Students Classroom Pages Music - Mrs. Polcari
Music - Ms. Polcari
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Ms. Polcari has been a music educator for over twenty-five years. She is the Music Specialist and Fine Arts Coordinator at St. Chris where she has developed an experientially based program, actively involving our students in music for both school and church. She has also established a handbell/handchime program, unique to our school, and directs our grade 3-4, grade 5-6, and select boys choruses.
As a teacher, Ms. Polcari has an enthusiasm for helping individuals discover and develop potential through a love of music. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from University of Mass-Lowell and a Master of Education from Rivier College.
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Welcome to Music! If you have any questions or concerns, please
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Music Class Notes  
January 2012 Kindergarten: January begins a new part of the curriculum with stories and creative drama, more hands-on music making and exploring the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of music and its connection with other subjects. We will continue to experience the musical concepts of fast/slow, long/short, high/low, up/down, and same/different. Grade 1: We will continue to work with quarter and eighth notes and rests, understanding how to recognize and label them. Students will also be introduced to ostinati and simple music forms. Curwen hand signals will be introduced to recognize and sing so and mi in the musical scale. Grade 2: We will review recognizing and notating quarter and eighth notes and will identify half notes and rests. We will continue to learn about simple forms; introduction, AB, ABA and Coda. Students will have several opportunities to explore and improvise with instruments. Classes will also be introduced to working in small groups, using simple problem solving techniques. Grade 3: Classes will continue to review half notes, rests and dotted half notes; basic musical forms, recognizing interludes and rondo form; and identify and demonstrate crescendo and decrescendo. Shortly, as we continue our Music Literacy reading program, we will begin recorder, a first experience for most. More information will be forthcoming. Grade 4: In January, fourth grades will review recorder, demonstrating proper playing technique and continuing to identify the lines and spaces the of the treble clef staff. We will work to understand and perform musical concepts such as ostinati with speaking, singing, moving and playing activities. We will begin a unit on recognizing and identifying members of the orchestral instruments, and continue to work with partners and in small groups to demonstrate problem solving techniques. Grade 5: Working with partners and independently in groups, we will continue to experience and reinforce significant musical skills about rhythmic figures, different meters and harmonic accompaniments. We will continue to identify the names of the treble clef staff lines and spaces and review distinguishing between the four orchestral families of instruments. Grade 6: We will continue to study classical music of great composers, experiencing the music in a way that is meaningful and significant. Included this month is music by the composers we will hear on our field trip to the Boston Symphony in March. We will study the history of each selection and learn about each composer. Simultaneously, we begin a unit on Creativity, as we learn to produce original ideas with effective musical content. December 2011 Christmas Program for K-3: Tuesday, December 13, 10:00 a.m. Church Christmas Program for 4-6: Thursday, December 15, 10:00 a.m. Church Fine Arts Christmas Festival: Thursday, December 15, 6:30 p.m. Church This program will feature the Beginner and Advanced Bands, Christopher Handbell Choir, Handchime Ringers, Grade 3-4 Chorus, Grade 5-6 Chorus, Boys Select Chorus and members of the Drama Club. Please join us for an exciting program! Kindergarten: This month our activities include more complicated rhythm patterns and songs that require an understanding of same/different. We will listen and respond to Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Reed Pipes” and build Christmas repertoire with traditional holiday songs. The pieces we learn involve singing, listening, and playing instruments in order to experience many different melodies and forms in a variety of ways. Grade 1: We continue to learn song lyrics of traditional Christmas classics. This month we will incorporate our understanding of quarter and eighth notes and rests as it applies to several favorites as well as new Seasonal repertoire. Our listening activities will include several variations of “Jingle Bells” as well as “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” Grade One is very ready and looking forward to our upcoming Christmas Program! Grade 2: During class we are practicing our songs for the upcoming Christmas program. We will also review traditional Christmas repertoire and add instruments to our songs. A fun piece we will include is “Chinese Dance” from the “Nutcracker Suite.” We will also experience singing, moving and improvising to other favorite Christmas songs. Grade 3: Rehearsals for our Christmas Program, “Guess Who’s Coming to Bethlehem”, are going well as each student is learning how to present his or her lines effectively and use a microphone. A memo recently went home outlining details of wearing a headpiece appropriate for each part. Please let me know if you have any questions. In accordance with the Season, this month we will explore music from “The Nutcracker Suite” and review traditional holiday songs and carols. Grade 4: Our Music Literacy Unit continues and we definitely be ready to work with recorders after our Christmas break. We have added sign language to one of our Christmas pieces for the Christmas program – I am amazed how quickly students can learn this! Two students will be selected to lead both classes during the performance. Several 4th graders are also in the Hand Chime Choir, and they will help accompany one of our pieces as well. During December we will also study Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” and Tchaikovsky’s “Trepak” from “The Nutcracker Suite.” Grade 5: We will complete our Recorder Unit this month and continue learning to read music with our Music Literacy Unit. Several soloists have been selected to perform during our Christmas Program and everyone is working to learn the music we will sing together. During class time we will also review both new and favorite Christmas songs and explore singing “partner songs”, different pieces that can be sung together at the same time. Grade 6: In addition to preparing the Christmas Program reading and reenactment of the Christmas Story, we continue studying the music of great composers. We want to be prepared for our recently approved field trip to the Boston Symphony on March 16! The program we will partake in is called “The Beat Goes On: a Musical Look at Perseverance, Pace and Pulse in Music.” The conductor will be Thomas Wilkins. In preparation, the music we will learn about includes that of Williams, Fucik, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Anderson, Naughtin, Sousa and Tchaikovsky. *National Standards for Arts Education 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
November 2011 Kindergarten: This month we will explore direction and the musical concepts of high/low, up/down and same/different. Classes are getting very good at keeping the pulse while listening or singing! We continue to develop independent singing and our repertoire will include songs that are about Fall and Thanksgiving. Grade 1: Classes will learn about introductions and repeat signs and continue to practice eighth and quarter notes and rests. Creative movement will explore fast/slow and same/different. Preparations will also begin for our Christmas Program coming up next month. Grade 2: In rhythm we learn about half notes and rests, in harmony we sing vocal ostinatos, and in form we learn about codas. Our singing will include patriotic songs as well as the music we are learning for our upcoming Christmas Program. During November we will also honor the family…several songs and activities celebrate Grandma and Grandpa. Grade 3: We have begun working on our Christmas Program, “Guess Who’s Coming to Bethlehem.” Each year the third grade leads the Kindergarten, Grades One and Two with a musical celebration of Christmas. Parts have been assigned and we are learning the script and music. Some students will be part of the manger scene and others will take the part of the animals visiting nearby. We will also continue with our Music Literacy Units, and it has been very exciting to hear the classes understand how to follow the note reading. Our vocal repertoire will include learning about the songs of the military branches and other patriotic favorites. Grade 4: Christmas songs for our program with grades five and six will be introduced this month. We will use our “Music Express” magazines to learn about contemporary musicians and how music is used in television and the movies. Our Music Literacy Unit continues and we build our vocal repertoire to include military and patriotic songs. With listening and movement activities we will learn about shadowing and use rhythm patterns as accompaniment. Grade 5: We are adding weekly to our note reading and repertoire through the recorder and our Music Literacy Unit. Practice on our Christmas songs has begun and this month students will have the opportunity to try out for a solo verse in the program. We will also learn folk dances and review favorite military and patriotic songs this month. Grade 6: Congratulations to the Sixth Grades for their awesome performances in the Oktoberfest Play! Activities followed, for our audience of grades three, four and five, and included pumpkin decorating, relay races and musical chairs. All events were lead and conducted by the sixth graders and it was a fun day for everyone! We conclude our Composer Unit this month by studying and experiencing through movement/dramatic play four interesting selections: Saint-Saens’ “Fossils”, Strauss’ “Persian March”, Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance”, and Bizet’s “Habanera.” *National Standards for Arts Education 1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. October 2011 Kindergarten: We will continue with our Farm Unit, adding to our repertoire of farm animal songs. With each one, we use a different instrument and explore dramatic play. This month we will introduce up and down, music phrases, and include songs about Autumn and Halloween. Grade 1: We will cover rests and ‘ti-ti’ for eighth notes, and practice vocal qualities such as whisper/shout so we can understand music dynamics of loud and soft. We will read and move to traditional stories such as “The Very Busy Spider” and listen to Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” Grade 2: We will learn about ostinatos and continue to explore music dynamics. Our new repertoire will include songs about Christopher Columbus and Halloween, and we will listen to Gounod’s “Funeral March of a Marionette” and Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance.” Grade 3: We will continue with our Music Literacy Unit, where students learn to read rhythm and notes on the staff. This is in preparation for learning recorder in January. The music qualities we will cover are crescendo and decrescendo, and we'll prepare to sing canons and rounds. We will listen to Corelli’s “Gavotta”, Saint Saens’ "Danse Macabre", and explore dramatic play with Halloween repertoire. Grade 4: We are reading rhythm and notes in our Music Literacy Unit so that we will be ready to continue learning recorder in November. We explore creating and notating body percussion (stomp, pat, clap and snap), and through the listening to recordings, will learn to identify instruments in the Woodwind Family. Grade 5: This month we begin to study scales, chordal harmony, and additional expressive dynamics. We will review recorder basics and continue to practice new repertoire. We will create rhythmic ostinati for characters in traditional stories. Grade 6: We are rehearsing our Octoberfest Play, “Compose Yourself” which tells a story about six composers: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Handel, Haydn, and Mozart. We are also reviewing and creating activities for grades 3, 4 and 5 for our celebration after the play on Thursday, October 27. One of our ideas is to ask the students in those classes to bring a pumpkin to school that day to decorate. After next week, we hope to work without scripts! September 2011 Kindergarten: We are learning to keep the 'pulse' while we are singing! This will be the time to review fast and slow, long and short, and high and low. We will begin to use all the unpitched percussion instruments and will have fun performing simple dances, like the chicken dance! Grade 1: We will review basic concepts like sound and silence, high and low, and up and down. Boomwackers, as well as other percussion instruments, including chimes will be used and identified. Grade 2: Many of our songs will include keeping the beat, movement and instrumental accompaniment. We will begin to build repertoire and improvise lyrics and sounds, laying the foundation for simple composition later in the year. Grade 3: We will continue to learn about rhythm, harmony and form. Each class will include a new lesson on music literacy, covering all aspects of notation. The reading is done to music, so there is immediate application. By the end of the year, each student will be able to read music! Grade 4: Classes include work with rhythm, melody, form and movement. We will learn about canons and rounds and introduce the rondo form. We will review the reading of the treble clef in preparation for the recorder, which we will begin at the end of the month.The music literacy program will be taught in this grade as well. Grade 5: We will work with more complicated dotted rhythms and sixteenth notes, and begin to learn to hear chordal harmonic changes. We will review basic music literacy and continue to improve our skill level. Grade 6: Our first unit is about composers. We will study the three basic time periods of Baroque, Classical and Romantic composers. Our culminating project will be a short musical play called "Compose Yourself", which will be performed during our "Octoberfest" celebration for grades 3, 4, and 5 the last week of October.
Fall 2011: Welcome to Music! We begin in September with an active music curriculum for each class! In part, our program is based on GAMEPLAN, an exciting curriculum that sequences musical skills and objectives that support the National Standards for Arts Education. Principals of Orff and Kodaly are used to teach rhythm, melody and reading, and in addition to singing, there are lots of traditional games and dances. The 6th grade this year will again present an early fun Fall event, based on famous composers, as part of a focus on creativity and composition. Plans are to develop our “Octoberfest” celebration, with games and a picnic for the upper grades, and entertainment by our talented 6th graders! There is something for everyone in music! Learn to play handbells or handchimes, or join one of our choruses: Grade 3-4, Grade 5-6, or our Select Boys Chorus. All groups are scheduled during school time, with the exception of handchimes, which meets Thursday mornings at 8:30 a.m. This is also a great time to consider joining Mr. Bailey in band. There will be a band instrument presentation the first day of school, with all the information you’ll need as well as time for questions. All our classrooms and music groups perform during the school year and enrich our students in countless ways. Looking forward to a fun year ahead! National Standards for Arts Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
APRIL/MAY Music Notes
Spring Programs Our Choruses, Handbell and Handchime Choirs are all doing very well rehearsing for our spring performance. Due to scheduling, our presentation has been changed to Monday, June 6 in the Church, starting at 6:30 p.m. Mark your calendars to enjoy a musical night! Grades Pre-K -2 will present “The Tales of Mother Goose” on Tuesday, May 24 at 10:00 a.m. in the Church. Our rhymes, stories and songs will show how nursery tales help us learn. Grades 3-6 will perform on Thursday, May 26 at 10:00 a.m. in the Church. Our program is entitled “Proud to Be American.” Please join us for an enthusiastic review of what has made our country great!
Class Work Pre-K has made great progress learning to keep the beat to our songs with unpitched instruments. It has also been fun to explore the sounds these instruments make.
Kindergarten is learning how to distinguish and respond to long and short sounds. We have also enjoyed learning beginning circle games. Along with music skills, these games encourage social and motor skills, as well as language development.
Grades 1 and 2 are concentrating on memorizing music and lyrics for our Spring programs. It has been helpful to practice for our “Buddy Class” to get used to an audience and help us learn.
Grade 3 will join the upper grades for our Spring presentation this year. We have been having fun learning the recorder, which has been an opportunity to begin music note reading for many students.
For our Spring Program, Grade 4 has been busy learning music about the Liberty Bell, great leaders and our cultural “melting pot.” We are also making great progress on the recorder as we learn new songs each week. In addition, we continue our study of orchestral instruments.
Grade 5 is studying important musical repertoire, most recently, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. The selections are chosen for their quality and special interest and help give valuable listening experiences!
Grade 6 is continuing a study on the elements of creativity and after vacation will continue work on a class composition.
All music classes support the National Standards for Arts Education*. Classes continue with age appropriate concepts about rhythm, melody, and performance, as well as children’s games and dances.
*National Standards for Arts Education
1. Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
March Notes: Change to Spring Program Presentation…
This year the pre-K and Kindergarten will join Grades 1 and 2 to present a program about Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. Each grade will demonstrate a particular aspect of the history and development of this important and fun part of growing-up. We have begun to work on our program which will be presented on Tuesday, May 24 at 10:00 in the Church. Mark your calendars now!
Grade 3 will now be part of the program presented by Grades 4, 5 and 6. Our theme this year will be a patriotic one, as we sing about our history, traditions and heritage. Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 26 at 10:00 in the Church.
The 6th grade trip to Symphony Hall last month was definitely something we would like to plan every year! We had a great time, enjoyed exciting music and had the best seats…third row! Our students represented our school well!
As 6th grade graduation comes into sight, we will be working on a class song as well as a select chorus to present a special piece. Ideas and suggestions continue… In the meantime, we are working on creating variations of music themes in class.
Grades 3, 4 and 5 continue using recorders as part of music class. Listening activities of important musical works, lots of movement to build coordination and a study of orchestral instruments are planned along with our Spring Program preparation.
Melody contour is being introduced to Grade 1 as we continue to learn and play unpitched instruments as accompaniments and improvisations. Grade 2 is working on hand drum technique, the use of time, space and shape in music form, and will begin to learn more specific skills needed to read score. In Kindergarten we have been working on ‘high and low’ and will soon begin ‘melodic patterns.’ The Pre-K classes have really enjoyed learning circle games and can often recite many favorite simple songs. They are eagerly working on the spring program material!
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