Song of the Month

I have now updated the song of the month part of this website so if you want to hear our songs or learn more about our composers feel free to listen to our songs and read about the composers!!

Welcome Back!!!

Hello everyone!
I can't believe we are already 6 days into the new school year. I hope you all are really excited about the new activities we will be doing in music this year especially with our recorders!!! Remember if you have not brought those in yet that you need to bring in your money as soon as possible so we can place the order for them and get playing. My question for you today is what musical activities did you do during your summer break? Did you go and see a concert? Did you play any musical instruments? Or did you just listen to your radio as you hung out in the pool? Let me know what you did musically this summer!! Remember when you respond to this question that you put your first and last name as well as your homeroom teacher's name so I know who is responding to my question.

Our Time

I just wanted to say congrats to the cast of Our Time you all did an amazing show!!! I want to let you all know I am in the works for planning a party for us so that we can view the dvd of the show and so you can see what the audience saw. Speaking of which the dvds have come in already so if you purchased one stop by and see me. If you want to leave a message on this blog tell me your favorite memory of the show. To all my other students that were not in the show but did get to see it either at school or at Goodnight feel free to write about your favorite part of the show or congradualate the students that were in it. Oh... one last thing I have also put up pictures of the show so feel free to take a look!!

Homemade Musical Instrument Project for 5th grade

It is that time of year again where we are talking about the instrument families in music class. Every year I allow the 5th graders to make a musical instrument to demonstrate their knowledge of the musical families. So, students if you have any questions about the project or need some clarification on the project please respond to this blog. Remember to put your first and last name as well as your homeroom teacher's name when you publish your response. Also, if you scroll down the page I have included links for more information about our musical families. In this blog I posted the rubric for our project. In case you forgot the due dates for the project here they are: Sekora, Marcum, Chaffin and Helton's projects are due April 27th
Winston's projects are due May 4th
Tucker's projects are due May 11th
Barnes,Phillips, and Satterly's projects are due May 18th

I am giving everyone more than enough time to turn in your projects so have fun with them and don't let them be something that stresses you out. Remember Spring break would be a great time to get to work on them!!!

Homemade Musical Instruments

Explanation: This week we will be studying the different families of instruments. As we learn about the instrument families, you will pick your favorite instrument family and create an instrument that would fit into that family. You will get the opportunity to share the instrument with your class. You will show your knowledge of what makes an instrument fit into a family by telling us why your instrument fits into that family.
Rubric: Your grade will be out of 50 points. Below shows how the points are divided up. At the end of the presentations you will be given back you to you a copy of this rubric filled out with your grade on it.
Criteria Points Possible Your Score
Instrument was turned in on time 5 _____

Poster 5 _____

Your name and your instrument’s name displayed 5 _____

Description of family 10 _____

Explanation of how your instrument fits in that family 10 _____

Work put into the creation of your instrument 10 _____

Your presentation 5 _____

Your instrument can actually play
(or is from the brass family) +5 _____

Hope you are enjoying your snow days!!!

Of course I have been enjoying my snow days just as much as I am sure you all have been. I have enjoyed them so much that I forgot to put a posting up for my classes from last week about our song of the week! Sorry everyone but I know you were out enjoying the snow anyways. I would like to see what everyone thinks of our composer this week. I know the song title was a little confusing but I thought it was very important for us to hear some music composed by a female composer. Clara Schumann was very influential not only by creating her own music but by offering her advice and guidence to two famous male composers. My question to you is who were those two male composers that valued her opinion so much? If you forgot what I told you in class you can click on the link "Meet Clara Schumann" and find the answer. Good luck!!

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know about a very awesome performance coming up. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a group that has combined the intricate rhythms and harmonies of their native South African musical traditions to the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music for more than thirty years. They are performing at the Goodnight Auditorium on February 25th at 7:30pm. This particular performance will be a tribute to Shaka Zulu, the iconic South African warrior who united numerous regional tribes in the late 1800s and became the first king of the Zulu nation. Like I have told you in class I truely believe we cannot understand and appreciate our own culture without first exploring cultures completely different from our own. I hope to see you there! If you want to learn more about this group here is a link to them enjoy!http://www.mambazo.com/

Question for Baxter, Sekora, Marcum, Chaffin and Helton Only

Sorry everyone I meant to leave a blog post last night for you all to win a prize with and then I forgot I had a class up in bowling green last night and got home late. So, I apologize. Instead of having the first 10 students that respond correctly I will do the first 20 that respond correctly. My question to you is what is one fact you learned about music when you were in 3rd grade in Mrs. Sopko's class? This can be anything from the name of a song you sang in her class to learning the musical alphabet. Try to think back to something she taught you and respond to this blog. I do want to remind everyone that you need to put your first and last names as well as your homeroom teachers name in order for this to count. Thanks!!!

Ms. Cundiff's Music Blog now has games!!!

Hey everyone! I added some links to some fun music games to my blog. If you scroll all the way down to the bottom of my page (Below our information about our songs of the week) you will find four websites that I thought were worth checking out. Take a look at them and I hope you all enjoy! Let me know what you think by adding a post to this!!! Have fun!!!

Question for Neely, Barnes, Phillips, and Satterly's classes only...

What is the first song you ever remember learning? Think back to those Kindergarten years... was it mary had a little lamb? twinkle twinkle little star? Let me know what your first memory of a song is!!! Remember first ten from these classes win a prize!!!

Question for Chandler, Bourne, Tucker, Graves, and Clarks classes only

Hey everyone if you already posted on the Question four blog then I will still count you in the running for the prize since I was sort of late posting this one. However, I will also count the first 10 that respond to this question as well. I would like to know what group or what person is your favorite band or singer? Good luck and I will see you all tomorrow for rewards day!!!

Question Four

As we had yet another snow day today I thought it was fair to put up another question for you. So here it is. What piece of music did Saint-Saëns write as a musical joke, and Saint-Saëns believed it would harm his reputation as a serious composer? This answer can be found under Meet Camille Saint-Saëns. Congrats to all the students that have correctly answered my blog postings so far. Hopefully, I will see you all Tuesday!!

Question Three!!

This question has many answers so there will be many winners. George Gershwin and his brother Ira wrote a lot of Broadway musicals together. List one of those musicals. This information can be found on the link Meet George Gershwin. Good luck! Remember respond by listing only one of the Broadway musicals not all of them that way several students get a chance to win!!

Question Two!!

Amara won the first prize but here is another question for you. At what age did Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky begin taking piano lessons? To find out take a look at the meet Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky page to find out the answer. I hope you all are enjoying your second snow day!

Happy Snow Day!!

I hope you all are having fun sleeping in and being lazy on your first snow day of the year. As promised since we have a snow day today I have put up a question on this blog. The first to respond correctly to this question will earn a prize. I will hand it out the first day we are back to school. The question of the day is who was the most important teacher of Beethoven's? This person was also a court organist and helped Beethoven publish his first piece of music. To find out the answer to this question you can click on meet Ludwig Van Beethoven which is under the learn more about the composers. Good luck! If you miss this question there will be another one posted after I receive a correct response so keep checking!!! Remember please post your first and last name as well as your homeroom teacher Thanks!!