I Believe Audition Track

Our song for our final Celebration of Learning assembly on June 26 is called "I Believe" that was written for the Vancouver Winter Olympics of 2010.  The opening has some solo parts and a few Grade 5s are going to try out for the parts.  Good luck!

An excellent audition includes a singer who shows: a. confidence b. stage presence c. voice projection d. in tune singing e. singing in time (beat/rhythm) f. knows words

Stevenson's Got Talent

The Grade 2/3 students have been showcasing some of their artistic talents including "I Gotta Feeling" played by a Grade 3 student on the guitar.  Some of our talents have included magic tricks, beat-boxing, dancing, poetry recitations, singing, and recorder songs.  Way to go, Stevenson.  We've got talent!

Celebration of the Arts 2014

Come and join us at Stevenson-Britannia on Wednesday, May 21 (5:00-6:30) for our 7th annual Celebration of the Arts.  Our students are preparing for a mini-music arts concert which starts at 5:30.  Families can come and enjoy our student art displays, purchase baking and hear our students perform a number of pieces, including our award winning choirs, Grade 4/5 Orff Club, the Winnipeg Jets Academy song/video written by Mr. Miller and Ms. Rempel, performed by our students, and Music Monday's "I.S.S. - Is Somebody Singing."  All students must be accompanied by an adult.  We hope to see you there.

Rockin' Recorders

The Grade 2s and 3s have been learning about reading music and learning to play recorders with proper technique.  Here is a short video/tutorial on the how to read music and play B-A-G on the recorder.  Stay tuned to the end to hear one of the classes play Hot Cross Buns.

Improv and Spring Songs

The Kinder and Grade 1 classes were creating beautiful music today.  We learned the song "It's Spring" and practiced adding the hops into the music at the end.  We then practiced our playing technique on the glockenspiels and added those hops in on notes we chose.  We call this improvising because we play different notes every time.  The Grade 1s then helped brainstorm things we knew about spring and we wrote some new lines for the song.  Here is what we came up with!

MB Legislature Concert

A huge congratulations to the Grade 4/5 choirs for their hard-work and dedication to singing.  They gave a fantastic show at the Manitoba Legislature Concert on April 23 for Music Month.  Here is a taste of their beautiful singing in this beautiful building!

WSO in New York Tonight!

Tonight, join the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on their musical journey to Carnegie Hall to perform in Spring for Music 2014. 

Click here to listen to the performance LIVE on the WQXR website on May 8 at 6:30 Winnipeg time.

Check out the video:  WSO Rehearsal with percussionist Evelyn Glennie

MUSICAL LINE-UP

Alexander Mickelthwate conducts three U.S. premieres in this concert: Derek Charke’s 13 Inuit Throat Song Games, a piece for throat singer Tanya Tagag and orchestra that was originally composed for Kronos Quartet. Mickelthwate calls it "the ultimate Canadian, Nordic experience," adding, "it sounds like sounds from 100,000 years ago. It's really ancient, prehistoric."

Composer-in-Residence Vincent Ho’s The Shaman: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra (2011) also draws on indigenous cultures of Manitoba and features the Scottish soloist Evelyn Glennie, who premiered it in Winnipeg in a recent season.

Kicking things off is the First Symphony of R. Murray Schafer, one of Canada's most prominent composers.

More about throat singing: Inuit throat singing is a tradition and like other age-old forms of Inuit entertainment such as drum dancing and a ja ja songs. Inuit throat singing has its roots in a vocal game used to amuse children and women while men were out hunting; it is an practiced almost exclusively by women. Two singers stand close facing each other and engage in a friendly competition as one singer takes the lead and the other follows. During the vocal exchange, the voiced sounds and breath of each singer combine to form rhythmic melodies that imitate sounds from nature such as a mosquito or a river. The result is mesmerizing, as the singers playfully compete to see who will stop or laugh first.

More about Carnegie Hall in New York City:

House Groups

Do you know what house groups are?  House groups at Stevenson are a period that kids from all grades come together.   House groups are a time when we play games and interact with kids from other grades.  In house groups, you do different things each time we meet.  A few examples of activities include Play Doh, iPads, Uno, drawings, board games, Lego, etc.  By Amy & Haley

Ms. Rempel's house group likes to explore the instruments since we often meet in the music room.  This is what they came up with today...

Filling the Skies with Music!

Here's our school video of the Music Monday 2014 song, I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing).

Auditions

A number music related auditions will be taking place at the Division level in the month of May.

DIVISIONAL CHOIRS (Grade 4 and 5 students ONLY)  The SJSD Children's and Junior Choir provide students in grade five and middle school the opportunity to develop their choral skills and get to know other students across the school division.  The Children's Choir, under Kathyrn Harochaw's direction, rehearses weekly at Voyageur School and attends a 3 day choir camp in the fall.  The Junior choir, under the direction of Gabriela Gallo, rehearses weekly at Bannatyne School.  Both choirs have several musical engagements throughout the year and require strong parental support.  Students are invited to sign up and try out for auditions.  Gr. 4 auditions will take place from May 20-28 at Voyageur and Gr. 5 auditions from May 26 - June 6 at Bannatyne.  Parents, please call these schools to set up an audition time and remember to fill out the audition form.  More information will be sent home with interested students.   The following is an excellent audition song called "She's Like the Swallow."

DIVISIONAL MUSICAL (Grade 3 students ONLY + returning drama students)
A small handful of students have been chosen to audition for the upcoming 2015 musical, Disney's Peter Pan.  This is a select group of exceptional students that display outstanding musicality, drama and personal skills.  Notes and study sheets have been sent home.  The first round of auditions have happened.  Great work to all those who auditioned.  All the best to the students going to the second audition.  Reminder to those parents to take the audition form to Westwood and set-up an audition time the week of May 12.  Students will rehearse 1 character part, a selected song, a poem and marching/box step.

MUSIC MONDAY 2014

Great job this morning on our Music Monday performance outside!