Monday 10 December 2012

Preparing for a Concert

Holidays are comin' and the time is right...
to celebrate the season, make spirits bright...



 Stevenson-Britannia presents... 

Jingle Bell Jukebox
Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
1:30 & 7:00

Our winter concert is days away and we are busy getting ready.  Hours of rehearsals have taken place. For the evening concert, students need to be at the school for 6:30 to get into costume and lined-up.

Notes have gone home with students about costumes.  Please have them labeled and to the school by Friday, Dec. 14.


Come out and support your children and our school!

Ready to jingle the night away...

NOTE: A silver collection will be taken at the door and non-perishable food items to Winnipeg Harvest.  Please see the following site for ideas: 10 Most Wanted Food Items

Monday 3 December 2012

Rockin' the Pantages!

Photo by Michael Roberts

Congratulations on the amazing concert performance from our Grade 2-5 choir tonight at the Pantages Playhouse Theatre!  100 students from our school came on a frosty slippery evening to jingle around the jukebox.   Thank-you to Sarah, Michaela, Kashton, and Mrs. Hahn-Tomchuk for supporting the choir and sharing your talents.  Hats off to the parent volunteers and teachers who came and helped me in endless managing tasks.  Well done Stevenson!  You should be super proud for representing our school well.  And thank-you to the parents for your support.  We hope you enjoyed the evening!

Thursday 22 November 2012

Candlelight Concert

Our students are busy preparing for our upcoming Grade 2-5 choir performance at the Pantages Theatre on Monday, December 3rd.  Parents, please see below for details.

WHAT: St. James-Assiniboia School Division Candle Concert
WHERE: Pantages Playhouse Theatre (180 Market Ave. East - Google Map)
WHEN:  Students arrive at 6:30 pm, show starts at 7:00 pm
WHY:  This is a wonderful opportunity for our choristers to perform in a beautiful venue and on a prestigious stage. This is a secular event that celebrates the winter season. Our repertoire will reflect this theme.

PARTICULARS:

Please ensure that your child wears black pants and a short sleeved t-shirt.  Also please bring some type of footwear, other than winter boots. This is a public performance and the choristers need to look professional.

- Family and friends are welcome to attend this event. Due to union regulations, the theatre does not open its doors to the public until 6:30 pm. Therefore, to avoid waiting out in the cold, plan to arrive with your child between 6:15 and 6:30 pm. and myself or a security person will let your child in. The theatre holds 1200 so don't worry about finding a seat.  Stevenson students will sit upstairs in the balcony, so you do not have to save seats for your child on the main floor. They will be well supervised in the balcony.

- Admission is free, however, there will be a silver collection for local charities during the performance.  As well, there will be a silent auction in the lobby courtesy of our divisional choirs.

- There are numerous outdoor parking lots in the area that require loonies. In addition, the Concert Hall has underground parking.

- After the concert, the Stevenson Choir students will be escorted from the balcony to meet up with parents on the main level.

Monday 12 November 2012

Friday 2 November 2012

Ghostly Rhythms!

 The Grade 2/3 students are practicing their music writing skills by composing an 8 beat rhythm section.  

Here are some of our 'ghostly' creations!

Room 12

Room 12
Room 12


Room 18
Room 18
Room 18

Room 11
Room 11
Room 11



Wednesday 31 October 2012

"In the Hall of the Mountain King"


 How did he DO that?

Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian composer, knew how to tell a story through music. Think about how he wrote his music. Close your eyes and listen to “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” How did he make it sound as if something was chasing someone?  What did he do to the speed of the music? Think about the instruments he chose to create his scene. What were they? If you were the composer, would you do this differently? 


 In the Hall of the Mountain King
from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1





Friday 26 October 2012

Drumming Club

Today was our second meeting for the Grade 3 drumming club.  We like playing drumming games.  The song we learned was called "Monkey Monkey Moo." We added the bass drum, a ratchet, vibraslap and cymbals.

Grade 3 Drummers!!

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Grade 1 Reads Rhythms!


This is our smartboard activity we worked together on today.  
Can you remember where the ta, ti-ti and sh go?

Grade 1 is learning to read, play and write quarter notes, quarter rests and eighth notes.  Today we practiced singing and moving to "Big Black Cats."  We identified the ta's and sh's and used our bodies to create those patterns.  Next, we discovered that there were two notes on a beat in the "running, running through the...."  We created this pattern using ti's.


Fall music in Kinder



Kinder Room 7 skeletons 
Our Kindergarten students are full of energy.  We do a variety of activities with many opportunities for spontaneous play and skill building.  This month we are focusing on a fall theme.

Today we acted out a favourite song, "We Are Scary Skeletons."  Students are moving to the suggested part in the song (walk, hop, run, jog, skip, jump).  At the end we sing, "We'll scare you.  BOO!"  We are learning to sing and move

Kinder Room 8 skeletons
Through poems and play, we are learning how to keep a steady beat.  Here our pumpkins are jumping on the heart as we sing the pumpkin poem.


Peter Peter, pumpkin eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her
Put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well

Can you sing your name for me?
My name is ________.

Saturday 13 October 2012

Lest We Forget



Students are preparing for our Remembrance Day assembly on November 9.  In music, we are having discussions about the history of Canada's place in keeping peace and lives given that we would have our freedom.  We are also looking at the history of the music and lyrics.

History of Flanders Fields

Significance of 'God Save the Queen'

The Royal Canadian Legion - Last Post

Facts about Remembrance Day

13 songs that will ring on Remembrance Day



Danny Boy by Nana Mouskouri


Danny Boy wikipedia

Standing Strong and True (For Tomorrow) is an all-star Canadian country single dedicated to fallen Canadian soldiers and their families.




Friday 12 October 2012

We are the Music Makers!

Listen.  Think.  Create!  We are the music makers!



In 2003, Manitoba Education developed a new music curriculum and a butterfly was chosen to represent the new framework.  The Stevenson-Britannia music program provides rich and diverse learning opportunities for all students in Kindergarten to Grade 5.  As set out by the  Manitoba Music Curriculum Framework, we believe that “every student’s growth as a musician and a music-literate person can be realized through ongoing learning experiences that connect creative music activities, technical knowledge and skill development, the building and broadening of cultural and historical understandings related to art and life, and ongoing reflective and critical thinking opportunities that focus on music and personal learning.”  At the centre of our program, we support, nurture and inspire the growth of every student as a music maker. 

Bach to School!

This year the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra string ensemble visited us with their 'Bach' to School program.  We enjoyed hearing pieces from the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras. (Music Era Game)  The students particularly enjoyed hearing popular pieces such as Call Me Maybe, Super Mario and Harry Potter's theme song.

The WSO String Ensemble
Ms. Rempel and the double bass!

Symphony Season 2012-2013

Music at Stevenson


This year our school, Stevenson-Britannia, is forging new technology adventures.  As a teacher for 12 years, I have loved using technology in my classroom.  I have been fortunate to have a Smartboard in my music room for 2 years now.  I am continually pushing myself to discover new applications to enhance learning and engage my students.  This year, I want to find ways to share our learning with students, families, colleagues and the community.

Several teachers in our school have ventured to create blogs and to share projects and activities in our school.  I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the student connections and felt it was time for me to step into the land of blogging to celebrate the learning happening in our music room.