Please take MORE than a few moments and have a look at our department's virtual end-of-the year showcases. It's such an honor to work with such talented and devoted artists and both our school community and our Fine and Performing Arts Department has done a brilliant job creating these 2 shows :

Virtual Art Show

Virtual Music Fest

Email us this summer at any time with questions, concerns, comments, etc.

Mr. Spano:

anthony.spano@watertown.k12.ma.us

Mr. Skaife:

kurtis.skaife@watertown.k12.ma.us

**A quick note about instruments: If you played an instrument this year and you intend to continue next year, keep your instrument over the summer. While we presently have no idea what instrument instruction will look like next year, our department is hoping and planning to continue instrument lessons next year, so as always, keep your instrument to maintain the rental equity you've paid into it.**

Beatles singalong #1: Here Comes the Sun / Blackbird

Beatles singalong #2: You've got to Hide your Love Away / Let it Be

Beatles singalong #3: Hey Jude

Visit the Piano and Guitar pages on my website. If you have a keyboard, piano, guitar, or even ukulele at home, you can print out some of the packets and materials we use in class for home practice.

Watch this cool video by the Boston Pops Orchestra performing a piece by John Williams (yup, the guy that wrote the Star Wars music!) honoring our first responders. The orchestra masterfully performed and edited-together this "remote performance" of Williams's original composition. This also goes well with our musical instrument unit from class. See how many instruments you can identify in the video.

In early March, we had started exploring how sound and vibration work in the different families of musical instruments. This week, we look at Brass instruments:

Brass

Woodwinds, Part 1

Woodwinds, Part 2

Singalong to Going to the Zoo, in honor or our zoos reopening.

Earlier, we looked at a classic piece of orchestral music called "Peter and the Wolf." It was composed in 1936 by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. When performed traditionally, a narrator tells the story while a live orchestra "illustrates" it. In it, the characters of the story are all played by different instruments of the orchestra.

"Peter and the Wolf" - read-along, narration by Mr. Spano

"Peter and the Wolf" - original arrangement by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

Here is a readalong/singalong of Abiyoyo Returns, the second in the Abiyoyo books by Pete Seeger. Typically in class, we would read the book, sing the songs, and act out the story for an informal play.

Abiyoyo Returns - Singalong/Readalong

Enjoy the orignal Abiyoyo book with this video clip from "Reading Rainbow."

Abiyoyo - Reading Rainbow

Last month, we did the "Banana Boat Song"

Banana Boat Song

Banana Boat Song - Harry Belafonte - The Muppet Show

2nd Graders - click here or look down below in the 3-5 section at my Isle of Tune video tutorial. You'll probably need your parents help getting setup with the program, but it's a lot of fun. Give it a try.

Here are the first videos of my singalong series:

Los Pollitos Dicen/Rubber Blubber Whale

Over in the Meadow

Check out the video section of the Mr. Spano Website:

https://sites.google.com/a/watertown.k12.ma.us/spano-lowell-music/video

It features a mish-mosh of songs we've sung this year and other interesting short videos. I'm also hoping to include some personally recorded sing-alongs in the coming days.

This week, we're going to continue using a program called SoundTrap. Watch this video to learn what it's all about. SoundTrap is an amazing GarageBand - like program, but with better features and functionality than BandLab. Click here to join our SoundTrap class.

The best way to enjoy SoundTrap is to join my Google Classroom. You'll need to enter the invite code:

autm6sl

Watch this really cool video by the Boston Pops Orchestra. The description is above in the K-2 section of the newsletter.

Last week in our Google Classroom, I had you read and explore the third chapter of Ableton - Learning Music called "Chords."

Previously in our Google Classroom, I assigned you to read and explore the second chapter of Ableton - Learning Music called "Notes and Scales" and the first chapter called "Beats." Watch this video tutorial I made last week to explain the website. If you haven't already, take some time to explore and fool around with some of the music sequencers. They're fun and easy to understand.

I've made an Isle of Tune video tutorial. Many of us have worked with Isle of Tune in class. Watch the tutorial to either introduce you to or review this fun web-based composition game. Feel free to copy my composition, create your own, or just experiment. When you're finished, figure out how to create a web link to your project and email it to me. Mine and Mr Skaife's addresses are above.

Check out the links page on the Mr. Spano website and also this musictheory.net video tutorial which will show you how to customize our keyboard and note quiz that we do in class.

Instrument students! Check out this video tutorial I've created introducing you to Essential Elements Interactive. It's basically a digital version of your instrument lesson book. It'll make practicing a bit more exciting with play-along backing tracks, a recording function, and lots more cool stuff. You'll need your instrument, your book, and the "school code" which is 'watertown.'

Lastly, check out the Piano and Guitar pages on my website. If you have a keyboard, piano, guitar, or even ukulele at home, you can print out some of the packets and materials we use in class for home practice.

I made a scavenger hunt of images to encourage students to explore and appreciate all the art work Watertown students created this year.

Virtual Art Show

Lowell: taco, Darth Vader, gold fish, dragon, a rocket leaving Earth, cat-dinosaur, a pumpkin

under the stars

Cunniff: trumpet, a cake with a strawberry, rainbow mittens, a setting sun, tiny people on a boat

Hosmer: Pikachu, shiny turtle, Patriot's logo, people swimming, abstract watermelon

WMS: jellyfish, snow capped mountains, French horn, panda, jellyfish, lighthouse

WHS: one eyed duck, realistic heart, collaged eyeball, woman reading, an apple, ceramic owl