What does a General music Class look like these days?
Check out the sample lesson visuals below to see what a typical grade two music class looks like.
Online Resources to Support Your Student's Music Learning
As a supplement to our study of the instruments of the orchestra in second grade, I highly recommend Carnegie Hall's Listening Adventures . Watch this short video that demonstrates some activities your child can access at home to enhance their learning at Wheelock School. (To help you to budget your time please know that this video lasts just a little over four minutes.)
Student Resources
Following are some further links to websites that you may enjoy exploring with your child.
Carnegie Hall http://www.carnegiehall.org/ORC/Games-and-Listening-Guides/ The fun doesn't stop there. The Carnegie Hall site also has a wonderful listening map that accompanies Dvorak's Ninth Symphony. With this listening map your child can explore the instruments playing in the music and their instrument families, view additional background information on the composer and the piece, and engage in several other activities. Also worth exploring is Carnegie Cat's tour of Carnegie Hall and the History of African American Music in the United States. Classics for Kids http://www.classicsforkids.com/index.asp Classics for Kids started as a weekly radio show produced and broadcast by Cincinnati Public Radio, to stimulate young children's interest in Classical music. Since its inception in 1999 it is now picked up by most Classical music radio stations in the country including our own WGBH in Boston. I believe the best feature of this website is the ability to access all of the archived radio shows. These award-winning shows are well worth listening to. San Francisco Symphony http://www.sfskids.org/discover/ This website also offers some interactive activities to help your child learn about the instruments of the orchestra. In addition there are some wonderful listening opportunities, online animated conducting lessons and an extensive step by step guide to composition that looks like lots of fun. Science of Music http://www.exploratorium.edu/music/index.html This website, funded by the National Science Foundation asks some interesting questions about music and sound such as "Why do some songs get stuck in my head?" Head over to this website to find some answers. The site also explores sounds found in everyday objects. This correlates nicely with our unit on the science of sound in second grade. New York Philharmonic www.nyphilkids.org The New York Philharmonic webpage features some background tours of the concert hall. This is especially helpful to view with your child before going to a symphony concert. PBS Kids Jazz http://pbskids.org/chuck/index.html#/jazz To learn more about jazz including instruments, style and jazz musicians visit the PBS Kids Jazz page. Here students can play games, write jazz lyrics |
Parent Resources
Explore the following to learn more about the value and extreme importance of maintaining all students access to quality music education.
PBS- The Benefits of Music Education
http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education/ The role of music in language development in young children is a hot topic in the neuroscience world these days. "While children come into the world ready to decode sounds and words, music education helps enhance those natural abilities." Follow the link above to read more on this and other ways that involvement in music offers deep benefits for our children. Learning Arts and the Brain http://www.dana.org/Publications/PublicationDetails.aspx?id=44422 In 2008 the Dana Farber Institute released several studies conducted throughout the United States on the effects of the arts on brain development. Their findings confirmed that although merely listening to music does not result in sustained improvement in cognitive functioning, the practice of and hands-on engagement with music over time results in significant brain development. This is why it is so important to have quality music education programs that involve students in many opportunities to make and create music. Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the Arts http://www.p21.org/storage/documents/P21_arts_map_final.pdf The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has been one of the key drivers of reform in education today. By identifying four key skills to success, education has refocused on ways to develop these skills: Critical Thinking and Problem-solving, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity. The Partnership commissioned a focus group to examine these four skill areas through the arts and confirmed what many in music education have known: the arts in education present enormous opportunities to develop and enhance these skills and are a natural fit for developing lifelong skills. VH1 Save the Music Foundation http://www.vh1savethemusic.org/why-music/benefits-to-the-brain VH1 Save the Music Foundation is committed to restoring instrumental music education across communities. It is a grassroots organization that works tirelessly to educate the public on the benefits of music education. |
