I am currently on sick leave.

I am currently on sick leave due to an October diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.  We are trusting in the Lord for direction on this.

My long term substitute is Mrs. Lessmeir.  Her school email address is katie.lessmeir@windom.k12.mn.us  -  if you would like to contact her.  She said that she would send to me pictures to update what is happening in Music class.  So, I will try to update this spot periodically.  Here is a picture of our grade 1-12 students at the Veteran's Day Program today.

3rd Grade Tone Poems

Our 3rd Grade Students worked very hard to create short tone poems just before the end of the school year in May.  First, they had to make up a story by signing in to a Wiki site where they were asked to add two sentences to the story from their class.  It was fun to watch the story line develop!  After each of the 4 classes finished their own story, we had students make up and record a short musical theme to fit each character in the story.  Next, we chose one student to narrate the story as I recorded them.  Then, I asked them to draw a picture of one of the characters or scenes in the story line.  Next, I took digital photos of each drawing and cropped the characters out.  By this time the school year was over.  I told the students that I would put everything together and put their finished Tone Poems on a DVD to give to them.  

If you would like to preview the results of the Tone Poem Project, you may click here to watch and listen to the Tone Poems.

MR. ANDERSON'S CLASS TONE POEM! (June 30)
MRS. RABBE'S CLASS TONE POEM! (June 25)
MISS CARLSON'S CLASS TONE POEM! (June 21)
MRS. MALAKOWKY'S CLASS TONE POEM! (June 16th)
All in all, a very fun project!!!
Mr. Tucci

Future Drummers?

Check out these excited Kindergarten Students discovering the Trap Set!

Playing the Mountain Dulcimer!

Look at a slide show of 3rd Grade students playing the Mountain Dulcimer.

Classical Music Changes Young Lives

Watch this CBS video clip about how young children's lives are being changed by learning to connect with classical music at a very young age.  The new conductor of Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Dudamel, has a plan!



Watch CBS News Videos Online

Please comment on what you think!

Exploring Strings

The 3rd grade students have been exploring the String family.

Click here to see more Pictures!

Lori Line and her "Fab Five" Perform at the BARC!

Last night, Lori Line and her "Fab 5" performed here, in Windom, at the BARC auditorium.  WOW!  What a program!!  For all who were able to attend, it was a musical rainbow of Styles and all of their amazing talent that inspired all.  One of her "Fab 5" performers, Robby Nordstrum, is a senior in high School and a most talented violin player!  This is Lori Line's 21st year of touring.

Composing A Musical Round (4th - 6th grade)

This is a great activity that reviews note values, introduces chords and harmony and has students learn how to write notation correctly and neatly.  I like to walk thought writing a few class rounds together before asking them to try it on their own.  It will take a couple of weeks to develop the concepts and have the students feel comfortable with writing their own rounds.

Click here to see the process.

Composing A Piece Using Sequence

Here is a VERY simple way to to compose a nice sounding piece of music using the basic idea of sequence.  I use it with my 2nd and 3rd grade classes. Second grade students are introduced to the concept of sequence and we compose a couple "Class" pieces.  After reviewing the idea of sequential patterns, 3rd grade students can make one of their own sequence pieces. FUN!

Click here to see the directions to compose your own sequential piece.
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Click here to listen to some of our 3rd grade class sequence pieces.

Abby and Shelby Sing!

AbbyShelby
Originally uploaded by Winfair

Abby and Shelby sing a duet together at the Terrific Kid program in April, 2010. They did a VERY nice job at singing two part harmony for second and third grade students!

"Treat Others How You Want to Be Treated!"

Here is a great new song that Mrs. Malakowsky's 3rd grade class composed.  If you want to listen to them sing it, just click here.
"Treat Others How You Want to Be Treated!"

Whiter Shade of Pale ( Sungha Jung )

Whiter Shade of Pale ( Sungha Jung )
Check out this 11-year old classical fingerstyle guitarist from South Korea!!! WOW!

Beatles - Come Together performed by Sungha Jung

Beatles - Come Together performed by Sungha Jung

Listen to this AWESOME 11 year-old play the guitar!!!