Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | Blue Bugs Lessons

Lesson #6

Don’t forget, parents come next week! :) 

Listening to the music can spontaneously include doing some of the actions too! For instance, if you hear the song Umburra, sit down and pick an object to pass around on the beat. If you are practicing Bill Grogan’s Goat, have your student clap 4 times or nod their heads 4 times, between each line, etc. The more senses you use while "playing" the more your student will internalize. If you have the storybook of Bill Grogan’s Goat read it to your child. Let your student pretend "teach" a Let's Play Music class to you, their siblings, or stuffed animals. This is great music practice and it's FUN for them!

Umburra
Learning to anticipate a beat and feel the beat internally is necessary when developing little musicians. The Umburra game helps us to do just that! Practice it at home when you are "playing" with your students. Pass the stick on the beat and whoever has it at the end of the song is the winner!

El Gallo
El Gallo translated means “The Rooster”. During your "play" time have fun working on the pronunciation of these words. Soon we’ll be singing it in harmony using a round and learning harmonic rhythm. When a child sings harmony they develop the ability to sing in tune and independently sing parts of music. It's quite a skill!     

A Frog went A-Hoppin'
Today we simply introduced this song, but this song will soon teach us how to read leaps on the staff and play leaps on the bells.     

Jungle Rhythm
Using our “Jungle Rhythm” song we had the students walk like the elephant while I was the lion. This allowed them to hear how a beat can be divided and subdivided.     

I've Been to Harlem
On the autoharp we played the song, I’ve Been to Harlem in major and then again in minor. We are training the ears to recognize the difference between the two tonalities which helps us to recognize that music can help touch our emotions and influence those listening to music.

Rhythmic Notation     
Today in class the students each got their own bug and matched it with it's rhythmic representation. They are picking up on this concept so quickly! Help them get it even more solidly by placing their flashcards bug side down and have them say the bug and flip over the card to see if they are right!

I've Been to Harlem- Maj/Min on Bells & Piano

Your student has been taking baby steps and skipping around in class for sometime. Now, we get to take the concepts that we've been experiencing and start applying them to reading music on the staff. This approach to reading music is somewhat unique to Let's Play Music. Young children will be reading from the staff without knowing any note names, read more details on how this effective method works.

http://makingmusicianslpm.blogspot.com/2014/12/learning-to-read-music.html?inf

ADDED BONUS BELOW!!!

Since your children are now more familiar with the bug rhythms, I think they're ready for this fun matching game I made called "Rhythm Foods"! You will find it in the student portal in the online resources section.

Instructions:

Print the PDF in color or black/white.

Cut out the notes on the first page (there are 3 extra notes). If you'd like to make them more durable, cut them into strips and put shipping tape on both sides before cutting them out individually.

You may keep the other 4 pages as they are, or cut them into 4 sections so each of the 16 foods is a separate card.

Begin with ONLY the first food page (the one with Pop Tarts) to be sure they understand the concepts, then add the other 3 pages once they understand how to play.

Have your child clap and say each food with you.

The answers are on the last page (printing that page is optional).

Please let me know if you use this game and let me know what you think. Your honest feedback is greatly appreciated!

Here is a link to all the skills videos as well as the link to be able to purchase a class video to make up for a missed class. (tap or scan)

Have a musical day!
-Ms. Bethany :)