Grade 3

A very happy Easter Weekend to you all!

I wanted to update you on a few important pieces of information, as well as give you some insight into the rest of the academic year.

Ms. Vachon & Mr. Townsend

Ms. Vachon has begun a parental leave, and Mr. Townsend – who filled in for Ms. Vachon’s illness – will be taking over the rest of the year.  We will update you with his biography shortly.

Work to be done

Please continue all work from the previous post.

Drumming (Grades 1-3)

You may have heard about the occasional drumming activity that we do with the kids.  There are some different reasons we do this, but they are very deliberate, and music education oriented:

• Focus – the activity is offered for group effort in violin class over a period of days.  Low participation and effort means lower chance of the activity occurring.
• Polyphony and imitative polyphony – this is the concept of more than one voice and one voice copying the other.  Our drumming allows this concept to be developed in a fun way that is easily and quickly executed.
• Leadership – individual students are given the opportunity to ‘lead’ the group in an imitation session, which allows them to develop rhythmic thinking, and gives them some basic responsibilities in leadership
• Accountability – students that do not participate in class and preparation do not participate in drums

For these grades, this more physical approach to music is an excellent way to channel their energies.  I encourage you to take out some pots and pans and wooden spoons, and have your kids lead you (their interpretation) of how we do this in class.  This is a good way to encourage musical activity at home, and is an excellent way to engage musically with your children.

I also encourage you to ask your children about this when asking about what they did in violin during the week, as you prepare them for their practice on the weekend.  This is, of course, in addition to checking our posts online/email.

7-day Homework Helper & Violin Worksheet

We have had requests for a 7-day version of the homework helper.  Click to download it.  We do not require this version, but do require the regular homework helper to be submitted every Tuesday.

There is also a new Violin Worksheet available for download.  Please take the time to review this with your students over the next week-and-a-half.  There may be a pop quiz on it…

Looking Ahead

We have almost reached the end of our 7-week plan.  This has been very useful in terms of highlighting engagement, participation, and needs.  We’ll be reviewing these things with Dr. Ling in the next 2 weeks, and update you on the remainder of the year when we have done so.

 

Many thanks,

B.Kerekes
Director