In Room 17 we listen to a lot of music while we work. We write about it, talk about it, and even dance to it. I have been thrilled that this year's group of second graders has proved quite enthusiastic about listening to classical music--I would say, more so than any other year I've taught. I first noticed it sometime at the beginning of the school year. I had set my iPod one morning during math time to one of my favorite albums, "Voice of the Violin," which features the incomparable violinist, Joshua Bell. I have played this album for my students in years past without them making a single comment. Imagine my delight and surprise when several students started shushing others who were talking and saying, "Ssshh!! Quiet, I want to hear the music!" A few others asked me, "Ms. Long, what is that music? I really like it!" My students have fallen in love with one piece in this album in particular - Dvorak's "Song to the Moon" from the opera Rusalka. Who'd have thought, in a youth world of Beyoncé and Bieber? The kids keep asking me to play this track on my iPod over and over during worktime. I don't mind in the least, I love it too (as well as the violinist!) (-; Spurred on by my students' interest in classical music, I began to think of other pieces they may want to listen to. If you've read my previous post on Halloween, then you already know about the writing pieces we did while listening to Camille Saint-Saën's "Danse Macabre" back in October. I have used a few examples of music as fodder for writing in the past, but with this class I have aimed to make it a focus in my teaching. Imagine my excitement when on Pinterest I found the blog of an amazing teacher who has used Vivaldi's The Four Seasons as inspiration for children's artwork. For our last week before vacation, I played Vivaldi's concerto "Winter" and had students jot down words and phrases to describe images that the music evoked for them. I then showed them an amazing video of Hungarian artist Ferenc Cakó's sand animation, which is positively mesmerizing and made my students wonder, "How does he do that??" Here are a few snippets of students' writing I gathered after they listened to Vivaldi: Snow falling Besides Vivaldi's "Winter," another musical masterpiece that got us into the holiday spirit was Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker." I played this frequently on my iPod for each of the 2nd grade classes while they worked on art projects. The recording I have is with Marta Argerich and also features Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 (which, by the way, is my absolute favorite classical piece of all time). Watch and listen to Argerich perform this with a fellow pianist in concert: Coincidentally, our last dance class with Ms. Wall this past Monday was about "The Nutcracker." Ms. Wall shared a book that was perfect for introducing young people to the world of ballet, called T Is For Tutu, by Sonia Rodriguez. The book presents important aspects of ballet that correspond to the letters of the alphabet. After the read aloud, Ms. Wall pulled out a couple precious items of my own that I contributed to her lesson, my first tutu from when I was six years old, as well as my old pair of pointe shoes. (I even got to put my shoes the next day and dance a little for my class, which was fun and a bit surreal!) The students were also introduced to the five basic ballet positions, then watched an excerpt from New York City Ballet's production of "Nutcracker." My students are reminding me in the most wonderful way that music can add so much color and vibrancy to the classroom.
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