Oh, for the days . . . .

. . . when I had a student teacher and all I had to think about was what I was going to be doing in music class the next day.  Why, I even had enough time to think about what might Bee Happenin' next week!  And if my Baby Bees, aka music students, lingered after class time was officially over, no big deal, the awesome Mrs D was large and in charge back in the regular old schoolroom.  *big sigh*

But now!  I am busy as a bee (sorry about that terrible pun)!  Rush, rush, rush . . . writing lesson plans . . . ON THE WEEKEND!  Even Sunday afternoon, after all, they say that music is God's universal language, so what better thing to do on Sunday than plan music? 

But would I give this up for anything?  No, not even another hour's sleep each morning!  No, not even for more prep time at school!  No, not even for a million bucks . . . . oops . . . well, that will never happen anyway, so, no not even for a million bucks.

When the feet hit the ground . . .

. . . or should it be "when the fingers hit the keys?"  Either way, we've past the mid-point of the race (trimester) and are making steady progress.

I like teaching by giving students questions to think about, or by giving students examples/info and challenging them to come up with hypotheses.  Of course, these hypotheses may not be earthshaking when working with elementary students, but it was fun this morning to review the values of whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes, both the count value and the fractional value, before presenting A New Note and asking for the students' Best Guesses as to both the count value and the fractional value.  And Mr Third Grader came through with flying colors.  "An eighth note gets half a count," he said.

And *that* is how I managed to slip one of my old favorites, The Erie Canal into today's lesson.  "All right, students, listen to this song and raise your hand when you think you can hear the eighth notes." 

I wonder if I can find anything redeeming in Bill Grogan's Goat?

Din, Dan, Don . . .

I love to listen to French being spoken!  I love all those impossible sounding vowels.  I love all those silent letters at the ends of words . . . How does one ever learn to speak such a lyric language?  Moreover, how can anyone learn to read it?  Are all Zs silent or just the one in Rendezvous?  and what about -et?  Chevrolet, ballet, buffet, crochet, croquette, beret, Met Det (just kidding:  May Day!)

Ah, but here we are:

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don.

Hummm. . . . when My Little Bees and I sing this in a round, would a French speaking person even recognize the song? Perhaps not, but we love it anyway!


AND . . . have you ever heard a round played by Tone Bells?  I'm sure we did an Excellent Job of playing Scotland's Burning this morning!  Oh, the joy of sharing joy with Little Bees!  Thank you, parents, for sharing with me.