The Anvil Chorus

Vedi! le fosche notturne spoglie
de' cieli sveste l'immensa volta;
sembra una vedova che alfin si toglie
i bruni panni ond'era involta.
All'opra! all'opra!
Dagli, martella!
Chi del gitano i giorni abbella?
La zingarella!

Versami un tratto; lena e coraggio
il corpo e l'anima traggon dal bere.
Oh guarda, guarda! del sole un raggio
brilla piu vivido nel tuo bicchiere.
All'opra! all'opra!
Chi del gitano i giorni abbella?
La zingarella!

February Newsletter

Lower Grade Music Newsletter: January, 2011

Dear P.S. 58 Families,

Throughout the month of February, students in grades Pre-K through 2 will be working on the following:

Pre-K cycle: Students will continue to identify individual tones and dynamics

Students will continue to identify dynamic and pitch contrasts

Introduction to improvisation through movement and percussive instrumental play.

Kindergarten: Kindergarten students are expressing and discussing how music makes them feel through song, dance and visual art. Throughout February, students will be exposed to a variety of vocal and dance pieces by African-American composers, and begin discuss how music is created, and the motivation behind the musical composition.

First Grade: To compliment Black History Month, this month’s focus will be on famous African American musicians. We will be listening to and learning songs from various musical genres, including jazz, hip-hop and rap. The emphasis of this month will be on the value of lyrics in songs. Students will also brainstorm ideas for songs in groups, and begin a song-writing project.

Second Grade: Second grade students will also be learning about famous African American musicians, and were introduced to this unit through the story “When Marian Sang,” the story of Metropolitan Opera star Marian Anderson, by author Pam Nuñoz Ryan and illustrator Brian Selznick. We will use this story as an opportunity to begin our opera unit, during which time we will learn about opera from every angle, including production. More information about a very special collaboration will be forthcoming.

Isabella singing "Moon River"

Tornado hits Brooklyn!

In the days that followed that CRAZY storm, students used their bodies to re-create sounds they heard as the tornado approached, hit, and left Brooklyn. Hit play, close your eyes, and listen carefully. Then play it again and see just how we did it!

Sadie singing "Moon River"

Check out our first attempt at creating "home-made" music videos of our in-class rehearsals. This is Sadie singing "Moon River" with 2-233. The camera's a little shaky, but our beautiful voices make up for it!!

Met HD Live in Schools!

The Metropolitan Opera has just released the schedule for their MET HD Live in Schools series These operas a screened LIVE from the Met for free at a number of NYC public schools across all five boroughs! For information regarding locations and free ticket reservations, click here.

Don Pasquale - Donizetti

Saturday, November 13, 2010 @ 1pm

Don Carlo - Verdi

Saturday, December 11, 2010 @ 1pm

La Fanciulla - Puccini

Saturday, January 8, 2011 @ 1pm

Lucia di Lammermoor - Donizetti

Saturday, March 19, 2011 @ 1pm

Le Comte Ory - Rossini

Saturday, April 9, 2011 @ 1pm

Il Trovatore - Verdi

Saturday, April 30, 2011 @ 1pm

"Speed of Sound" by Coldplay

Students in Second Grade are learning "Speed of Sound" by Coldplay. Such an amazing song. To see the original music video (which I was not able to embed due to copyright restrictions, click here