Ms. Miller's Music Blog

  Hi Parents and Students,  With advanced technology, scientists are now able to study and measure effects that music has on the brain.  This short video, demonstrates the postitive benefits of learning to play an instrument and how that affects brain development.   Please enjoy! How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brai n

  Hello Tuscany Families,  What a joy a privilege to work with such talented and creative students!  Bravo to all the students who are working hard and doing a fantastic job in music.   Part of the music curriculum is to participate in singing a round.  I chose the tune of "Frere Jaques" and changed the words to match the season of winter.  In some classes we also played it on xylophones, with one group of students playing one phrase of the round. This is what makes my day!!  Such beautiful music I get to hear daily!   We also enjoy playing the Boomwhackers and I think partly because of the name.  There are winter songs we have been performing as a play-along and when we are practiced enough, we turn off the sound and just listen to ourselves playing the melody.   Here we are, very focused. 

 Hi Tuscany Families; Recently, the grades 3-5 students recorded the song, "Strawberry Moon" by Tara Williamson, who composed song in Ojibiway and in English.   Tuscany registered to compete in the Canadian Music Class Challenge and chose a song by a First Nations Artist because of our rich work surrounding the First Nations people.   Let's cheer on our students for a job well done!! Strawberry Moon recording Learning Intentions for "Strawberry Moon" by Tara Williamson 1. I can sing the melody. 2. I can understand that the melody makes a song recognizable. 3. I can understand the musical FORM of the song as A B A B A B A A 4. I can sing using good diction, enunciating the lyrics clearly. 5. I can sing using different dynamics. 6. I can experience singing in a group. 7. I can respond to the conductor's cues

 The grades 3/4/5 classes have been experiencing and learning about strong beats and weak beats.    We sang a song that had a pattern of strong/weak, strong/weak and placed an accent mark above all the strong beats.  We discovered that this song had beats grouped in 2's, meaning that there are two beats between the bar lines with a strong beat and a weak beat.  The students are learning to understand the vocabulary TIME SIGNATURE.  The time signature of the song we learned is 2/4.  The top number means how many beats are per bar and the bottom number means the type of note that gets the beat, in this case it is a quarter note.

Grade 3/4 students have played a game that practices  the note values, moving the number of spaces with corresponding note values and missing a turn if they roll a rest!  We have also been learning about ACCENTS, and that music is grouped in groups of 2, but could also be grouped in 3 or 4.  We have stepped the strong  beat so strongly that the vibrations activated the cymbal! That was a very interesting discover! We have practiced patting the strong beat and clapping the weak beat.  Our next step was to then show the accent mark on paper above the strong beats and discovered a pattern of strong/weak.  We discovered that the song we were singing is grouped in 2's, which means there are 2 beats/bar.   Grade 3-4's have also been focusing on FORM of music.  Understanding that music is arranged in sections and that each section is different.  We learned a song that has an AB section and we have now created our own forms using a 4 x 4 grid an...

Hi Tuscany Families; We are very excited this year to participate in the CBC Canadian Music Challenge .  There are 8 first place prizes to be won, along with a gold-plated record with our name on it.  The grades 3, 4, & 5 classes in both the French and English programs will participate and learn the song we have chosen.  The name of the singing groups collectively is, Tuscany Together Ensemble.   Tuscany School is a school that is rich in learning Indigenous ways of knowing and because of our work surrounding this, we have selected a Canadian Indigenous Artists song called,  "Strawberry Moon" .     Please scroll down until you find the song, "Strawberry Moon".  Tara Williamson has composed this beautiful song about the Strawberry Moon and is sung in Ojibwa with one verse in English.  Students can listen to the song using the hyperlink above.   Thank you for your help to learn this song and help Tuscany students to...

Hi Parents:   Please see the diagram below for an overview of what students in grade 4 will learn in music this year.  I look forward to a great year with awesome students!