Highland View ES-Fourth Graders Perform
A Musical Recipe
by Sherri Pfaff
The 4th graders in Ms. Michlewicz’s and Ms. Kulhman’s classes composed a musical recipe for pumpkin stew this fall. The students were put into groups of four people. Each student chose an ingredient from a shopping list to put in the group’s recipe.
After choosing an ingredient, the group had to arrange the words into an order that sounded good to them. Once their arrangement was complete, they had to practice saying the words in order four times without stopping. This created an ostinato (an ostinato is a repeated musical pattern). The groups then had to choose a body percussion (snap, clap, pat, stomp) sound for each word. After practicing their ostinato with body percussion, each group performed for the class.
The following video shows each class performing their ostinati along with the song “Pumpkin Stew.” Ms. Kuhlman’s class is performing the song in rondo form (ABACADAEAFA) and Ms. Michlewicz’s class is performing the piece in ABA form (all of the ostinati are layered together in harmony in the B Section).
The students did a wonderful job on this activity. Several staff members came by to watch our final performances. You are sure to enjoy it as well!