2nd Grade

Music Listening:

The 2nd graders will be learning about the life of music composer, Ludwig van Beethoven. We will discuss how he was a very gifted child musician and travelled all over Europe. He studied with the famous Joseph Haydn, who was also a mentor to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Beethoven lost his hearing at a young age, but he overcame this adversity to become one of the greatest composers of all time. As we're listening to the beautiful music of Beethoven, students are applying their knowledge of form (for example, Moonlight Sonata is in ABA form). Students will complete listening glyphs to identify the dynamics and instruments that they hear as well as learn to follow listening maps to identify the form of the pieces. 

Symphony No. 9: Ode to Joy

Moonlight Sonata

Fur Elise

Symphony No. 5

Music Theory:

This quarter, the 2nd graders will focus on identifying line notes vs. space notes and identifying them with the correct note name. Similar to math facts, this takes time and practice. Words and phrases like: "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" for the line notes and "FACE" for the space notes are tried and true tricks to help kids remember the names of the notes on the treble staff. 

In the second half of the quarter, the 2nd graders will begin identifying the names of the notes in the bass clef. Bass clef notes are NOT the same as treble clef. Musically speaking, treble clef notes are for instruments/voices that are high and bass clef notes are for instruments/voices that are low. The phrase to help students remember the order of the bass clef lines is "Great Burritos Don't Fall Apart" and the bass clef lines is "All Cows Eat Grass". 

Sight-Reading:

Students have learned that a pentatonic scale is a five-note scale (Do, Re, Mi, Sol, and La). Students use instruments to play pitches in a variety of pentatonic patterns to master concepts of Do-Re-Mi. Students also have worked on playing ostinato patterns (repeating melodic/rhythmic patterns) together as an ensemble while singing. 

Concert Prep:

Our spring concert will be held on Wednesday, May 15 in the CPA gym. More details TBD.