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Welcome to Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals page, designed especially for the Samueli Academy Firewolves! The following Links are connected to the past weeks of Music Fundamentals lessons in the school year of 2024-2025.
MF 6.6.25
MF 3.21.25 | MF 3.28.25 | MF 4.11.25 | MF 4.18.25 | MF 4.25.25 | MF 5.2.25 | MF 5.9.25 | MF 5.16.25 | MF 5.23.25 | MF 5.30.25MF 1.7.25 | MF 1.14.25 | MF 1.21.25 | MF 1.28.25 | MF 2.4.25 | MF 2.11.25 | MF 2.18.25 | MF 2.25.25 | MF 3.7.25 | MF 3.14.25
MF 10.22.24 | MF 10.29.24 | MF 11.8.24 | MF 11.15.24 | MF11.22.24 | MF 12.3.24 | MF 12.10.24 | MF 12.17.24
MF Summer24 | MF 8.25.24 | MF 9.3.24 | MF 9.10.24 | MF 9.17.24 | MF 9.24.24 | MF 10.1.24 | MF 10.8.24 | MF 10.15.24We have done it! Our students have learned so much about the Fundamentals of Music for 39 weeks, and much, much more. This class was really a class of CAD - Class About Details!
Here are some of the topics we have covered:
Rhythm - Whole, Half, Quarter, Eighth, & 16th Note/Rest
Pitches - Letter names
Intervals - Major, Minor, Perfect, Augmented, Diminished
Scales - Major, Minor (3 types), Pentatonic, Whole-tone, Chromatic, Blues
Chords - Major, Minor, Augmented, Diminished
Music Symbols - Clef, Key Signature, Time Signature, Dynamics, Repeat Signs
Music Terms - Dynamics, Articulation
Ear Training - Rhythm, Pitches, Scales, Chords
Compositions - Rhythm, Melody, Lyrics
Transpositions - Major, Minor
Structure & Forms - Binary, Ternary, Rondo
Music Genres - Western Classical, Popular, Folk, Religious
Western Classical Music History - Gregorian Chants through 21st Century
Body Percussion - Incorporates Body Movements from Head to Toes
Bucket Drumming - Basic Drumming Skills, including 12 paradiddlesThe lesson slides will stay on the Samueli Academy site for future uses.
Look at the results of the class survey:
Enjoy a fantastic summer!
This must be the biggest week in the Music Fundamentals class! We studies the contemporary styles in architecture, art and music. The contemporary architecture around the world showed that the sky is the limit. The contemporary art expresses more than just personal ideas of the artists. And, the contemporary music is also very different from the previous periods. Wow! Life goes go!
Here are some of the buildings that we saw and not limited to music performing arts centers:
How about the World Trade Center Transportation Hub? We should have a field trip for that!
Look at the arts:
The music samples were very different from one to another:
From contemporary music to preparing for the final, students worked on clapping and counting at the same time. Believe or not, it is NOT easy.
Then there was the Film Music unit. From the silent movie made in 1896, then "Don Juan", the first movie with sounds, to "Casablanca" for students to see the progress made in the film industry. Finally, we studied as few clips from the following composers:
John Williams - the most awarded film composer who also composed concert music for orchestra, chamber groups, and solo works.
Danny Elfmann
James Horner
Hans Zimmer
And, Michael Giacchino was a video game composer first, with his experience working on Disney projects, eventually, he became a film composer and now a director!
With a transition from Film music to video game music, we learned about the history of the video game consoles and checked out some of the great video game music:
At the end of the week, we had our year-end final. Students had to do the following:
• Choose a rhythmic pattern to clap and count, while being recorded,
• Listen and draw four rhythmic patterns including quarter note/rest, eighth notes, 16th notes, and 16th-note combinations,
• Identify musical note letter names,
• Listen and draw four melodic lines,
• Identify intervals, including Major, Minor, Perfect, Augmented, and Diminished intervals,
• Create a scale by using key signature and/or accidentals, that could be Major, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Pentatonic, Whole-tone, Chromatic, or Blues scale,
• And, build Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished chords.
One more week of school to go! Enjoy a fantastic weekend!
It is a big celebration of Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in our class! We squeezed Yo-yo Ma, Michelle Yeoh, Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole, Bruno Mars, Yuja Wang, and Olivia Rodrigo into our lessons. Many of the fun facts about these stars were surprising for our students to learn.
The student-composed Body Percussion exercise is coming along with more students are able to stomp eighth notes while clap 16th notes/rests during rehearsals. We continue to review rhythmic patterns that would be possible to be used as our "live" portion of the Final in the last week of school. The patterns were made with:
Quarter Notes
Eighth Notes
Sixteenth Notes
Combinations of Eighth and Sixteenth Notes
Quarter Rests
Eighth Rests , and
Sixteenth Rests
The other musical topics included pitches, intervals, scales, and chords.
To further exam Yo-yo Ma's "Silk Road Project", we studied the western and eastern musical instruments that were used in the project and we visited the "Royal Opera House Muscat, Oman" via the internet.
To have fun, everyone tried their rhythm skills by playing the "Game of Seven of Seven" with Ms. Lee. No one can go as fast as Ms. Lee. We will try it again next week!
Enjoy a safe and fun long weekend!
We started this week with a celebration of Stevie Wonder's 75th Birthday! What a musician! He has done it all, starting at age 11!?
Our Body Percussion exercise is coming together with the big and small groups rehearsals. We continue to review rhythmic patterns that were created by our students. The patterns were made with:
Quarter Notes
Eighth Notes
Sixteenth Notes
Combinations of Eighth and Sixteenth Notes
Quarter Rests
Eighth Rests , and
Sixteenth Rests
The final goal is to make a video with flawless movements and an upbeat tempo, before the finals week.
May is the International Drum Month. Yes, we studied drums from all over the world, and there are lots of them!
This week was also the Chords Reviews week. We looked into Major, Minor, Augmented, and Diminished Chords of several different keys, with writing exercises, ear training, and games on Quizizz.com.
To have fun, everyone tried their rhythm skills by playing the "Rhythm Cat" on Ms. Lee's iPad. It was tough for many students to keep the beats and give rests and hold the spot for longer notes, like Half, Dotted Half, and Whole notes. We will try it again next week!
It is a week of scales at the Music Fundamentals class. We reviewed the Major, Minor, and Pentatonic Scales, then had Ear Training on the subjects. To make it more interesting, students learned to write Whole-Tone and Chromatic scales. By moving a few things around, we also learned the Blues scale and studies the "Blue Note" in different Blues scales.
Missing the "Cinco de Mayo" by one day, we still had plenty of things Mexican to learn:
• Mariachi Band
• The Instruments used in a Mariachi Band
• Guitarron vs. Vihuela
• La Raspa
• Jarabe Tapatio
• Cielinto Lindo - sung by Luciano Pavarotti & Enrique Iglesias, with a children's choir
• La Cucaracha
• Las Chiapanecas
• La Bamba
Our students did more transpositions in class this week. Everyone had the opportunity to transpose a Minor Third down in front of the class. Along the similar tones of a Theremin, we learned about the Otamatone, an electronic instrument that was invented in Japan in 2009.
As the week comes to an end and to celebrate Irving Berlin's birthday, we studies about this wonderful American Composer who composed "White Christmas", "God Bless America", and more. It was also a perfect time to wrap up all the scales we did this week!
Week 34 brought us more rhythm exercises and body percussion. Every student had the chance to practice in front of a video recorder. Some of us were thinking and clapping along the way, while others were really sure of what they were doing! We took time to learn more about transposition and revisited all the intervals, from Unison to Octave!
In the meantime, we learned about a new instrument called Theremin, that uses electricity, oscillators, antennas and a speaker. It was very interesting to learn an even newer invention called MIDI Theremin that used a computer controller!
Our students did more transpositions in class this week, from Half Steps up and down to Major Thirds up and down. We had plenty of time to practice and listen to the intervals as we did the work on paper. Some students even added Key Signatures to their work! The most challenging portion about the intervals was the Ear Training. Not all students could tell the differences between minor changes from one interval to another. However, each of the intervals were spelled out on the board for students to gain easy access during the Ear Training time.
To celebrate with the new Canadian Prime Minister, we learned a little Canadian history and listened to Canadian Folk Songs from Quebec, British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Ontario.
What a week that we spent to learn about transposition and create our own Body Percussion patterns! We created a 5-part Body Percussion sheet music and everyone participated in the world premier ensemble and took turns to listen and try each part! It was really fun to layer the rhythm too!
Due to the nature that most of our students did not have music learning experience prior to joining the Samueli Academy, to differentiate the three different minor scales, natural, harmonic, and melodic, was difficult. But we are learning!
Our student learned the transposition skills from working on the board in front of everyone and individually on paper. To prepare for the music final, the reviews have begun. This week we focused on the topic of rhythm. One of the students became the teacher for a few minutes to explain to the class how he work on transposition. His direction was precise and clear. That helped a lot of the students to understand how to move the music around on staff lines.
In our spare time, which was very little, we studied the marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, and ocarina. The marimba originated from Africa and traveled with people who moved to other continent. It became the Guatemala's national instrument!
Ocarina is a fun little instrument, originally made with clay all around the world. It comes in different shapes and sizes and materials. Who knew a pumpkin could be an instrument?
After a wonderful week spent learning about Romanticism and music in Binary form, we moved onto the Impressionism and did some of our own music compositions.
Many paintings from this time period were done by French painters, but there were painters from other countries as well, Such as Mary Cassatt, an American painter.
We learned to use only five consecutive pitches to write short melodies, but still incorporated with Time Signatures and Barlines to get organized. They may not be harmony ready, but we are on the right track!
Welcome back from a fabulous Spring Break! We continue to learn more about the fundamentals of music. In the meantime, we studied Romanticism and music in Binary form this week and listened some famous music.
We learned that music and art went hand in hand during the Romanticism Period. It started out as an expression movement in the Western Europe, and moved across Europe quickly, then went internationally by the late 19th century.
The Programme Music and Operas during this time period were very different than the "Absolute Music" earlier. By this time, symphonic music had purposes and they told stories like an opera or a ballet.
With the strong music influences, Binary form became a standard for the current popular music. We went back to study Mozart's first composition, K.1a, Andante in C Major, to understand the Binary form. This copy of Mozart's song was written by Leopold Mozart for the then 5 year old Mozart.
It has 4 measures of 3 4 Time Signature and 6 measures of 2 4 Time Signature. So, 3 X 4 = 6 X 2 was the form for this song! It was very well balanced!
The Samueli Firewolf Festival is here and the seventh graders in the Music Fundamentals class did a fantastic Bucket Drumming Presentation right at the top of all presentations!
This is finally the Bucket Drumming Presentation week. We have studied our music about its:
• Composer - Edvard Grieg
• Time Signature - Common Time
• Key Signature - B (Harmonic) Minor
• Opening with horn on Dominant and a Fermata
• Use of accidentals
• Structure of the music - Sections A, B, C, and Finale
• Use of Sequence, Block/Broken Chords and Arpeggio
• One continuous Accelerando
• One continuous Crescendo
• Staccato everywhere
During our down time from practicing bucket drumming, we played a Jeopardy game of music that includes:
• Music Notes,
• Rests,
• Dynamics,
• Time Signatures,
• And More!
Happy Spring Break!
Happy birthday to Johann Sebastien Bach & Modest Mussorgsky on March 25th!
We continue to refine our Bucket Drumming for the Firewolf Festival, 3/26/25. Just a few days we will be on the stage!
Right after Saint Patrick's Day, we studied Irish music: instruments, folk music, modal scales, and more.
We learned about the genre of musical theatre and watched videos of works by the following musicians:
• Leonard Bernstein
• Stephen Sondheim
• Sir Andrew Lloyd Wbber
With the following music vocabulary, students learned to describe "In the Hall of the Mountain King":
Edvard Grieg
Accelerando
Arpeggio
Block/Broken Chords
Crescendo
B Melodic Minor
Common Time
Staccato
SequenceHappy birthday to Albert Einstein & Happy Pi Day!
We continue to refine our Bucket Drumming for the Firewolf Festival, 3/26/25. Before you know it, we will be on the stage!
This week we covered the architecture, arts, and folk music from Northern Europe. We have visited the following countries:
Due to their geographical locations, they have very similar cultures. And, due to the nature of similar folk music in that region, we also studied the bagpipes and the uilliann pipes.
We celebrated Albert Einstein's birthday and Pi Day together on Friday, 3.14.25.
Our students could earn extra credits by doing the classworks over with correct answers, or creating more of their own rhythms and lyrics for what we have covered so far. They will receive double the points!
In case you would like to see the whole video regarding π , the link is here, and the movie, "Life of Pi", the links is here.We continued the studies of concepts of Major, Minor, Perfect, Augmented, and Diminished in intervals and chords, and applied them in scales. And played the scales on virtual piano.
As we move through the Western Music History, we came upon Ludwig Van Beethoven this week in our class.
We continued the studies of concepts of Major, Minor, Perfect, Augmented, and Diminished in intervals and chords, and applied them in scales. And played the scales on virtual piano.
For Dr. Seuss' birthday, we studied the lyrics in "The Lorax", then use "Twinkle, Twinkle" as the melody to write our own lyrics. Using the ternary form, ABA, students were creating lyrics with:
• A main topic
• Either four or six sentences, and
• Seven syllables in each sentenceBelieve or not, some students had a tough time to come up with a topic, while others didn't understand the concept of syllables. This was indeed a good exercise for all. Then, we added rhythm challenges to this week's lesson.
By closing out the Western Classical Music period, students learned more about Beethoven's compositions and watched some fabulous performances from piano sonatas, piano trios, to Symphony no.9.
This is the last week of the Black History Month and there are so many musicians to celebrate with and so much music to learn in our class.
During our lessons, we studies the concepts of Major, Minor, Perfect, Augmented, and Diminished in intervals and chords, and played these intervals and chords on virtual piano. We visited musicians' works, such as:
• Missy Elliott
• Diana Ross
• Tina Turner
• DJ Kool Herc
• Sam Cooke
• Charlie Parker
• Marvin Gaye
• Jimi Hendrix
• Bob Marley
• Miles Davis
• Aretha Franklin
• Little Richard
• Prince
• Jennifer Hudson
• John Legend - (Glory)
• The Supremes
• The Pointer Sisters
• Sister Sledge
• The Temptations
• Earth, Wind, and Fire
• Boyz II Men
• Jon Batiste - (Freedom, American Symphony), and
• Michael JacksonSince the Samueli Academy is a technology and art school, we also visited the Academy Award-winning short animation, "Hair Love", created by Matthew Cherry, Everett Downing Jr., and Bruce W. Smith.
Who can overlook Michael Jackson's contribution to American music? He was the king!
We are back to learning more music and study the time period called "Classical Music Period" in both Western and Eastern styles this week. Through the centuries of Eastern Classical Music, we learned about the Persian traditional music, Arab-Andalusi Music, Indian Music and the use of their instruments.
In the Eastern Classical music genre, we saw people from countries like Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Arabia, Yemen, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Armenia, Greece, Israel, Syria, and India, play some very different string instruments:
• Rababa
• Kamanche
• Rebab
• Gadulka
• Sitar
• Oud
• Komuz
• Mandore
• Torban
• Bandura
• CobzaWhen we switched to the Western Classical music studies, we compared the time frame to the Eastern Classical music period and then reviewed the three different styles of minor scales and focused on the Natural and Harmonic minors this week. Our Ear Training included the Compound Duple rhythms and the melodies of the minor scales. We also listened to music of the early-, mid-, and late Classical Music period from masters, such as C.P.E. Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert.
With the use of students Chromebook, we could study minor scales on a virtual piano at mussica.com/piano.
This was a short week with no school on Friday! With the Firewolf Festival on the schedule, we practiced our Bucket Drumming for days; however, due to the heavy rain forecast, the Festival was rescheduled to late March. We had a quick lesson plan change. We listened to Michelle Obama's speech about "Character Building" and learned a lot more about Black History in America.
With the Firewolf Festival rescheduled and disappointments, we switched gears to study the rhythms about "Compound Duple" and listened to different performances of "Lift Every Voice and Sing", sung by Ray Charles, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, and Ledisi at Super Bowl LIX. We studied the following musicians one by one with their music and possible recordings and videos. There is more to learn next week.
Our students studied the differences between Simple Triple and Compound Duple and composed their own rhythms.
Happy February! It is the Black History Month and we have lots to celebrate!
Do you know the song that Alicia Keys sang in the video above? It is called "Lift Every Voice and Sing" and was composed by brothers, J. Rosamond Johnson, musician, and James Weldon Johnson, the NAACP leader, in 1900. As part of a celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday on February 12, 1900, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first publicly performed by 500 school children at the Stanton School in Jacksonville, Florida. The school principal, James Weldon Johnson, wrote the words and Johnson's brother Rosamond set them to music. The NFL began incorporating this Black national anthem into its pregame ceremonies in 2020, a significant step following the protests against police brutality, the death of George Floyd, and the movement of "Black Lives Matter.".
Back in the classroom, as we were getting ready for a bucket drumming presentation, we also took time to learn about the "Compound" meters. The first rhythm was six eighth notes per measure, called "Compound Duple" because the six eighth notes were divided into two groups of three. One can count 1-2-3-4-5-6, or "One-and-a, Two-and-a" for accuracy.
We studies music of many musicians, such as:
Scott Joplin
Duke Ellington
Louis Armstrong
Ray Charles
The Marsalis Family
Billie Holiday
Ella Fitzgerald
Sarah Vaughan
Lena Horne, and more...
With another Super Bowl upon us this coming Sunday, does anyone remember Whitney Houston's performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from 1991?
During the week of 1.27.25, Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals class at the Samueli Academy learned about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, celebrated Lunar New Year (with the red envelops), and studied more on the music, culture, and history of the Chinese instruments:
During the week of 1/27/25, we learned and composed the different Pentatonic scales, and played paradiddles to match the music completely to the "In the Hall of the Mountain King", by Edvard Grieg.
Do you know there are many ways to create chamber ensembles with Chinese instruments?
During the week of 1.21.25, Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals class at the Samueli Academy studied the Shakuhachi, a Japanese wind instrument, and studied more on the music, culture, and history of the instrument:
During the week of 1/21/25, we learned and compared more about the major/minor scales and chords, and played paradiddles to match the music of "In the Hall of the Mountain King", by Edvard Grieg.
More than the music ideas of intervals, scales, and chords, we also studied:
• The components of a Shakuhachi and how/where it was/is used,
• The differences between intervals of seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, and octaves,
• The differences between major and minor scales and chords,
• Korean Pop culture, from "Seo Taiji and the Boys", "TVXQ", "EXV", "Black Pink" to "BTS", andDo you know...
The world famous Korean band, "BTS", is taking a break for the time being to allow the band members to finish their duty to serve in the Korean Arm Forces. There is a reunion planned for late 2025. Keep your eyes and ears open!
During the week of 1.14.25, Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals class at the Samueli Academy studied the Theorbo and Hurdy-Gurdy from the Baroque Period, and completed our Bucket Drumming patterns and looked at the Japanese Taiko music, culture, and history at Samueli Academy:
During the week of 1/14/25, we learned more about the Baroque music and instruments and reviewed intervals and major/minor chords, and played paradiddles to match the music of "In the Hall of the Mountain King", by Edvard Grieg.
Above and beyond the music ideas of Baroque musicians, we also studied:
• Famous Baroque style of music can be performed on different instruments
• Instrumental music became more important during Baroque
• The differences between intervals of seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths, and octaves, and
• The sub-structure of "In the Hall of the Mountain King", by Edvard Grieg, meaning the ABA form.Do you know...
The Hurdy-Gurdy functions as a mechanical violin, replacing the bow, there is a wheel attached to a crank. While cranking, the rosined wheel vibrates the strings that make contact with it. It's strings are arranged in 3 groups: low pitched drone strings, melody strings and high pitched drones strings. The melody strings feed into a key box, which replaces a finger/fretboard and has the same chromatic key layout as a piano keyboard. The rest of the strings vibrate a continuous tone like the drones on a bagpipe.
For more information, visit the GurdyWorld.
Happy New Year! Let's welcome everyone to Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals page, designed especially for the Samueli Academy Firewolves! It is 2025, which means there are more new ideas to be learned.
Here are the lessons about Baroque Music and Bucket Drumming at Samueli Academy this week:
During the week of 1/7/25, we spent time to learn about the Baroque Influences and reviewed intervals and scales, and played paradiddles to match the music of "In the Hall of the Mountain King", by Edvard Grieg.
Above and beyond the music ideas of Baroque musicians, we also studied:
• Famous Baroque & Baroque style of architectures around the world, from Europe, Asia, Australia, to Africa,
• Famous Baroque Period paintings, such as works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Caravaggio, and Velázquez,
• Instruments from the Baroque Period, such as Theorbo, Hurdy-gurdy, Musette de Cour, and Pipe Organ,
• The differences between intervals of seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths, and sixths, and
• The structure of "In the Hall of the Mountain King", by Edvard Grieg, for the bucket drumming.Do you know...
The answer to the above question is: With 33,112 pipes, the Boardwalk Organ, in the Convention Center, 2301 Boardwalk Atlantic City, NJ 08401, is considered the largest pipe organ in the world. Yes, here, in the U.S.A.! Learn more about this treasure at https://www.boardwalkorgans.org .
It is the Finals week at Samueli Academy this week.
During the week of 12/17/24 we have taken time to reflect on what we have learned in 18 weeks. Then, we had final exams that includes rhythm and melody era trainings, letter name and interval identification, scale writing, and paradiddles and mixed rhythm patterns drumming playing.
Looking back, on 9/10/24, we did much simpler things in class, such as the patterns below:
This page will be updated again once the school starts again in January. Happy Holidays!
Welcome to Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals page, designed especially for the Samueli Academy Firewolves! We have finished our "Basic Drumming Patterns" video and started to compose our own patterns for possible future showcases!
During the week of 12/10/24 we have learned about the Argentina's folk music and pop music, including the use of the bandoneon in many ensemble music. We also di the following:
1. Identify the intervals of unison through sixths on paper
2. Identify the intervals of unison through sixths by ear
3. Learn the use of the keyboard Online at musicca.com/piano
4. Play more single sixteenth notes and dotted eighth notes in the drumming patterns
5. Use Right and Left direction for more basic drumming patterns
6. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns, including eighth and sixteenth rests
7. Ear Training for intervals of unison through sixths
8. Learn more about Argentina's folk music and pop music
9. Use Google Metronome for class drum playing
10. Reviews for intervals and major scales
During the week of 12/3/24 we have used our drumsticks every day to play many rhythm patterns, and learn about the American Pop:
1. Identify the intervals of unison through fifth, and sixths on paper
2. Identify the intervals of unison through fifth, and sixths by ear
3. Learn the use of the key signatures
4. Play one single sixteenth note and dotted eighth notes in the drumming patterns
5. Use Right and Left direction for more basic drumming patterns
6. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns, including eighth rests
7. Ear Training for intervals of unison through sixths
8. Learn more about American Pop history from the 1940s
9. Use Google Metronome for class drum playing
10. Reviews for major scales
During the week of 11/19/24 we have used our drumsticks every day to play many rhythm patterns, and learn more about the Native Americans:
1. Identify the intervals of unison, major/minor seconds, major/minor thirds, perfect fourth and fifth on paper
2. Identify the intervals of unison, major/minor seconds, major/minor thirds, perfect fourth and fifth by ear
3. Learn the use of the interval of a sixth in Native American music with "Tritonic"
4. Play one single sixteenth note and dotted eighth notes in the drumming patterns
5. Use Right and Left direction for more basic drumming patterns
6. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns, including eighth rests
7. Ear Training for intervals of unison, major/minor seconds, major/minor thirds, perfect fourth and fifth
8. Learn more about Native American music and dance, including the inspiration in movies
9. Listened and watched different high schools performing Native American songs
10. Learned about Antonin Dvorak's influence in American music, with the support from African- and Native-Americas
11. Use Chromebook in class to identify intervals rhythms
Welcome to Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals page, designed especially for the Samueli Academy Firewolves! We have finished our "Drumming Project" video and are looking forward to lots of fun playing together!
During the week of 11/12/24 we have used our drumsticks to play many rhythm patterns, and more:
1. Finished all eleven "Basic Drumming" patterns
2. Identify the intervals of unison, major/minor seconds, major/minor thirds, perfect fourth and fifth on paper
3. Identify the intervals of unison, major/minor seconds, major/minor thirds, perfect fourth and fifth by ear
4. Add one single sixteenth note and dotted eighth notes to drumming patterns
5. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns, including eighth rests
6. Use Right and Left direction for more basic drumming patterns
7. Learn about Native American tribes, populations, languages and cultures
8. Listened to Native American Eagle song and war songs
9. Watched the Osage tribe performance at the Oscar show.
10. Use Chromebook in class to identify intervals
Welcome to Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals page, designed especially for the Samueli Academy Firewolves! We have moved into our "Drumming Project" unit and are looking forward to lots of fun playing together!
During the week of 11/5/24 we have learned the correct ways to hold drum sticks, what is bucket drumming, and more:
1. Continue learning more drumming rhythms
2. Identify the intervals of unison, major/minor seconds, and major/minor thirds on paper
3. Identify the intervals of unison, major/minor seconds, and major/minor thirds by ear
4. Add eighth rests to drumming patterns
5. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns, including eighth rests
6. Practice Bass clef note naming
7. Write intervals on the board
8. Learn about our classmates individually
9. Listen to the music selection for the Drumming Project
10. Use Right and Left direction for more basic drumming patterns
Welcome to Ms. Lee's Music Fundamentals page, designed especially for the Samueli Academy Firewolves! For the Halloween Special, students watched a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's "d minor Toccata & Fugue", played by Xaver Varnus in the Berlin Doom.
During the week of 10/29/24 we have learned the origin of Hip Hop and some performing artists with their early works:
1. Using hand signs and numbers to show pitches of high and low
2. Comparisons between C Major, D Major, E Major, and G Major scales
3. The Dotted Rhythm drumming patterns with dotted 8th and 16th notes
4. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns, including syncopation
5. Practice Bass clef note naming
6. Write Bass letter names on the board
7. Learn about the Hip Hop origin
8. Listen to Male and Female Hip Hop performers (Clean versions only)
9. Use Right and Left direction for more basic drumming patterns
10. Learn to add simple lyrics to rhythm better
During the week of 10/22/24 we have learned the origin of Hip Hop and some performing artists with their early works:
Art
Architecture
Philosophy
Literature
Music
Science/Technology
Politics
Religion
1. Using hand signs to show pitches of high and low
2. Comparisons between C Major and D Major scales
3. The simple drumming patterns with 16th and 8th notes, including sixteenth rests
4. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns, including syncopation
5. Practice Bass clef drawing
6. Create C Major with Bass clef and Staff
7. Learn about the Renaissance Period
8. Listen to instrumental and vocal music from the Renaissance
9. Use Right and Left direction for basic drumming patterns
10. Add simple lyrics to rhythm
During the week of 10/15/24 we have covered Rhythm vs. Pitch in music and several Filipino-American
musicians' works, including pop, rock, R & B, and Hip Hop.
1. Humming and singing the Pentatonic and Diatonic scales with hand signs
2. Comparisons between Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do and C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C
3. The simple drumming patterns with 16th and 8th notes, including syncopation
4. Ear Training with pitches of C-D-E
5. Ear Training with 16th notes drumming patterns
6. The Science and math in pitches
7. Staff and Ledger Lines
8. Different clefs, including percussion clef
9. Study other Body Percussion group presentations
10. Check into "Soundtrap"
Congratulations to our students for a fantastic performance of "Body Percussion" with "The Flight of the Bumblebee"
during the Samueli Academy Gala presentations!During the week of 10/8/24 we have covered Pentatonic and Diatonic scales in music and many Hispanic-American
musicians' works, including pop, rock, R & B, Hip Hop, classical, opera, and composers too!
1. Humming and singing the Pentatonic and Diatonic scales with hand signs
2. Comparisons between Do-Re-Mi and C-D-E
3. The simple drumming patterns with 16th and 8th notes
4. Review dotted rhythms made by sixteenth notes and ties
5. Learning more about Body Percussions
6. Playing the "Pass the Beat Around the Room" rhythm game
7. Ear training exercises for Pentatonic scales and Kodaly hand signs
During the week of 10/8/24 we have covered Pentatonic and Diatonic scales in music and:
1. Comparison between the Pentatonic and Diatonic scales in music uses
2. The solfege in Diatonic scale with a "Ti", and its hand sign
3. The history of Gregorian Chants - the oldest form of music notation in the Western Music History
4. Review dotted rhythms made by sixteenth notes and ties
5. Playing in instrumental ensembles with shakers and drums
6. "Pass the Beat Around the Room" rhythm game
7. Playing percussion instruments with precise 16th note rhythms
8. Ear training exercises for Pentatonic scales and Kodaly hand signs
9. Finalizing our Gala presentation. Our students are ready for the presentation on Saturday, 10/5/24
During the week of 9/24/24 we have covered Pentatonic and Diatonic scales in music and:
1. Review notation system and learning about the "dotted" function for notes and rests, and the function of a "Tie"
2. What is a pitch and how do you make it?
3. What is a music scale and how do you make it?
4. Pentatonic Scale vs. Diatonic Scale
5. Kodaly hand signs for the entire scale
6. Review dotted rhythms made by sixteenth notes and ties
7. What are instrument families?
8. Chinese instrument - Guqin
9. One of the oldest teachers - Confucius
During the week of 9/17/24 we have covered "Fibonacci" in music and:
1. Sixteenth Note & Rest, and the variations of combinations of sixteenth notes
2. Review notation system and learning about the "dotted" function for notes and rests, and the function of a "Tie"
3. The Dotted Quarter Note & Rest
4. Music is math - especially in divisions for eighth and sixteenth notes/rests
5. Review of the lyrics/poem of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
6. What is a "Canon" in music? How does it work?
7. How cool is "The Maple Leaf Rag!"
8. What is Fibonacci number sequence? How does it apply to the law of music?
9. A diatonic scale is--
1. Patriot Day
2. More Time Signatures that are based on Quarter Note as one beat
3. Sixteenth Notes/Rests
4. Cut Time/ Alla Breve
5. Dotted Rhythm
6. Combinations of 16th and 8th Notes
7. Rhythm Composition with Syllables
8. Dotted Quarter Note/Rest
9. Solfege - Do Re Mi
10. The origin of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Week of 9/3/24 we have covered:
1. More Time Signatures that are based on Quarter Note as one beat
2. Pitches are made with different speeds of sound waves
3. Review notation system and learning about the "dotted" function for notes and rests
4. Listen to four-beat rhythmic patterns - including mixing all types of notes and rests for Ear Training
5. Study the structure of "The Flight of the Bumblebee"
6. Create more physical patterns for body percussion
7. Music is math - especially in divisions for eighth notes/rests
Week of 8/25/24 we have covered:
1. Major music genres and styles
2. Major religious buildings around the world
3. Review notation system and learning about the "dotted" function for notes and rests
4. Create four-beat rhythmic patterns - including mixing all types of notes and rests
5. Study the structure of "The Flight of the Bumblebee"
6. Create physical patterns for body percussion
7. Rhythm is number one! - ALWAYS!
8. Music is math - especially in divisions
Before the first class, students were recruited during last week of school year, 23-24, and new student orientation.
If you have any questions about "Music Fundamentals", please send an email to Ms. Lee at KLee@samueliacademy.org.
Who is Ms. Lee? - Click here to read about her.
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