We Will Jingle

Third graders have been singing a song they really enjoy called We Will Jingle. I borrowed some of the choreography ideas from, Mrs. Schroeder (a music teacher friend in Wisconsin). Here are some videos we made this week.

“We Will Jingle” by Teresa Jennings (ASCAP) © 2011 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

Mrs. Baldwin's Class

Mr. Mooney's Class

Mrs. Runia's Class

Have a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy your friends and family. See you in 2012!

iPad and iPhone Music

Since we are in the last week before winter break, all classes have been doing sing-along with a few YouTube videos interspersed. One of the favorites has been around for over a year now. It is North Point's iBand in which they play several songs using only borrowed iPads and iPhones. The kids are fascinated by this and always ask about which apps are being used. Not all the apps are free. In fact, a few of them are quite pricey. In most cases (the exceptions being Bebot and possibly Melody Bell) there is a free app that will accomplish the same thing. Also keep in mind that iPhone apps will frequently work on the iPad and are sometimes cheaper. Apps listed as iPhone apps will also frequently work on an iPod Touch. Here's the list:

NLog Midi Synth $4.99 for iPhone
NLog Synth PRO $14.99 for iPad (I'm not sure which one of these they actually used.)
SoundGrid $0.99 for iPad/iPhone
Melody Bell $0.99 for iPhone
iGOG: Massive Drums $2.99 for iPhone
Bassist $3.99 for iPhone
Pocket Organ C3B3 $2.99 for iPad/iPhone
Percussions $3.99 for iPad/iPhone
Pianist Pro $4.99 for iPad
Pianist $3.99 for iPhone (again, I'm not sure which one of these they actually used.)
Saxophone Musicofx $0.99 for iPhone
Guitarist $3.99 for iPhone
Bebot - Robot Synth $1.99 for iPad/iPhone

There is one more app which was used for the singing portion of Feliz Navidad, but the app is rated 12+ and I'm not comfortable linking to it on this blog for elementary students.

Update: I'm pretty sure that Guitar Studio is also used in the iBand Video. It is $4.99 for iPhone.

VidRhythm

A couple of weeks ago I found an app for the iPad (or iPhone/iPod Touch) called VidRhythm. I paid $1.99 for it and played around with it. It was fun, but I remember thinking at the time that it would be kind of cool if the developers had included holiday songs. Well, guess what? This morning I read an article that said they not only had updated it to have holiday songs, but it is also now free. Of course that would happen since I already paid for it. Grrrr. Anyway, we played around with it in the last few minutes of my fourth and fifth grade classes today. Here are a couple of examples of the silliness.

Trepak Tennis Ball Routine

Fourth and fifth graders have been working on a tennis ball routine to Trepak from The Nutcracker. It's a little bit crazy because the tennis balls keep escaping! Here is a fourth grade class doing an impromptu video. Hopefully you can get the idea.

March from the Nutcracker and Candy Cane Horses

All grade levels have been learning the music and story of the ballet The Nutcracker composed by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. We used an iPad app called The Nutcracker Musical Storybook to learn the story. K/1 students studied the piece called March. Our instructional focus included rondo form and steady beat. We used some large, plastic candy canes as "horses" while we moved to the music. We also played jingle bells and egg shakers. Here are a couple of pictures:

You're a Grand Old Flag

In November, the second graders learned You're a Grand Old Flag and a flag routine to go with it. This is a favorite activity of second graders every year. I adapted the flag choreography from my friend, Kristin Lukow. This particular arrangement of the song comes from one of my favorite teaching resources, Music K-8 Magazine. Here are a couple of videos of two of the classes performing the song.

“You’re A Grand Old Flag” by George M. Cohan/arr. by Paul Jennings (ASCAP) © 1994 Plank Road Publishing, Inc. • All Rights Reserved • Used by permission

Mrs. Jessen's Second Graders

Mrs. Sannerud's Second Graders