who can correctly identify pitches on the treble staff. This system then leads us into short musical patterns using BAG on our recorders where students must sight-read through singing and playing. In our current song “Fais, Do, Do” students will be re-arranging the melody and playing through the multiple new versions of it.

4^th grade – has enjoyed our game “One on One” where they challenge each other to see who can correctly identify pitches on the treble staff.  In “Let’s Improvise”, students will take what they have learned from question and answer to expand to a larger song with singing, recorders, and xylophones. It is also an introduction into basic harmonies.

5^th grade just completed their big musical performance for the year. Some pictures and snippets of video will be made available to the 5^th grade parents. We will be reviewing important elements of melody and harmony construction before moving on to our Opera Unit.

6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades are continuing their work on this year’s musical Disney’s Mulan Junior in music class. We are now in the choreography phase of the production. All students are expected to have their songs and lines memorized by March 1^st.  Please look for the costume letter, which should be published and printed in the next week.