Speaking Hands

Our Kinders are learning a new song called "ABC Ya Later."  We are learning about using our hands to talk which is called sign language.  We are excited to practice our alphabet and share with you our song at the February I Love to Read Assembly.

Cultural Dancing

Understanding music in context is very important at Stevenson and a focus of the Manitoba Music Curriculum. Students connect music to contexts of time, place, and community, and develop understanding of how music reflects and influences culture and identity.

In this season, there are many holidays celebrated by the various families in our community. We can seek to understand and appreciate the beautiful gifts that they give through music, song, and dance, by experiencing them and participating in activities in the music room.

One of those traditions celebrated by some of our families at our school is Hanukkah (the Jewish word for 'dedication'). It is called the Jewish Festival of Lights and it remembers the rededication of the second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This happened in the 160s BC (before Jesus was born).

As the Grade 1s are learning about this festival and Jewish culture, they were learning a modified dance from this community.  We discovered that the song had a pattern.  Can you guess it?

Folk Dance - Niguno Shel Yossi

Showtime!

We just finished our first show of the season and we have one more on Thursday, December 1 in the evening.  Congratulations on all the hard work of students and staff.  It takes a whole village to do this and we are so grateful for all the support as we perform for you.

REMINDER:

Thursday, December 1
Grade K-3 ARRIVE FOR 5:30.  Go to classroom to get on costume.  SHOWTIME 6:00-6:45
Grade 4-5  ARRIVE FOR 7:00.  Go to classroom to get on costume.  SHOWTIME 7:30-8:00

We are collecting for Winnipeg Harvest so any canned food donations would be appreciated.  Thanks for your support!

Costumes

Notes have gone home about costumes.  Please see your homeroom teacher for the specifics of your child's costumes. 

ON THURSDAY EVENING - Grade K-3 arrive for 5:30 (SHOW 6:00-6:45)

Grade 4-5 arrive for 7:00 (SHOW 7:30-8:00)

Winter Concert

Lest We Forget

Great job to the Grade 4/5 Orff Club today on presenting at our Remembrance Day assembly.

The Grade 1 classes made a special video about what peace means to them.

The Grade 2/3 choir also sang for our assembly.  We sang "Danny Boy."

Great job to the Grade 4/5 choir for helping lead "Danny Boy" mass choir style.

MusiCounts at Stevenson

This year we are LOVING our new instruments!  It's been alot of fun trying them out.  Thank-you to MusiCounts and all the sponsors of this Caras music grant that have allowed us to purchase many new instruments for our school.  Here is alittle video that was made of some of our music journey at Stevenson-Britannia.

Thank-you Ms. Couch and Ms. Amaral for your words in the recent SJASD Contact Newspaper.

Congratulations

Congratulations to all our students for your fantastic auditions!  We auditioned 73 students from Grades 2-5.  We are doing 2 shows this year.  Grade 1-3 will perform "Melton The Warm-Hearted Snowman" and the Grade 4-5 students are preparing a hilarious show called "Elflandia."  The concert will take place on Thursday, December 1 with the Kindergarten and Grade 1-3 performance at 6:30 and the Grade 4-5 performance at 7:30.  More information will be sent home as we get closer to the dates.  Please mark them on your calendar!  Kindergartens will be doing their own separate songs.

Now comes the big task of memorizing and learning songs and dances.  Rehearsal schedules will be sent out as soon as we have them.  Thank-you in advance for your support in helping your child learn parts and prepare for these fantastic shows!

See the "Melton Gr. 1-3" tabs above for music

 See the "Elflandia Gr. 4-5" tabs above for music

RAPPING THE RULES

Reach for the Stars

Welcome Back 2016-2017

Welcome to the Stevenson-Britannia Elementary Music Blog.  My name is Ms. Rempel and I am so excited for our new 2016-2017 school year.  This is my 9th year at Stevenson and we have many new exciting things happening in our music room and throughout our school.  This blog will give you a little window into who I am as the facilitator of learning and the many things we do in and around the music room.  Our classroom is a community place where we meet to connect, create, respond, and of course, make music!

Please feel free to drop into the music room at anytime and keep connected via instagram and twitter.

@musicroomsb

And leave us some comments on our blog.  We like to hear from our readers.

On the ferry to Bowen Island, BC

Looking forward to our time as we paddle the waters together.

Closing Time

Thank-you Stevenson for a great year of learning and growing.  We went out with a bang today at our final Celebration of Learning.  Thank-you to all my Grade 5s for your dedication, love of learning, perseverance, and zest.  We accomplished many things in our music careers together and I only pray that you will all step into new horizons with appreciation and love for the arts.  Happy summer!

See You Again

It's that time of the year to start working on a year end song for our final Year End Celebration Assembly on June 29.  This year, by popular request, we are going to sing the song "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa.

(Performance Soundtrack)

"See You Again"

[Chorus] – all singIt's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again

0:38 [Solos]
SOLO 1: Hey, who knew?
All the planes we flew
Good things we've been through
That I'll be standing right here talking to you
'Bout another path
I know we loved to hit the road and laugh
SOLO 2: But something told me that it wouldn't last
Had to switch up
Look at things different, see the bigger picture
Those were the days
Hard work forever pays
Now I see you in a better place

1:02 [Solo]
SOLO 3: How can we not talk about family when family's all that we got?
Everything I went through you were standing there by my side
And now you gon' be with me for the last ride

1:15 [Chorus] – all sing
It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again

1:41 - [All sing]
Aah oh, aah oh
Wooooh-oo-oo-o-o-o
1:53 [Solo] 
SOLO 4: First you both go out your way
And the vibe is feeling strong
And what's small turn to a friendship
A friendship turn to a bond
And that bond will never be broken
The love will never get lost

2:05 [Solo]
SOLO 5: And when brotherhood come first
Then the line will never be crossed
Established it on our own
When that line had to be drawn
And that line is what we reach
So remember me when I'm gone

2:20 [Solo]SOLO 6: How can we not talk about family when family's all that we got?
Everything I went through you were standing there by my side
And now you gon' be with me for the last ride

2:30 [Solo]
SOLO 7: So let the light guide your way
Hold every memory as you go
And every road you take, will always lead you home, home

2:55 [Chorus] – all sing
It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again

3:20 [All sing]Aah oh Aah oh
Wooooh-o-o-o-when I see you again
Aah oh Aah oh
Wooooh-o-o-o-when I see you again
When I see you again

Singing with words

Karaoke Version

Video with pictures

Audition criteria includes:
1. memorized
2. keeps in the beat/timing of the song
3. clear words (volume and diction)
4. stage presence (confident, looking at audience)

Year End Performances

Outdoor Music Challenge

The fields are alive... with the sound of music!

I have been planning these last couple of weeks of music for atleast a year now.   When I first read @prairiemusik's blog on outdoor music learning, I started to see more possibilities and benefits of getting outside the 4 walls of the music room.  Our professional discussions on staff included the benefits of play and connecting with the outdoors.  We were all inspired by our next door neighbours, Discovery Children's Centre and the 2 week outdoor challenge taken on by many in our school, our division, city, and province .

I grew up on a farm and played outdoors alot.  Now that I am living in a city of concrete, it's hard to find time and space to connect with the beauty around us.  I wanted to give the Stevenson students a little taste of inspiration in their playing, singing, and dancing and above all, give them some platforms to create and use their imaginations to make music.

Here is a short video that captured some of the precious discoveries and activities going on throughout the past 2 weeks.

Flashback Firestation

I was just reading Mrs. Grant's classroom blog about their trip to the fire station this week and their pictures reminded me of my time teaching in South Korea.  Here was my Kindergarten's field trip to a fire station.

Outdoor Challenge

Recorder time!

For the past 2 weeks, various classes have been having music outside.  Next week we are going to be doing some music exploration stations.  It's been a lot of fun!

Practicing together

Duet time!

Really focused on practicing.  Great job!

Singing songs with the guitar and making up rhymes 

Creating a dance to an original song.  We will be sharing it on June 22.

Exploring materials for their sounds

Creating drum jams with our friends

Learning some skipping rhymes and showing off our moves

Hanging out in the audience. Watching the action as we keep cool.

Down By the Bay...

One of my favorite children's muscians is Raffi!  Raffi is an Egyptian-born Canadian singer-songwriter and author best known for his children's music.

One of the fun songs we like singing at Stevenson is "Down by the Bay."  It's fun to rhyme!  Can you finish these lines?  Can you make your own silly rhyme?

Have you ever seen a snake, baking a _________?
Have you ever seen a bear, eating a _________?
Have you ever seen a whale, swimming in a ________?
Have you ever seen a bee, living in a ________?
Have you ever seen a dog, sitting on a ________?

Children /Jr. Choir Auditions

More audition opportunities for Grade 4 and 5 students.  Notes went home to interested students.  There is still time, so contact Ms. Rempel ASAP if you have questions about this.

Inviting Grade 4 students to try out for St. James-Assiniboia Divisional Children's Choir for the 2016-2016 season.  AND Inviting Grade 5 students to try out for the St. James-Assiniboia Divisional Jr. Concert Choir.

SJASD CHILDREN'S & JR. CONCERT CHOIRS:
SJASD Children's Choir (Grade 5) this year is under the direction of Heather Neufeld at Heritage School and SJASD Jr. Concert Choir (Grades 6-8) will be lead by Gabriela Gallo at Bannatyne School.  These choirs are enrichment groups that perform at a high level.  Membership gives students the opportunity to develop excellent choral singing skills and to meet with other talented musicians from throughout the school division.   Singers in this group enjoy rehearsing and performing a wide variety of beautiful music.  In addition to having fun singing together, this choir works very hard.  For this reason, the choir is considered an "elite" performing group, meeting the special musical needs of highly motivated, self-disciplined singers.

Practices: Children's Choir meets weekly on Wednesdays from 4:15-5:45 beginning September, 2016 and ending mid-May, 2017 at Heritage School.  The 'choir kick-off' camp is held at Camp Arnes from Sept. 28- Sept. 30.  Jr. Concert Choir meets at Bannatyne from 4:30-6:00 on a weekly basis also starting in September, 2016 and ending mid-May, 2017.  A three-day choir camp is planned for September 25-28 at Camp Arnes.  This camp allows the choristers to learn much of the repertoire for the year and gives them a chance to get to know one another and bond as a choir.

Expectations:
- full year commitment to all rehearsals and concerts (Sept - May)
- singing ability (in pitch, energy, memory, facial expression and vocal quality)
- excellent behaviour
- 3 day choir camp - must attend

Auditions:
Children's Choir Auditions.
May 27 - June 2 @ Heritage School, 47 Heritage Blvd. in the music room
Sign up here for your date and time: https://www.sjsdchoirs.ca/children/

Jr. Choir Auditions.
May 25 - May 31 @ Westwood Collegiate, 360 Rouge Rd in the choral room
Sign up here for your date and time: https://www.sjsdchoirs.ca/junior

* please take the application form to the audition (see Ms. Rempel for one)

Audition Procedure:
The purpose of the audition is to ensure the potential chorister has a healthy voice, can sing on pitch and has the ability to sing in parts.  The auditions are held individually at the piano with each child. Parents may remain in the room if the child wishes.   Each audition is about 10 minutes.

The audition includes:
- vocal range warm-ups to determine how high or low you can sing
- prepared selection of O Canada, She's Like the Swallow (see below), or a song of choice, unaccompanied
- singing back a melody echo (you will hear a simple melody a few times and sing it back)
- a canon sung in round with teacher (eg. Row Row Your Boat)
- reading and clapping rhythms

O CANADA


SHE'S LIKE THE SWALLOW

Audition results will be sent to students' home addresses in June.  Each school will receive a complete list of choir members at the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year.  Good luck!

Celebration!

Congrats to all our students and staff on an excellent production of Annie Kids for our 2016 Celebration of the Arts.  Thank-you to all who came out to support us.

The Sun'll Come Out... Tomorrow!