Music SEK Qatar

Musical Migrants

Posted on 10 October, 2016 by

In Grade 5 we have been integrating with their current unit of inquiry “Migration”.

We have learned about “Musical Migrants”, these are people that migrated because of music, and we have connected this idea to the unit’s central idea, discussing how music represented risks, challenges and opportunities for them.

For the podcasts, visit the BBC’s website, where you can find the podcasts we listened to plus other episodes of the same series.

Here you can find the documents for Grade 5s to complete as homework.

pedro-carrillo-guided-listening jesse-lee-jones-guided-listening

Come back in a few weeks to see how the Grade 5s create their own podcasts after interviewing musical migrants during their visit to Qatar Music Academy Arab Music Department.

Famous Performers

Posted on 6 October, 2016 by

This term in grade 4 we are going to work on our instrumental skills. Soon we will receive our instruments and start to learn how to play them.

This week in class we were inspired by three famous performers:

Chinese pianist Lang Lang; French flutist Emmauel Pahud and American electric guitarist Joe Satriani.

We watched them perform and heard interviews in which they talked about the importance of practice and reflection to improve.

Here you can watch the videos again and then I would like you to find other famous performers that play instruments you like. Once you have found a performer you like, please write a comment to this post with a link to the video you watched and would like to share with the rest of your class.

I look forward to reading your comments and seeing the performers you have chosen.

Also, remember to add your research about Lang Lang, Pahud and Satriani to the document we used in class. Here is the document in case you lost it.

listening-guide-famous-performers

Welcome back!!!

Posted on 5 October, 2016 by

Hello everybody and welcome to SEK Qatar’s music blog.

Whether this is your first visit or you have been here before I am happy you decided to come and have a look.

In this blog you will find some of the resources we are using in class and ideas and suggestions for music you might enjoy. You can use the categories at the top to finds the relevant posts that apply to your class. Of course, you can visit other year groups to see what everybody is busy with. Please add your comments and ideas after reading the posts.

During these first couple of weeks students have been busy getting familiar with the music room and our procedures. We created our essential agreements and discussed how important it will be to show we are caring, principled and good communicators during our music classes.

Grades 3 to 6 worked on creating instructions using rhythm patterns that reflected their understanding of those essential agreements. In this gallery you can see what great work they did:

Grade 3 UOI: Music and Materials

Posted on 5 March, 2016 by

Grade 3s are currently working on their unit of inquiry “Matter”. In music we have been looking at different sources of sound and how this changes depending on the materials instruments are made of. This difference and the characteristics that the sound has depending on the materials that produce it is what we call TIMBRE.

Below you can watch a few videos we have used in class plus some others where you can see a variety of materials that are used to produce music as well as a lot of interesting facts connected to the topic. We hope you enjoy these videos.

Grade 4 Recorder Karate Challenge

Posted on 21 January, 2016 by

Grade 4s are going to be working their way through a recorder karate challenge. They will be learning a bunch of songs to achieve levels that will be equivalent to their karate belts.

Before you attempt to record your piece, listen to it a few times and make sure you understand all the elements and when you need to start and stop playing.

Once you have practiced it a few times and you feel confident you can go ahead and record your piece!

In order to gain your tick on the challenge board in class you will need to follow the next few steps.

1.- Get your recorder and your music ready in a comfortable position (not lying on the sofa…sitting or standing straight with the paper in front of you)

2.- Go to www.vocaroo.com (it will open in a new tab) and get ready to play your piece.

3.- Press click to record and come back to the blog .

4.- Click on the audio at the bottom of this post to start the accompaniment and play your piece.

5.- Stop the recording and listen to it.

6.- If you are not happy with it click on retry and go back to step 3.

7.- If you are happy with the recording click on click here to save.

8.- Click on email and enter your teacher’s email address (devinpatrick.ryan@sek.qa for Grade 4B and fernando.ramirez@sek.qa for Grade 4A) and the rest of the details requested.

9.- Fill in your reflection in your journal and bring it to class.

10.- Your teacher will review the recording and the reflection and let you know if you have passed that song.

Good luck Karate Kids!!!

Here are the accompaniments:

Here is a copy of the songs:

Razzamajazz

And a copy of the journal:

Recorder playing journal.Students

Creating a PodCast – Grade 5

Posted on 11 November, 2015 by devinpatrickryan

Inspired by the BBC series “Musical Migrants”, Grade 5 set out to Katara to create their own podcasts highlighting the challenges and opportunities musical migrants in Qatar faced when moving here to pursue their dreams.

Music and Measurement

Posted on 4 June, 2015 by

In Grade 2 we have been working with the Homeroom teachers exploring the concept of measurement in music. Students were asked how to measure music and began by exploring lengths and weights of instruments. Students then progressed by focusing on the measurements they could find within the written music itself. Students are progressing by developing movement sequences to new songs and learning how to use the ways of measurement to write them precisely.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Posted on 7 May, 2015 by

As part of their Unit of Inquiry “I love books” Pre 4s are learning songs related to “Jack and the Beanstalk”.

Why not join in with the rest of the family for a nice sing along???? Click on the links below to find videos with the story and songs we’ve been learning.

The links will take you to the BBC School Radio website where you can find the story, the songs and some tutorials that will help you learn the songs.

Let me know who sings best at home by leaving a comment!!!

Have fun!!!

Grade 1s around the World

Posted on 15 March, 2015 by

Grade 1s have been travelling the World through music. We have been inquiring about the Central Idea: Communities use music for specific purposes that reflect their values, beliefs and traditions.

On this post you can see both classes in action:

Grade 1A are performing a Japanese lullaby, called Asadoya Yunta. Here they showcase how principled and what good communicators they are, by following the conductor’s instructions and sticking to the performance plan:

Click here to watch the video.

Grade 2A are performing a Kenyan song, called Jambo Bwana. It is a lively greeting song and we describe African animals by introducing elephants, lions and monkeys. They showed great enthusiasm!

You can watch it here.

Here you can also find some of the songs we have been learning. Enjoy your journey!!

Auxy Music in MYP

Posted on 8 March, 2015 by

Grades 7 and 8 have been working with the iPad application Auxy:
They have created their own songs using the App and then notated them using traditional music notation for another group to perform.

Here are their creations:

Grade 7s:

Evening, by Salah, Kathryn and Aditi