This video is beyond amazing.... "Angels We Have Heard On High" by The Piano Guys. Pay close attention to all of the ways they have altered the piano.
Here is a funny rendition of "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer":
And finally, one of all time favorites is the music from the Vince Guaraldi Trio and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Here are The Piano Guys making a difference in the lives of some special people playing "Linus and Lucy":
Sixth Graders are just about finished with studying Tchaikovsky's ballet, The Nutcracker. This piece features an instrument that was new and groundbreaking during the composer's lifetime: the celeste. It looks like a tiny piano, with keys that are black and white and played in a similar fashion. Inside the celeste are metal bars almost like a metallophone that are struck when the keys are pressed. Here is an orchestra version of the song:
Below is the clip we watched in class of a ballerina dancing to the song. We discussed that often times the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy goes to the most talented female ballerina in a dance company.
And here is an amazing clip of a couple playing the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy on the Water Harp. What a science connection - how much water does a glass need to be filled with in order to make a particular musical pitch?
LeRoy Anderson's song "Sleigh Ride" was written during a heat wave in the summer of 1949. It is also the most liscensed and copied holiday song of all time, which means that there are MANY different verisons of this song out there to enjoy. 4th graders study this song each December. Here is the link to the entry I shared last year. This link includes a video of the original song being played by The Boston Pops Orchestra.
This year, I'd like to share a video of one of the four different versions that students compare and contrast in class. Students listen to a bluegrass version and recordings by The Ronettes, Ella Fitzgerald, and The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Here is Brian Setzer's band playing with country musician Brad Paisley:
You can hear classical music everywhere. A few years ago, a commercial for a cell phone made it's way around the web that was beyond amazing. It utilized a well known piece by J.S. Bach (who our Bluffsview Sixth graders have recently studied) called "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." Here is a version transcribed for string quartet:
And here is the unconventional version... just think about all that it took to pull this off!
Where have you heard classical music in your everyday life? How do you think Bach would feel about his music being used in this way?
THANK YOU to the Williams family for donating three sets of Boomwhackers to the Bluffsview Music room! We promise to put them to good use!
Boomwhackers are plastic tubes that are pitched to the C Major diatonic scale. They are helpful in learning to read music notation on the treble clef staff, and they are just plain FUN to play around with. Tap them on your hands, your feet, your legs, the floor, with another boomwhacker - you name it! (Just not your face or anyone else's body!!)
By now, I'm sure you've seen or at least heard about the amazing things that The Ohio State Marching Band has been doing this season. Every week they put together a complicated halftime show that is full of brand new music, new marching drills, and fresh and exciting new movements. I have had the pleasure of seeing several halftime shows live in The 'Shoe, but last week's show was simply beyond words. If you haven't seen it yet, here is one version I found on YouTube:
Have you also heard how the band has saved thousands of dollars in printing costs by "going digital" and putting all their drills on iPads instead of paper? Click here to read an article about how this green initiatve came about. Hats off to these outstanding musicians, and to their directors. Just think, sixth graders, who knows, one day YOU might be a member of this amazing marching band!
