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Column Menu: Welcome, Upcoming performances, Fun free music games online, About Mrs. Kennedy, View Classroom, Favorite Music Selections
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Welcome!
I so enjoy working with your children.
They are such a kick ~ and so delighted when they find they can play an instrument or make a certain sound. I've been teaching music in this district since 1990 and still get goosebumps when a child discovers the wonder of a new instrument or skill...or of expressing themselves through music.
By the way - I've been at Minnehaha since 1996!
Stephanie Kennedy
Minnehaha Elementary, Here Mon-Wed
Stephanie.Kennedy@vansd.org
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Upcoming Performances at Minnehaha
t 3rd Grade Cultural Concert
June 4, 2 pm in the Cafeteria
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FUN FREE MUSIC GAMES ONLINE!
http://www.gamesgames.com/game/Mission-to-Magmanon.html
Blow up the notes before they hit your ship by pressing the right keys on the keyboard
http://www.gamesgames.com/game/Repeat-the-Melody.html
Listen to the melody and try to repeat it by choosing the right keys...
http://www.gamesgames.com/games/music/music.html
Total 40 Free Music Games
http://www.musiclearningcommunity.com/
Playing games is a great way to learn the basics of music.
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About Mrs. Kennedy
Mrs. Kennedy has a husband and two children. Her hobby is gardening. This picture was taken in her garden.
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Degrees
Mrs. Kennedy studied at Seattle Pacific University and received her K-12 Music Education Degree with both Choral and Band Endorsements in the spring of 1990. She was hired that fall by Vancouver School District and has taught at every level in the District since than. In 1996, she completed a 3 summer journey in the Kodaly Vocal Method and received Certification. She received her Master's Degree in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction through Seattle Pacific University in 2001.
Mrs. Kennedy has taken piano lessons since she was very small. Even as a toddler, she would try to play like her Mom. She loved to crawl under the baby Grand Piano and listen to her mother play. As she grew up, she also loved to sing in Choir and took some Pipe Organ & Guitar lessons. Sharing this love for music as a job continues to be her delight.
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Page Links
Click on underlined words below to visit another page
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View the Classroom
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Favorite Music Selections
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Do you have favorites? I do...For more ~ Click on the underlined Favorite Music Selections Above
Like....
Favorite Picture Books with Songs as the Text: What a Wonderful World by George David Weiss....
Favorite CD's for Kids: Putumayo Kids produces albums with music from around the world...
Intrumental: Clair de Lune - by Debussy - It's as if the piano is painting a picture........
Vocal: All I ask of You as sung by Emmy Rossum as Christine in the Phantom of the Opera movie / 2004...
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Column Menu: Focus, Piano lab, Singing in tune, Music Lessons, Notes
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Focus
Our first focus is the joy of music. We have fun!
Second is learning to be skilled on several instruments and with the voice.
Third is beginning to understand the elements of music: pitch, rhythm, expression (dynamics, style, tempo, phrasing), notation, form, melody, harmony, and timbre (describing what makes an instrument or voice distinctive from another or its "tone color")
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 Piano Lab
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All Piano Levels practice keeping a steady beat, performing rhythms correctly, and developing note reading skills. The piano levels include: Level 1: Treble Clef only (middle C and up) answers written in and piano keys labeled; Level 2: Treble Clef only, answers no longer written in (lessons on reading the staff), keys are still labeled; Level 3: Playing with both hands Treble & Bass Clef, keys no longer labeled, hands playing at the same time introduced; Advanced Level: playing with both hands at the same time in Treble and Bass Clef, no answers written in, more advanced Time Signatures and techniques explored. Above all your children are learning how to be musicians as they eventually develop the ability to read and perform music without my help anymore
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Singing in Tune
In the Kodàly approach, pitch and intervals are taught by using solfege handsigns. These help to develop better pitch control ~ and as the hand moves through space ~ better interval perception. The most common use today is the moveable Do solfege ("Do" is chosen to be the tonic of whatever key is being used) adapted by John Curwen of England which Zoltan Kodaly of Hungary adapted for his music method.
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In the Kodàly approach, rhythm is taught by comparing numbers of sounds on a beat, and length of sounds. Using the entire name of a rhythm can be cumbersome when speaking in rhythm, and so Kodàly teachers use rhythm syllables invented by Chevé in France. Examples: Ta (quarter note) Titi (2 eighth notes) . . .
"These syllables are not names; they are merely a way of voicing rhythm" (Choksy et al., 1986).
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Notes
MUSIC ENHANCES LEARNING AND BRAIN FUNCTION ~ Dr. Amen
“Learning to play a musical instrument enhances brain function. It teaches the brain new patterns and stimulates wide areas of the cortex. Music has the capacity to enhance how we think, reason and create. The data is impressive... preschool children who received piano keyboard lessons for six months improved their performance dramatically on a visual spatial reasoning task, with the effect lasting for days, whereas control groups (including a computer control group) did not improve...
Daniel G. Amen, MD is a child and adult psychiatrist, brain imaging specialist, bestselling author, and the medical director of Amen Clinics, Inc. He is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Amen is a nationally recognized expert in the fields of the brain and behavior and brain imaging. For more articles by Dr Amen, visit http://www.brainplace.com/bp/
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