Week 6

We continued working on aspects of the music video this week.

On Tuesday we used meditation and journal time to generate lyrics for the music video and many students shared their results with the group. We ended the class with an impromptu beat-boxing session, an activity some students had much experience in, and others little. However, nearly everyone participated by the end and we are likely to record something similar to use in the video.

On Thursday we again journaled about lyrics. Then Kara recorded some Stomp sounds with individual students while the rest of the group worked on our background mural that we plan to use as part of the backdrop for our music video shoot.

We also discussed bringing in some ASU dance students to help us choreograph sustainability themed dance for the video. The kids seemed excited and I have been assured by Elizabeth Johnson, a visiting dance instructor, that we will be able to collaborate. Hopefully we can post some pics of the dance as the choreography progresses.

That's it for this week, thanks for checking in!

5

We focused more on the music video this week.  Continuing with improv to get their creative minds flowing, they are working on a backdrop we will use for the video.  The prompt is "What are you feeling?"  There was more talk this week on sustainability and what it is.  Thursday, we created plays with lines, music, and props on the subject of sustainability and presented them in groups.  Above are pictures from the plays the students wrote and performed!!

The students creating their own rhythm in STOMP

Week 4!

This week we started on STOMP!  The students got into 4 groups and each had a 4/4 rhythm.  One at a time, the group clapped their rhythms.  Then, they got instruments of things that would be found around their house.  One groups had newspapers, one tupperware, one pots and lids, and one trash cans and pans.  They then did their rhythms with these instruments and created a very cool sounding rhythm song.  They learned all about the off-Broadway rhythm troupe "STOMP" and heard some of their music, as well.

Thursday, we continued with STOMP and did a recording.  John and I are going to stream the recording together with the bass line compositions that they did last week to create a piece of music that is all their own!  Later, we're going to add lyrics and shoot a music video!  The kids are so excited!!!

3

Apologies for the delay this week!  Week 3!

In week 3 we did a project called "Self-portrait."  We did a journal about the things they like most about themselves first.  The students then took a piece of typing paper and lined it with a page from the newspaper.  Then, we have several magazines where they found pictures and words to describe themselves and made a collage of a self-portrait.  The projects are posted in the artspace room at PACS, and I posted a few at the top

Also, we talked more about rhythm in music and learned some basic rhythm reading skills.  To display this, we downloaded a program on the classroom computers called "Finale" and had the students write a composition with their note naming skills.