Music

Jan Davis has taught music since 1996. In that time she has taught band, vocal, and general music to every age from newborns up through college.

Mrs. Davis has a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Fort Hays State University in Hays, KS, where she was upper woodwind section leader in both marching band and wind ensemble, and Principal clarinet in the Hays Symphony. She also has a Kodaly certificate (19 graduate credit hours) from Silver Lake College in Manitowoc, WI, and has been additionally certified by the Early Childhood Music and Movement Association, Kindermusik, and First Steps In Music.

Mrs. Davis greatly enjoys performing as well as teaching. She plays bass guitar and sings lead vocals as the worship leader for New Haven United Methodist Church. She is also very active in handbells, playing with Tulsa Festival Ringers and performing many solo handbell performances each year. She has directed many handbell ensembles, including the handbell choir at Oral Roberts University.

We use a varied approach based on the three-dimensional model of music education—learning should include “doing” music, music literacy, and knowledge “about” music.

Orff music instruction is based on a whole-child approach to learning. We use songs, poems, games, and dances. We play a variety of instruments for accompaniment and improvisation. Children learn that working together to make music brings about great satisfaction. The emphasis is on learning through doing, not just observing. Orff instruction begins as early as Kindergarten and carries through to fifth grade.

Conversational Solfege is a Kodaly-based method of teaching literacy that goes hand-in-hand with Orff. The philosophy of Conversational Solfege is that we should learn the language of music by hearing and making music first and then beginning to read and write, similar to the way a child first learns to talk in their native language and then later learns to read and write. Conversational Solfege instruction begins in the first grade and continues through fifth.

Knowledge “about” music is interwoven through the other methods and includes learning about composers, different instruments families, proper music terminology, music from different cultures, and a host of other musical things.

Children need to experience music with every part of their minds and bodies. Music time includes action and movement songs; instrument and prop exploration; focused, active listening; and lots of opportunities to use our voices. All our activities are centered around learning to match pitch and developing a good sense of steady beat. Along the way, we also learn about high and low, fast and slow, loud and soft, and many other elements of music.

All children are born musical and have a right to have their musical abilities developed to the fullest—not because it will make them better readers, not because it will help them with their math, but because music has a unique ability to forever influence a child’s life for the better.

www.creatingmusic.com

Compose and notate music, play musical games and puzzles.

www.dsokids.com

www.sfskids.org

Learn all about orchestral instruments and musicians on these websites from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Listen to all of the instruments, compose your own music.

http://pbskids.org/africa/piano/haveflash.html

Listen to a thumb piano from Africa, play and record your own songs

recorder karate

Our new fifth grade recorder curriculum uses a series of challenges, or “belts”, to mark student achievement. There are 9 belts total that students can earn, starting with white and ending with the black belt. Students will receive copies of the song for each belt.

One exciting feature of this method is that students with internet and RealAudio access can play the accompaniments directly from the publisher’s website for at home practice and study. Here is how to access those files:

Go to the following weblink:

http://www.musick8.com/rkdojo/rkdojo.tpl?cart=11559198532285326

Look in the blue box labeled “students” for the link to the practice page.

You must enter the user name, “karate”, followed by the password. I cannot print the password on my webpage, but it is posted in the classroom. You will see “Streaming Audio from the Recorder Karate Dojo”, and you can select the song you want to listen to on RealPlayer.

There is a bulletin board in my room charting student progress through the belts. Students will also receive certificates for certain levels of belt, and special recognition upon earning their black belt. After earning the black belt students can choose additional, harder challenges to become a second or third degree black belt.

The kids are all excited about this new program! Some of them are already asking ahead for music so they can be the first to earn a belt. I’m hopeful that this will prove to be a highly motivating curriculum.

Because the kids ask… a lot:

I try to teach the kids a little about copyright laws. Some of the print music I purchase can be legally copied for student use, some can’t. In cases where it’s legal, I’m perfectly willing to give students a print copy of the songs. Ownership of the Recorder Karate method does include legal rights to photocopy song pages for students. Even though I get requests from the kids, I can’t legally copy the CDs for them. Luckily those accompaniments are available online to those who have access. Some of our other recorder songs, such as the songs “Popcorn BAG” and “Ukrainian Bell Carol” from the “Recorder Soup” book, are available from the same website for 99 cent download. From the Recorder Karate Dojo page, click on K8 Kid Tunes. You can go to “Recorder Music” from the categories page and find them.

Music Program Dates & Times

All programs will begin promptly, so please be on time!!

Kindergarten Family Music Night

Wednesday April 30

6:00-6:45 Sr. B’s class

7:00-7:45 Sra. Barajas’ class

First Grade Family Music Night

Tuesday May 6

6:00 -6:45 Sra. Goodno’s class

7:00-7:45 Sr. G’s class

2^nd & 3^rd grade Music program

Tuesday May 13

6:00-6:45

4^th & 5^th grade Music program

Tuesday, May 13

7:00-7:45

Coro de Cascabeles spring concert

Tuesday May 20

6:00-6:45

Pictures

On Wednesdays, grades two through five rotate through different music stations. Stations give students a valuable opportunity for self-directed learning and cover a variety of learning styles. Each station has different activities that reinforce concepts we have worked on. Stations vary with individual grades and may include music related games, a worksheet or quiz, computers, xylophones, individual practice time on recorder challenges, listening to a music-related story on cassette, or many other activities.

(Mrs. Davis and her Bass Guitar)