What's New in Musicplay with Denise Gagne

In our Kodaly levels classes, Lois Choksy taught that children may not be able to pitch match either because of production or perception problems.  Production problems occur when children get stuck in chest voice or they simply haven't experienced head voice.  Perception problems require assessment of whether the child can "hear" the pitches that they are supposed to match.  Checking whether or not children can tell if a sound is high or low is one way to assess their perceptive ability.

It's important to give students of all ages the opportunity to create their own music.  Even before students know how to read and write musical notation, they can create simple compositions using speech rhythms.  In today's newsletter, I'm going to use Song #9, Follow Follow Me, from Musicplay for Kindergarten as the idea for creative activities.  In this song, the children make up new movements as they follow the line.  It's perfect to use as a "line-up" song at the end of music class, or any time you want students to line up.  These visuals come from the Musicplay Digital Resources.

There are songs for Kindergarten Graduation in Musicplay for Kindergarten.

There are songs for Earth Day in all levels of Musicplay.
Musicplay K - #137 We've Got the Whole World
Musicplay 1 - #92 Let's Save Water
Musicplay 2 - #74 Garbage, #77 Recyle, and #29 Make a Difference
Musicplay 3 - #78 Walk, Run, Ride a Bike
Musicplay 4 - #73 Plant a Tree and #72 We've Only Got One Planet
Musicplay 5 - #81 Show you Care

Know Your Note Names