Final Performance

Today we did our final performances of our sounds pieces to finish our art a music unit. The students practiced audience behavior by sitting quietly and listening to other groups' performances, and showing appreciation by clapping at the end. We varied the performance using tempo and dynamics to make it more expressive. The groups were charged with watching the conductor for these expressive changes. The art assigned to each group became the musical "score," as the students "read" the art. The art told them when to make what kinds of sounds, based on the creative and compositional choices the students had previously made. We used art to influence our creation and composition, just as many famous musical composers have. Art and music both make us feel something and these art forms help us express what we feel.

Sound Pieces

Today we are continuing our exploration of art and music working together. Just like the composers who looked at art and thought of sounds, we also created our own "sound pieces." After identifying shapes in Kandinksy's art and making those shapes with our bodies, we explored the sounds we can make with our mouths and bodies. Each person picked their favorite shape and thought of a sound that would go along with it. When everyone was ready, we performed the piece as a class and the students took turns "conducting" the piece. In music, we use dynamics to be expressive just like artists use colors and shapes. Everyone chose a dynamic level to use when performing the sound. We thought the piece was alot more interesting that way. Today we became composers inspired by art!

Art and Music Inspirations

A new unit of art and music exploration in Mrs. Mattinson's classroom! We began a unit based on a famous Russian artist named Kandinsky. We read a story about his life and looked at some of his art work. Kandinsky's art was influence by the sounds and the music that he heard. In fact, many artists and music composers were inspired by art and music to create.

Today we listened to a few excerpts of music and looked at the art people created while listening to the music. We also listened to pieces of music that were composed after looking at art. A few things we looked at include: Jackson Pollack “Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)”, P. Mondrian's “Boogie Woogie” inspired by boogie woogie music of the 1940's, “Boogie Woogie” by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, and P. Klee's “The Twittering Machine” influenced Gunther Schuller’s “Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee: The Twittering Machine.”

This is the Greatest Show

Today we wrapped up our mapping unit by creating a music map of "A Million Dreams" from the movie, The Greatest Showman. In the music video, the young P.T. Barnum sings the main theme, followed by the adult P.T. Barum repeating the same theme. Charity, P.T.'s wife comes in to sing the bridge, the first section of the piece with a significant change in musical idea. The song ends with P.T. and Charity singing the familiar refrain together. We split this song into it's four distinct sections. The kids listened to each of the four sections, listening for the melody. When they heard the familiar refrain we drew zigzags in the shape of the melody. When they heard something differnt, we drew loopy lines. This used the musical elements of melody blended with their understanding of differnent types of lines from art class. Attached is a scan of the sample map I created for the students, and a few pictures of students holding their own maps. This activity was so fun for the kids as they blended popular music with art, creating a visual representation of their mental "image" or understanding of the music.

Music Mapping!

We are starting a unit on Music Mapping in our classroom. Music Maps are exactly what they sound like, maps of what the music sounds like. In this class we are focusing on the using the lines that the students have been learning in art class to map the music we hear. This is the first week so in order to introduce maps, I presented three different maps with different styles of music. The first was a map of Léo Delibes's Coppelia Waltz, the second Aaron Copeland's take on the children's song "I Bought Me a Cat," and the last John William's Raider's March from Indiana Jones. The three maps used different elements of art and different types of art to visually express the sound of the music in unique and creative ways. The Raider's March map was created as a mock treasure map. Each student was given a personal copy of the map to follow along with the music. I felt like the students responded well to the concept. They enjoyed the lesson and began to understand the functions of the musical maps with the added context of the artistic lines.

Teacher Introduction

My name is Abigail Keogh. I am a General Music Education major at BYU. General Music focuses on the elementary grades as well as the general principles of music. Because of my own experiences in music, I am passionate about allowing all students to have meaningful experiences with music, even if they do not become professional musicians. I am so excited for this opportunity to work with the Arts Bridge program. My assignment is with a 2nd grade art classroom. This is a unique opportunity for integration of two art forms: art and music. We will work to find meaningful projects to blend together the principles of art and music in ways that students can apply their learning to their everyday lives.