Merry Christmas MVMS!

Happy Holidays to my students and their families! Thank you for a great holiday concert this week and for your continued support of the choir program. Hope you all have a restful and enjoyable winter break!

Fab Friday Clips 12/9 More Crazy Light Displays

Fab Friday Clip 12/2

Synched Christmas lights with Trans Siberian Orchestra-Wizards in Winter. There are a ton of these out there, but I started with this one because it was about the best synched with the music. There are others with better picture and audio quality, but I really don't like it when the timing is just a little off. I'm one of those people that gets bent out of shape when my windshield wipers don't stay in synch with the song on the radio LOL!

3-D Snowflake How-To

Choir students will be making these to hang in the MS Commons for the holidays. Here's a how-to in case someone wants to try at home! I like to use scrapbook paper to mix up the look a little (plus it helps with these visuals!).

1.First, take a square piece of paper. It doesn't matter the size as long as it is perfectly square. The larger the paper, the larger the finished snowflake.

2. Make a triangular fold, then repeat into a smaller triangle.

 3. The tricky part...it helps if you can set your triangle on the table as in the pic below so you KNOW you're cutting the correct side.

 4. Make 3 parallel cuts from the bottom fold-the one touching the table (as below). Start from the longest side and end closest to the point of your triangle.

 5. Unfold the paper. It should look like a God's Eye. If it looks like a weaving loom full of parallel slices, you cut from the wrong fold on the triangle.

 6. Take the inner-most points and wrap them around to meet. Glue in place.

 7. Now, take the next set of points and wrap them the opposite way to meet. Glue. Notice, you're working from the center outward. Important to ALTERNATE the side that you wrap the points toward.

 8. Repeat for the rest of the points so that you've got 4 total wrap-arounds.

 9. The finished product should look like the pic above.
10. Repeat the entire process with 5 more pieces of paper so you end up with 6 total pieces.

 11. Align the points of pieces and staple (or glue) all at the same spot. (it will be the center of the snowflake)

 12. Glue or staple the joints together at the fattest point of each piece. (Where finger points above...)

 13. This is all the pieces of my purple snowflake. My sweet daughter tried a piece and it didn't get cut correctly, so my flake has 5 sides. :0)

14. Here's the finished product done with white paper! Won't these look cool hanging all over the commons? THANKS to my good friend Mrs. Green for showing me how to make these several years ago at FES! They have served me well over the years...

We Interrupt This Blog...

Sorry there's been such inactivity here; not much in the way of Fab Friday schtuff. The push for the Pops Concert and then the push for the Veteran's Day programs (which went wonderfully!) put our Fab Friday snippets on the back burner. I'll try to get back in the saddle, but now we've got the push for Winter Festival and the Holiday Concert. Shocked, I know. Music departments at the holidays...sheesh!

Fab Friday Clip 10/14

Interesting Instrument: Hang Drum
Technically, players don't like them to be called "drums". They are similar in principle to steel pans used in calypso music. Quite a unique and captivating sound. Notice how strong the sound can be with even the most gentle touch.

Listening Log: "Seisouso" from Quidam

This week, we listened to a tune from Cirque du Soleil's show "Quidam". Here's the official trailer for the show, which happens to be my favorite of all the Cirque shows.

Mongolian Throat Singing

Sorry MSers, I thought I had uploaded these last week! Our final clips celebrating the

"Amazing Human Voice" are of the phenomenon of throat singing. There are a few styles, including those that use overtones (my favorite). If you want a completely different approach from the typical Mongolian/Tuvan/Chinese/ Siberian style, check out the Inuit Indian style of throat singing. So different from what our western ears expect, but amazing!

Counter Tenors: Two Completely Different Styles

We are discussing various voice classifications. Countertenor is a male voice that utilizes the range of a typical soprano. Some countertenors employ a highly developed falsetto (Nick Pitera below), while others have the purity and range of a true soprano (Greg Pritchard above). Kind of interesting, huh? **Thanks to Rylie for introducing me to Nick Pitera!

Fab Friday Clips 9/23 Bobby McFerrin

Indeed: an amazing human voice! Be sure to listen closely at around 2'12" as he vocalizes 2 separate sounds--harmonizes with himself!

Fab Friday Clip 9/16 "O Sole Mio" by Il Volo

Fab Friday Clip 9/16 "Meet Il Volo"

Fab Friday Clip 9/9

The Voca People

The storyline is fictional, but their talent is real. These singer/beatboxers from Israel are another example of the amazing human voice! Check out their story at WWW.VOCA-PEOPLE.COM

Fab Friday Clip 9/2

Intro to Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir concept...

Fab Friday Clip 9/2 PART 2

Eric Whitacre's latest virtual choir piece: "Sleep". Simply ethereal...

Fab Friday Clip 8/26

This is from an old Reading Rainbow. You'll have to start the clip at 12:45...it's a nice spotlight on the Boys Choir of Harlem. Why this clip? Hopefully it inspires and motivates us as we begin our choir journey together.

Middle School Choir Room

Well, our room is ready...I don't know about you and me, though! Maybe next summer, I can get the other walls painted! See you soon...

You can take the teacher out of the elementary, but you can't take the elementary out of the teacher, huh? I like busy walls and lots of visual excitement. Let's make some music!

Welcome Middle Schoolers!

Well, I figure it's about time to officially redirect this blog to my new audience: Mt. Vernon 6th, 7th, and 8th graders! Much of what is already on the blog is fun and relevent for our new group, so I won't delete any of the posts. (Just don't give me too hard a time about the Bert and Ernie clip!) So MSers and 8th graders, come on in to check out the interesting world of music via the web! I'll post anecdotes, fun links and videos, and some of our Fab Friday content for the 2011-2012 choir year. See you soon!

-Mrs. Walton

All-Star Team of Composers

Check it out! This classical site has put together a hypothetical All-Star Team of composers in honor of baseball's All-Star Break. It's a great lineup and also a quick way to see some factoids about Western music's "heavy hitters"!

http://www.ariama.com/features/all-star-composers

Straight No Chaser - Back Home Again In Indiana

Get ready 4th graders! We're going to learn all 3 Indiana State songs as part of your Indiana History studies...we'll share them at the Spring Choral Concert on May 3rd. Straight No Chaser is one of my favorite acapella groups; hope you like!

Piano stairs - Fun with Music

What's Mrs. Walton Listening To Now?

"Fame" theme song by Naturi Naughton & Collins Pennie (from the 2009 movie remake of FAME) Sorry, I can't help myself! I was an avid fan of the show growing up :0)

Mozart on Rollerblades

One of the favorite demonstrations of the size-pitch relationship in our music class is cream soda bottles I've filled with colored water. We've got nothin' on this guy!!

What's Mrs. Walton Listening To Now?

It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go by folk singer Nanci Griffith

Chladni Plate - Wowing the 3rd Graders

As we learn about sound waves, vibration, and frequency, kids get to see the phenomenon of a Chladni Plate. Each frequency creates a specific vibration that directs the salt into amazing patterns. The higher the frequency, the fancier the pattern.

Sesame Street - Ernie and Bert sing "Loud and Soft"

Here's another one for the first graders as we finish our studies of Loud/Soft and prepare to move to Fast/Slow in our focus on musical opposites.

Forte Piano

First Graders like this one...we'll be sharing it with our families on February 17th.

"Pipe Dream" - Animusic.com

Another nifty demonstration of timbre and instrument classification. I show clips from an Animusic DVD at the close of the 3rd grade Science of Sound Unit.

What's Mrs. Walton Listening To Now?

"The Cave" by Mumford & Sons

the vegetable orchestra

These last few posts are all clips that I show the 3rd graders during their Science of Sound Unit. We've just started learning about sound waves and the physiology of the ear. In the next few classes, we'll be doing hands-on science experiments! Several lessons down the line, we'll be reinforcing things they started in 2nd grade-like tone color and sound sources/classification and how material affects the qulaity of a sound. Vegetable Orchestra always seems to "wow" them!

Plastic Musik - Axel F

EVERYBODY loves boomwhackers! It's amazing what can be done with them, in and out of music class!

PS 22 Chorus Inspires

I've been following the "adventures" of this public school choir from Bronx for awhile now. They are famous, you know, and their music teacher is inspirational. The kind of inspirational you find in movies like Mr. Holland's Opus. Out of all the tunes they post on YouTube, this song moves me the most. (FYI it's Viva la Vida by Coldplay)

Variations on Pachelbel's Canon in D

**Blessings to Mrs. Lukow, who shares so many of these extraordinary snippets! Are you familiar with Canon in D by Pachelbel? It's a lovely piece, frequently played at weddings. These fellas make it a totally funny demonstration of musical styles...plus they are WAY talented! The performance actually begins around 33 seconds into the clip. Enjoy, it sure made me smile!

Kristin Andreassen - Crayola Doesn't Make A Color For Your Eyes

Just a cute and fun video!
About the previous post, (Toccata and Fugue by Bach), we're experiencing an ice storm and the power flickered before I could write anything! I'd better hurry and get the computer turned off...the previous video is demonstrating melodic contour. Melodic contour helps you visualize the pitches in a melody. It's something that our 3rd graders will be using soon as they work at their Star-Spangled Banner proficiency. 1st graders will be working with it, too, as they learn about long and short. I love how melodic contour can captivate the senses, much like this unforgettable piece of music history by J.S. Bach.

Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, organ

"MANUALIST", CELLO AND UKULELE - SWEET GEORGIA BROWN

Okay, this is hilarious! You can't help but call it talent, but anyone who needs a good giggle has come to the right place!

Lindy Hop Dance

One of the tunes in the pioneer play, Steamboatin', is the charge of Mrs. Gibson's Go-Getters. The musical style of this lindy hop/charleston is nearly identical. Think you can handle these moves Go-Getters? :0)

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

I love it when a marching band makes pop music fun! This is actually Notre Dame's band personnel. I do miss being in a marching band...lifelong bonds are made there!

21 Accents

Last week, our 4th graders auditioned for parts in their upcoming pioneer program, "Go West!". I loved how so many of them came equipped with a southern, cowboy, pioneer-ish (whatever you wish to call it) accent. What a great job they did! This woman is phenomenal and may inspire some more accent practice among our young actors.

Centraal Station Antwerpen gaat uit zijn dak!

Do you know what a "flash mob" is? It's a fun and seemingly random moment in a public place where participants dance/sing. This one was done in a train station in Belgium. I am a Julie Andrews fan, so I just love it! See how surprised the people are and how much they enjoy it!

Welcome Message

Welcome to Mrs. Walton's Music Share blog! This is where you can find fun and interesting tidbits, pictures, and videos in the field of music. Much of what I post comes from friends and colleagues across the U.S., especially a fellow music teacher to whom I must give credit, Mrs. Lukow. In this age of the internet, why reinvent the wheel? Enjoy!