Wendell Middle School Band Visit

On Tuesday, December 19th, 2016, the Wendell Middle School Band came to perform for our 5th graders.  They skillfully played many holiday selections and our students thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Our 5th graders also got a sneak peak of the Wendell Middle School fight song that many of them will learn when they attend Wendell Middle next year.   We were extremely excited to see FRES alumni performing in the band with Mrs. Slade.  Mrs. Slade is doing a phenomenal job of producing distinguished performers at Wendell Middle and we are grateful that they took the time to stop by and provide us with holiday entertainment.  We are looking forward to their visit next year!

Winter Concert: December 8th, 2016

Snowflake Costumes

Last night, the music department at our school performed the musical Flakes by John Jacobson and John Higgins.  Performances were given by our 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade chorus, percussion ensemble, recorder ensemble, and 4th grade dance troupe. A solo performance was given by Angelinee Venegas-Mejia and our chorus performed an original composition by Lauren Comer. We would like to thank the 2nd grade teachers and teacher assistants for assisting with rehearsals and the performance, Ms. Lyn Riggs for making the costumes and the stage background, the custodial staff for setting up equipment for the event, the FRES stage crew, and Mrs. Sharon Hart for filming a winter weather report that was used to introduce the show in our WFAL studios.  These people helped us put on a wonderful production.  Here you can see pictures of the recorder ensemble, chorus, and percussion ensemble. You can also see pictures of Lauren Comer, our student composer who was featured on the concert and Angelinee Venegas-Mejia, our guest student soloist.  There are also pictures of the stage background (above) and our snowflake costumes.  We are looking forward to putting on a great spring concert!

Snowflake Costumes

4th and 5th Grade Chorus Members

Chorus, Recorder Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble Members

Percussion and Recorder Ensemble Members

Lauren Comer, Student Composer

Angelinee Venegas-Mejia, Soloist

Chorus and Dance Troupe Members

Recorder Ensemble Members

                                                         

Donna Washington at Forestville Road

On Friday, November 18th, Donna Washington came to our school to perform her storytelling show entitled "From Anansi to Zeus".  During her visit, students learned about alliteration, practiced the pronunciation of vowel sounds, and learned new vocabulary. The students enjoyed her visit immensely. Below you can see pictures from the show.

Donna Washington at Forestville Road: 11/18/2016

On Friday, November 18th, 2016 at 9:30 a.m., Donna Washington will come to our school to promote our global curriculum and to promote literacy skills among our student body.  In her show entitled "From Anansi to Zeus" , she will tell multicultural folktales that will expose our students to literature from different areas of the world.  For more information about Donna Washington, please click on the following link to visit her website.  We are looking forward to her visit!
Donna Washington

2016 NCMEA Professional Development Conference

From November 5th to November 8th I attended the 2016 NCMEA Professional Development Conference in Wintson-Salem, NC.  There were many great workshops and performances that took place during this event. I am looking forward to sharing some of the strategies that I learned with our student body.

Symphony Field Trip

Today our 4th grade students traveled to Raleigh, NC to see the NC Symphony Orchestra perform. Students heard works by Beethoven, Massenet, Florence Price, Haydn, Strauss, Grieg, and Copland. Below you can see pictures of students on the bus and at Meymandi concert hall.

Upcoming 4th Grade Field Trip

On Wednesday, October 12th, 2016, the fourth graders will be going to Meymandi Concert Hall in Raleigh, North Carolina to see the North Carolina Symphony perform.  They will be hearing works by several composers.  In class we have been studying "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg.  To find out more about Grieg and to listen to this work, click on the link below to read information about him at the classics for kids website.  We are excited about this upcoming event!

Edvard Grieg

Auditions

Welcome back to school! Auditions for chorus and percussion ensemble will begin this week on Tuesday, August 30th in the music room. They will last until Thursday, September 8th.  If you are a 4th or 5th grader and would like to audition for these ensembles, come to the music room between 8:45 and 9:15 in the morning to audition.  Prospective chorus students need to prepare one song lasting no more than two minutes.  Please make sure that the lyrics of your song are appropriate for school.  Prospective percussion ensemble members will need to be prepared to read rhythms in 4/4 time including quarter notes, quarter rests, half notes, half rests, beamed eighth notes, and beamed sixteenth notes.  Audition results will be posted on the bulletin board on Friday, September 9th.  If you make it into either one of these ensembles, please stop inside of the music room to get your rehearsal schedule and rules and polices sheet.  I look forward to having a great year with our performing ensembles!

Lou Sanders Music Award

Congratulations to Bintou Mbacke for receiving the Lou Sanders Music Award.  Students who receive this award embody the spirit of the late Lucian Sanders Jr., who was the former head custodian at Forestville Road Elementary.  Mr. Sanders passed away due to a heart attack in August of 2014.  In an effort to perpetuate his legacy, this award was initiated. Mr. Sanders admonished everyone around him to believe in themselves and he always had encouraging words for family, friends, and co-workers.  He also served and supported this school fervently and he will always be remembered at Forestville Road.

The 2015-2016 recipient of this award showed that she believed in herself by working hard in our school's percussion ensemble and becoming one of the strongest performers in the group.  She was always willing to encourage others to reach their full potential as musicians by helping other percussionists at our school practice and become better players.  Finally, she was willing to support her peers by serving in a supporting role at our school's talent show.  Again, Forestville congratulates Bintou for all of her hard work this year and for continuing the legacy of our beloved "Mr. Lou". Below you can see Ms. Sanders, our music teacher, Bintou Mbacke, the award recipient, and Mrs. Gloria Sanders, Mr. Lou's wife. (from left to right)

Spring Concert

I would like to thank everyone who participated in our spring concert.  I also want to thank all teachers who supported the concert during rehearsals and on the night of the concert.  It would not have been a success without your help.  I would like to extend a final thank you to the stage crew for helping the program run smoothly and efficiently and to Ms. Riggs for creating artwork centered around our movie theme! 

Spring Concert Sneak Peak

Tonight our spring concert will be held at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria.  Our 3rd through 5th grade chorus, percussion ensemble, dance troupe, and recorder ensembles will perform.  Below is a sneak peak of percussion ensemble playing "Camptown Boomers" arranged by Chris Crockarell.  We look forward to seeing you there.

Stars in the East

The Forestville Road Percussion Ensemble and Chorus did a phenomenal job at Stars in the East held at East Wake High School on April 28th.  Below you can see a picture of  percussion ensemble and chorus hanging out in the green room before going on stage.

                                        

Resources for Studying Music At Home: Spring Edition

Below you will find information about what students have been learning in music class recently.  These tools will help students study music at home in order to help students build musical skills.

5.ML.2.2 Recognize pitches on the treble and bass staves, including ledger lines, in order to

understand the continuum of standard pitch notation.

5th grade students have been learning how to read notes on the treble and bass clef staves.  Below are activities found at www.musictechteacher.com that can help students continue practicing musical literacy skills at home.

Treble Clef Reading Practice

Bass Clef Reading Practice

4.ML.2.2 Interpret through voice and/or instruments simple pitch notation in the treble clef in major keys.

4th grade students have been learning how to play songs on the recorder.  Here is a recorder fingering chart at www.musick8.com that can help students as they practice the songs that they have learned.

Recorder Fingering Chart

3.ML.1.2 Execute the performance of major scale tones using the voice.

3rd grade students have been preparing to sing songs on the upcoming Spring concert.  Please click on the chorus tab of this blog to practice the songs that we will be singing at home. While rehearsing for the concert, 3rd grade students take brain breaks and perform movement activities in between songs.  Below is a video of the Learning Station's brain break entitled "Move and Freeze".

2.ML.2.1 Interpret rhythm patterns using standard notation for half and quarter notes, half and

quarter rests, and beamed eighth notes.

Count the rhythms in the activity found at the link below. See if what you counted matches with the rhythm played.  If it does, check yes for the answer.  If it does not, check no for the answer. If you get the response correct, that means you counted the rhythm correctly!

Rhythm Activity

1.ML.1.3 Execute rhythmic patterns using body, instruments, or voice.

Students in first grade have been learning about interpreting rhythm.  We executed rhythmic patterns using our bodies and voices when we learned the song "Double This, Double That".  See if you can perform the rhythms in this song with a family member at home using your body and voice.  Watch the video below to review the movements and lyrics.

K.MR.1.2 Recognize contrasts in music, such as high/low pitch, loud/soft dynamics, fast/slow tempo, and same/different sections of music.

Kindergartners have been learning about different dichotomies in music such as fast vs. slow and long vs. short sounds.  In a previous lesson on tempo we learned the terms presto and largo.  Students learned that presto means really fast and largo means very slow.  Watch the video for the song "Presto Largo" by John Riggio below and move to the different tempos in the song at home.

The Number Drummer at Forestville Road

On February 26th, 2016 the Number Drummer will appear at Forestville Road.  He will help our students recognize relationships between music and math in a presentation that includes drumming and the use of mathematical concepts.  Get a sneak peak of the presentation at the link below.  We are excited about this upcoming event!

http://www.numberdrummer.com/videos-1/#videos-2

Recorder Lessons

4th grade students will begin recorder lessons in music class starting on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2015.  I look forward to helping these students build musical literacy skills as we read and perform recorder music.

Winter Concert

I want to take this opportunity to thank the 3rd grade students for doing a phenomenal job on the winter concert! The event would not have been a success without their hard work and dedication.  The chorus will begin preparing for our spring concert on Friday, January 8th, 2016 at 8 a.m. I look forward to having a great concert in the spring.