Negus Notes

Happy New Year!!!!

As you can see by the lack of postings, December is a very busy month for musicians!!  It is great to be “back in the swing” with my students at Quest!!

Eighth grade instrumental music classes are having great fun with Boomwhackers – the long plastic tubes that make different pitches.  The objective is to read the music I have written from the Smart Board. The theme from “The Muppet Movie” is actually recognizable!! The students have each notated the group Boomwhacker composition by hand.  The full music class (all eighth graders) is finding information about the opera houses around the world in terms of date built, style of architecture, first performance, seating capacity as well as three interesting facts.  Do you know which opera house was the basis for the story behind “Phantom of the Opera?” We will compare our opera house findings with our own Lyric Opera House here in Chicago in preparation for our trip downtown on March 10. The class has also received the music for musical auditions.  Auditions will be held on January 26 during classtime and flex.

Seventh grade instrumental music is making some beautiful sounds with our tone chimes.  Again, the point is reading the music. Each student has a chime and has to follow their part in order to play at the correct time.  The chimes are fun to play and the kids are diligent about counting and getting their notes in the correct place.  The general music class is exploring music in the Elizabethan Era.  In conjunction with their Shakespeare studies in LASS, the students are finding that music was very important in this period of time due to Queen Elizabeth I and her love of the arts. Seventh graders are creating their own assessment sheets entitled “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Elizabethan Era and Music.” They will be completing these assessments next week.

Sixth grade guitar students will be testing on one exercise per week so you should be hearing new material. As with the upper two grades, note reading is the objective. The students are also choosing a piece that they would like to play and practicing.  Playing tests for those pieces are held when the student is ready to play it.  The general music class has embarked on a project involving the Grammys.  Students were asked to discover the reason for Grammys and then write a formal letter to nominate an artist or group as if they are a part of the Foundation.  In addition to researching information about the Grammys and their particular choice for a nominee, the students are working on the mechanics of writing a formal letter. This is a joint lesson with LASS. The students are reading their letters in class and we are discovering together some very interesting viewpoints!

Fifth grade students are working diligently to prepare the “Lewis and Clark” musical.  Although this presentation is an INFORMANCE, it will still have many elements of a completely prepared performance.  Please be sure that you have signed up to attend this program!!!  Both choir class and general music class times are taken up with this activity until the Informance is over. The instrumental class is writing music for their ocarinas.  We are reviewing the mechanics of music – note names, note values, rhythmic structure, etc. They will soon be playing two part music.

MS Choir

It is important that the kids are coming to rehearsals!!  We are preparing for contest on March 12 at 8:00AM in Niles. Also, we have begun work on the spring concert, “Traveling Along With a Song.”  Plans are being made for Choir Tour 2017!  Look for announcements in the next 6 weeks!!

Our eighth graders are studying the music of Handel in preparation for the traditional singing of the Hallelujah Chorus at the winter party.  They are also studying the differences and similarities in oratorio, opera, and musical theater. Again, this is in preparation for visiting the opera house in Chicago on March 10 and presenting our eighth grade music, “The Little Mermaid” next spring.

Seventh graders are continuing their exploration of form by listening to tone poems and analyzing them. They are finding that these extended works are very much like movie soundtracks. The students will be writing their own stories to this music.

Sixth grade is creating a biography about Mozart in groups by stating single facts and compiling them in chronological order.  They have watched a mini-version of Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” and have tried to sing the Queen of the Night’s famous aria with their very high voices!

The fifth graders are VERY busy preparing for the winter concert on Dec. 16 at 6:30.  They will be singing three winter songs and some students will be playing ocarinas. The students are also working on the production of “Lewis and Clark.” The performance date for that music/drama production will be after the winter holiday.

Middle School Choirs are in full swing for this year’s Mad Fest! Don’t miss the production on Friday, Dec. 11, 2015.

I have been working diligently with five different people to understand how to put videos on this blog.  Trust me, I have some great videos of all the things the kids have been doing.  I have two videos of eighth graders performing their 12 tone compositions.  Each seventh grade class  presented wonderful glockenspiel concertos that I captured on film.  The sixth grade sang a rousing rendition of Mozart’s 40th symphony  – which doesn’t really have lyrics.  So sorry you can’t see them.  They are truly spectacular. I am filming the 5th graders playing their ocarinas this week.  Perhaps by the end of this week I will actually get some video on this site!!!!! Apologies – doing the best I can! JN

Have you heard how high Nicholas Zehner can sing?  We were all amazed as he peeped up to the rafters an octave above everyone else in 8A.  In our unit on the voice as an instrument, the eighth graders are determining their vocal range. They also got to see real vocal cords in action on a video.  Yucky and cool all at the same time. The eighth graders are writing tone rows ala Schoenberg.  Listening to Schoenberg’s music sparked another great discussion about what consitutes music.  Some did not feel that the sounds of Schoenberg’s sprechstimme was music – wierd stuff to most of our ears!

The seventh graders have exhibited great talent and interest in playing the twelve bar blues.  Some great improv is happening here! They are now improvising on a pentatonic scale. Seventh grade music history classes are still studying form in music.  This week we prepared our “orchestra” for a concerto.  More about that next week!

Sixth grade students are progressing well on the guitars.  It is obvious to see who is practicing at home.  Parents, please remind your children to practice!!!!!  Getting behind is going to be problematic when the end of the trimester rolls around!! The sixth grade continues to study the life and music of Mozart.  This week, we portrayed the rich and elite in Vienna during the Classical period and danced the Minuet to a Mozart minuet.

Fifth grade students are VERY busy in music class. The ocarinas sound  better every week. We will have many choices when it comes time to decide what will be performed

for the winter concert! The musical elements raps came out SO WELL that we have to share them. Fifth grade choir is also working hard to get ready for the winter concert on Dec. 16th. We have wonderful singing voices in our fifth grade!!

Since I began writing a blog, I have learned a thing or two.  First, although forced to do this, it is not such a bad thing.  Secondly, many people seem to write whatever their little hearts desire and do not follow a format. Third, blogs are read by some for which they are written and others, well…….just don’t have the time to find it.

So, with that in mind, I begin. I am having a great time doing what I love- teaching middle school children and using music to do it. (Middle school in my life encompasses grades 5-8.) Being able to laugh with a fifth grader and cry with a seventh grader enriches my life.  Sharing my passion for adventure and for music is a great blessing.

I watch my little granddaughter dance on Face Time and I am amazed.  She is only 9 months old and yet, there she is, standing right up and bouncing those knees. She is delighted to hear the music and respond to it. I see the same thing in my sixth grade classes. Every week we begin class by dancing. Basically, I want to see if they are improving their steady beat keeping. But everyone loves just getting out there and cutting a rug, so to speak. The music is usually “oldies” since I choose and never seem to be able to find the “clean version” of today’s popular music.  But the kids love it just the same and sometimes even sing along.

I watch with the same amazement when the seventh graders are diligently working at playing the twelve bar blues on the keyboard – different kind of fun but the same kind of joy when he/she “gets it.” I also love hearing the choir kids out in the hallway, singing out a song that we have just gotten under our belts; the “struggle is good” concept so recently conquered. Even those blasted ocarinas in the fifth grade have some melodious merit – as long as we play below G!!  But the kids are so proud when “Little Tommy Tinker” sounds like a real song. When they realize it is a round, it is as if they have discovered the cure to cancer.

And my eighth graders……, who sleep through much, have moments when music -and even something I say – touches them.  I see it in their eyes.  Sometimes I have to watch and wait, but it is there. Even if I have not touched them in some musical or educational way, they touch my heart – saying “thank you Mrs. Negus” as they leave the room, having straightened the chairs without being asked. Wonderful kids………so glad I have a little tiny part of their lives in my hands right now.  They will soon be gone just like all of the eighth graders before them.

So, are you still reading? I have my doubts that many will.  But there is something very freeing about just writing as my thoughts pass by. So here it is.  On Friday, I will go back to my newsletter format and inform the masses of the QA middle school music curriculum in proper paragraphs. Right now, I am going to get another cup of tea, listen to the Brahms Requiem, enjoy the beautiful day, and think about “my kids.” Life is good.

Sixth Grade

YAY!!  The guitars have gone home for the first time! Parents please make certain your child is practicing.  With only one instrumental class period per week, it will be important to work at home.  The guitar must come back to school on Monday morning and will be taken home for the remainder of the week.

General music students completed their final copy of the card composition.  More about that at conferences next week!

Seventh Grade

The seventh grade instrument class is working on improvisation on the blues scale against the I, !V, V chords in the twelve bar blues pattern.  Some people are working in partners while others are going it alone.  It is exciting to hear the improv!

In our general music unit on musical form, the students are participating in the theme and variation projects.  This week, they had fun displaying  and explaing the 3D objects that represent their chosen music.

Eighth grade

We finished filming the counterpoint compositions which you will see at conferences. There are some excellent compositions in both structure and sound!

The general classes are beginning a unit on Leonard Bernstein and the structure of the mass – both his major work called Mass in comparison wih the musical structure of the traditional mass. Bernstein was a teacher (Harvard), a composer (West Side Story), a conductor (New York Philharmonic) and an accomplished pianist. Within this unit, the students will continue to identify the compositional elements of monophony, homphony, and polyphony.

It’s great to have a full week of school!! 🙂 Music abounds at Quest Academy!!!!

Eighth graders in instrumental class are working on their counterpoint compositions.  They will hopefully be videoed and ready for your ears and eyes during conferences. The general class is in the midst of writing an essay, using proper music terminology learned in class to describe a piece of music of their choice. I have already heard from one student who reports enjoyment in delving deep into a favorite piece of music. I hope that they are all enjoying this assignment.

The seventh grade instrumental classes are enjoying an exploration of the keyboards. All students are playing Bach’s “Little Fugue in g minor.” Dependent upon experience, some student are playing the first statement of the theme while others have been given and are mastering the entire fugue.  Written for organ, not all of it is accessible on our keyboards but the students are getting the main idea.  In general music class, we are complimenting the Bach study by studying form, particularly the round, the rondo, the fugue and now, theme and variations.  The students will begin presenting their theme and variations projects next week.  All of the information about this project is on Haiku.

The insturmental class in sixth grade is in full swing with the guitars.  We have begun our testing and the guitars will come home next week as the pieces become more difficult and practice is required.  As we progress, more advanced students will be asked to play additional and/or more difficult pieces. The general class is completing the composition started in groups and ending with individual input.  These written compositions will be available for you to see at conferences.

It was great to connect with parents last night!  Please email me with any questions at jacque.negus@questacademy.org.

Due to Labor Day, the sixth graders were unable to play guitars but we will be back to normal next week! The general music classes in sixth grade worked diligently on their compositions by working out melodies on the xylophones and writing out their compositions long hand.

Seventh graders are very excited about playing Bach’s “Little Fugue in g minor” on the keyboards. They have found the pipe organ patch on the keyboard and enjoy hearing themselves play like Bach! The seventh grade general music class is embarking on a new project with theme and variations.  Since seventh grade music is all about form, we explored the fugue, played a rondo and discovered the form for theme and variations.  Ask your child what these are!!

The eighth graders had MAP testing this week during music but some of the kids were able to work on momophony, homophony and polyphony charts.  Ask your student what these words mean in music!

Have a happy, musical week-end!!