Friday, September 25, 2009

Our First Music Class With Mr. B.!

Today in music we learned the concept of
ostinato!

Mr. B. told us that means: rhythmic patterns played together

* * * * *

The most important musician was our cowbell player. He kept a steady rhythm. A very difficult job!



Next, Mr. B. brought out...a bag of fruit?!



Wait a minute, that's not fruit! Those are shakers!



Third, came the rhythm sticks...Keep the rhythm... 1, 2, 3 and 4




Finally, Boom Whackers!
Each whacker was of a different length.
A different length gives the whacker a different pitch!





Beautiful ostinato, Mr. B.!





What part did you play?
Was it easy to keep the rhythm or not?
What part did you want to play?

19 comments:

  1. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I thought my instrument was really easy and think it was easy to keep rhythm. I really wanted to play the cowbell and the rhythm sticks. I played the orange shaker.
    In school did you have a music teacher and did he bring instrument? Also was he really fun like Mr.B?

    Your student,
    Nick

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Nick,

    You are a terrific commenter!

    The cowbell is a great percussion instrument, and it had a wonderful sound. It was the hardest instrument to play because he had to keep a steady rhythm. It is hard not speed up!

    Because we had *approximately* fifty students in the room, I was worried our ostinato might not sound very good. However, everyone kept the rhythm and it really was impressive. I should have recorded it!

    You asked if I had music in school. Yes, I had a music teacher, but he was not as much fun as Mr. B. We also did not get to use so many instruments. We did get our own recorder, and it was fun to play songs on it.

    Thanks for a terrific "2-pointer"!

    Your friend,
    Mrs. Yollis

    P.S. Do you know what the word percussion means? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I really like how the cow bell sounded but the shaker was pretty fun. Next week I hope Mr. B picks me to do the cow bell.

    If you were a student and you were not teaching would you like to be in school right now and have a lot of fun like our class is?

    Your friend,
    Nick

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Mrs.Yollis

    I love how you said, "musician". It is so funny that you said, "WAIT, THOSE AREN'T FRUIT, THOUSE ARE SHAKERS".Thank you for showing the shakers. My mom was inpressed with me for learning a new instrument.

    Does the cowbell look esey to you, because it does not look easy to me?

    The beat sticks have a great beat.I especially love when they go "tap tap, tap tap tap".

    From,

    Kate :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Mrs.Yollis,

    Mr.B was walking when we were eating lunch the fist day of our music class. I asked him, "when is our first class?" It was shocking when I heard the answer...tomorrow! I was jumping up & down until lunch was over.

    The cowbell was an important instrument. I was playing the boom whackers.

    Your student,
    Ayush

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Mrs.Yollis,

    Our first music class seems great, I wish I was there! My favorite instrument would be the shakers.

    I am very happy that Mr.B is at our school this year.

    What was your favorite instrument? Did you get to play one?

    Your Student,
    Kendall

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Kendall,

    We missed you on Friday!

    Yes, it was a lot of fun with Mr. B. I did not think the ostinato was going to sound very good because there were about fifty students playing, but it did!

    You asked me which was my favorite instrument. I would say it was the shakers. Not only did they sound good, but they looked delicious! :-)

    See you soon,
    Mrs. Yollis

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear Mrs. Yollis' Class,
    It sounds like you really enjoyed music. Next door I was doing the same thing as you were. (at a different time) Altogether, I thought my class sounded pretty good.

    Looks like you had a lot of fun, and that's great!

    Mrs. Yollis' former student,
    James

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello from Mrs. Benjamin's Blog Watching Team of Rachel, Cyle, Paige, Brady and Haley.

    We think that the music posts were interesting. We do the fifth grade band here. Do you have school band too?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Trent,
    I love your trip to china. It is so cool Were you tired after walking up the great wall of China?
    love, Anais

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Cinnamon Bun Espresso Muffins (Rachel, Cyle, Paige, Brady and Haley)
    Thanks for leaving a comment on
    Mrs. Yollis’ Classroom Blog!


    You asked if our school has a band. No, unfortunately we do not. Mr. B., our music teacher, comes once a week to our school. Your school is quite lucky to have a band!

    Do each of you have a post? Your teacher mentioned that no one had published yet. Let us know when you are ready! We'll visit and comment.

    From,
    Mrs. Yollis’ Class

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear Mrs. Yollis' Class,

    Thank you for answering our question. You can check out our individual blogs by going to Mrs. Benjamin's Blog (http://mrsbenjamin.edublogs.org ) and look to the right. You will see our blogroll there!

    Sincerely,

    The Cinnamon Bun Espresso Muffins

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear Mrs. Yollis,
    I enjoyed your post on Mr. B's music class very much.
    Both of my boys love spending time with Mr. B!
    My music teacher played the guitar and the harpsichord, which is like a piano that you hold in your lap, but strum like a guitar.

    Our family loves to get together to play music, we call it "jamming". We have bongos, tambourines, maracas, and of course the fruit shakers. Our avocado makes the best sounds. I play the guitar and we all sing and make lots of musical noise. We also love to spend time playing with our karaoke machine.

    As you can see our house is very noisy.
    Your friend,
    Mrs. Adler (Trent's Mom)

    ReplyDelete
  14. @ Mrs. Adler,

    Thanks so much for participating! You are an excellent commenter!

    You mentioned the harpsicord. I remember that instrument! My music teacher had one of those, too. Usually only the teacher got to play it. :-(

    Your musical family sounds pretty fun! Jamming is a great way to express yourself muscially!

    I would like to invite you to bring your guitar and sing some songs with us in the classroom. Would you be interested in that? We would LOVE it!

    Thanks again!
    Mrs. Yollis

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    Music class is great. My instrument was the boom whackers. I thought it was kind of hard to keep the rhythm. I also wanted the rhythm sticks and the cowbell. I hope we have such a good time next week.

    From,
    Gal

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    Ethan and I played the fruit shakers, but we really wanted to play the cowbell. It was still fun playing the shakers anyway.

    Mr.B is a really fun musical teacher. He deserves $1,000,000.

    From,

    Nick and Ethan

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dear Mrs.Yollis

    I really liked the song Mr.B was singing in the beginning of music class. The instrument I played was the boom whackers on the first day of music class. On the second day I played the rhythm sticks. If I had to choose which one I would choose the boom whackers because it's fun whacking it. I was in the third group.

    Your student,
    Kayla

    ReplyDelete
  18. Mrs. Yollis and class,
    it was great to see your instruments and how you spent your day. I can't believe you got a good ostinato going with so many students at once! Great job!!

    It's also a very good way to re-examine the music created by students when they comment about their own opinions and performance. Great blog!

    Sincerely,
    Mr. F and the Rowdy Rockers

    ReplyDelete
  19. @ Mr. F. and the Rowdy Rockers,

    Thanks so much for reading our blog and leaving a comment! I'm glad you enjoyed this post.

    Yes, it was very difficult to get a good ostinato with nearly fifty children in the room. It is a credit to our music teacher, Mr. B. The children love him and follow his every direction. He is a pleasure!

    Thanks again for your compliment! :-)

    From,
    Mrs. Yollis

    ReplyDelete

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