Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Jazz rose out of the African-American culture. In the late 1800s and early 1900s many people were prejudiced against African-Americans, so they were limited in where they could live or what kind of jobs they could do. As a result, many were poor and struggled to pay their bills. They often had to find creative

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

America’s greatest contribution to the world of music is jazz. Jazz developed out of a combination of African music with European classical music. It has its roots in spirituals, ragtime, and blues. African-American musicians in New Orleans brought these together in a style called dixieland. From dixieland, musicians added other influences to create new styles

Monday, April 20, 2020

April is Jazz Appreciation Month. Jazz is America’s great contribution to the world of music. With its roots in the experience of African-Americans in the United States, jazz has expanded to all races and classes of people and become popular all over the world. There are many different styles of jazz. We’ll study the history

Friday, April 17, 2020

We’ve looked at how other people have used their imagination in making music. Today we’re going to use our own imaginations. We’re going to get up, move around, and play a lot of instruments. Of course, we don’t all have a bunch of instruments sitting around our house. I do have quite a few but

Thursday, April 16, 2020

In order to play most musical instruments you have to hold them, touch them, or strike them. But there is one unusual instrument that you play by not touching it. The theremin is an instrument that has an antenna attached to an electronics box. Sounds are made by the electronics in the box, but the

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Stories allow us to imagine things that can’t really happen in the real world. Your favorite story might be about dragons, or flying through the air, or meeting a famous person from the past. With our imagination almost anything can happen in a story. In the video below, the storyteller imagines some animals that want

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

If you missed it, make sure to check out the April 13th bonus lesson. Even though it was the last official day of spring break, I posted an introductory lesson to this week’s unit on music and imagination. When you use your imagination in music, it may mean trying to find a way to use

Monday, April 13, 2020

Imagination is important in music. Music started when someone tried to take the sounds that different things made and arrange them to make rhythms or melodies. People used their imagination to try having more than one person making music at the same time. Someone used their imagination to find a way to write down musical

Spring Surprise- April 10, 2020

Spring Surprise #5: Spring is Here! Get up and move with the Learning Station. I will begin regular music lesson posts again on Monday, April 13th. (Yes, we’re still on Spring Break Monday, but I already have it scheduled.) I hope you enjoyed the Spring Surprises! Come back on Monday for our next unit.

Spring Surprise- April 9, 2020

Spring Surprise #4: April in Paris- Here’s a spring jazz tune by the band of New Jersey native Count Basie. The theater in Red Bank, NJ is named after him.