Welcome Message

Greetings from Naveen Cabral, the Primary music teacher for Grades 4 and 5. I have also been assigned the responsibility of a Performance Co-ordinator in the Primary, under which I do run the Primary Musical and the Festival of Choirs. I am very excited to be entering my 13th year in teaching, 11 of which have been with the best of PYP schools. I play the guitar, recorder, keyboard/piano, xylophones and a few other instruments but my forte lies in singing. In addition to my strong PYP experience, I recently completed my Grade 8 Vocals in Trinity - Rock and Pop. I have also completed various other music certifications through the Trinity College of Music. I have been trained by quite a few professionals in different instruments and musical technique. In addition to the Music Together certification that I have, I have attended quite a few IB workshops (PYP). I do perform as a musician in my spare time, as a vent to my outburst of passion and love for music.

I believe my education and degree in my career has mainly been my teaching experience, which has helped me acquire the best from my students as we worked together to create great music and events. My aim will always be to help the students acquire musical skills and knowledge that will help them improve as an overall personality towards a better future for our world.

Monday 16 December 2013

A few pics from today's winter concert. If you have any pics that I could post out here for everyone to see, please send them to me at naveen.cabral.@oberoi-is.org






































Thursday 21 November 2013

Themes For The Winter Concert

Winter Concert - THE WORLD FOR YOU AND ME!!

Grade 1 - Everything Matters!!

Grade 2 - The use of sounds to express ourselves in different cultures from around the world

Grade 3 (D, E and F) - OIS - Core Values and Mission

December 17th - 8.30 am in the MPH.

Be there!!

Monday 11 November 2013

Welcome Back and Winter Concert

A warm welcome to everyone. Guess it was nice having the 10 day break. Especially nice as it was Diwali and there was an amazing aura of lights lit around residences. I would also like to take this opportunity to inform and invite you all to the first big music concert of the year in the primary. This would be the Winter Concert that would take place in December. The scheduled date for the Grades 1, 2 and 3 is Dec. 17th - 8.30 am in the MPH. So mark your calendars and keep yourself free for the children who have already begun with their rehearsals for the big event.

Monday 28 October 2013

Grade 3 - Swimming Swimming

Music helps build up memorisation. And its just not memorisation of the lyrics/words that happens at a single time in a song. Its the rhythm in the tune, the actions that go along and the tune. Inner hearing helps process this faster as you listen at first and then make up the rhythm and melody in your head. Inner hearing - a very good process of learning.

The kids in this activity learn to sing a song, and then are asked to sing the song after erasing a few words off from the song but continue to sing the rest of the song. Thats the time when the students are encouraged to sing that part in their head.

This activity was done a few weeks back.


Potatoes And Tomatoes

The students in their current Unit of Inquiry (in their homerooms) have been learning about food processes. As we began with the Music Theory - Rhythm Composition unit in the music class, there was this song that was composed that spoke about potatoes undergoing processes and what were the wonderful results.

1C performed this song at the assembly yesterday.

Grade 1 Assembly


Sunday 20 October 2013

PTM

Appointments are being scheduled in full swing. HRTs are trying their best to suit the needs of the visiting parents, who will be visiting the school on Friday - October 25th for the Parent Teacher Meetings. We specialists are looking forward to meeting up with parents as well. Unfortunately we will not be able to accommodate every parent on the same day and so we will have sign ups just outside our door to show you which parent has booked the slots and which slots are still available to meet up. We would be meeting up with parents for not more than 10 minutes each slot. Please feel free to send me your appointments well in advance and I will work it out accordingly. If we cannot meet on Friday, we could meet anytime later on any of the working days after scheduling appointments for a mutually convenient time.

Have a nice week ahead 

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Literacy Week

What a wonderful start to the day with books!!! Thats whats happening during this week at school in the primary. There are some other time slots in the day to read as well, that are specially marked for this week. The students will also have other guest readers come into their room to  read them books. I wish I was a student now.

We have this literacy song that I composed. The students are enjoying singing this for sure. I have adapted the words in the song. They belong to a famous poet called Michael Rosen. I have made up the words for the chorus bearing in mind how all the children in primary are participating in the literacy week, reading together. Happy listening!!!



Come from England - Grade 2

As the students are learning about communities in their current UOI, it was enlightening to understand about Mumbai as a community with so many different cultures and people in this city. Here is a song performed by two Grade 2 classes during their assembly last week.


Thursday 10 October 2013

Reflections

Reflections provide meaningful insights into educational strategies and help teachers with great scope for student learning. Here is a summary shot of the responses collected from Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 end of the Unit Reflections for Melody And Vocal Expression.

Grade 1 responses

Grade 2 responses

Grade 3 responses 

Friday 27 September 2013

Grade 1 - Assessments

Summative Assessment - Melody and Vocal Expression - Grade 2

Concepts :- Form, Function

Musical skills:- Solo singing, Pitch Matching, Voice exploration, listening skills, Memorisation

Rubrics for Solo Singing

Mastered - Sings the correct pitches and rhythm
Advanced - Sings most of the correct pitches and rhythm
Competent - Sings a few correct pitches and rhythm
Beginner - Does not respond/sing

Rubrics for Group Singing

Mastered - Participates in the singing throughout the activity
Advanced - Participates in the singing most of the time
Competent - Participates in the singing rarely
Beginner - Does not participate in the singing at all

Task - Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone?

Doggie, Doggie is an activity wherein one student is chosen to sit with his/her back towards the class. An eraser or marker is designate as the doggie’s bone and is kept behind the person. The whole class then sings the song and one person from the rest of the class is chosen to steal the ‘bone’. The person who is right in the front taking the turn, then has to sing “Who stole my bone?” and the person who stole the ‘bone’ has to sing I stole your bone. The person who has stolen the bone is allowed to use his creativity to explore his voice and sound different to be not caught.



Area of assessment
Beginner
Competent
Advanced
Mastered
Solo Singing




Group Singing




Grade 2 - Assessments

Summative Assessment - Melody and Vocal Expression - Grade 2


Concepts :- Form, Function


Musical skills:- Solo singing, Pitch Matching, Steady Beat, Memorisation


Rubrics for Solo Singing


Mastered - Sings the correct pitches and rhythm while keeping a steady beat
Advanced - Sings most of the correct pitches and rhythm while keeping a steady beat
Competent - Sings a few correct pitches and rhythm while keeping a steady beat
Beginner - Does not respond/sing


Rubrics for Group Singing


Mastered - Participates in the singing throughout the activity
Advanced - Participates in the singing most of the time
Competent - Participates in the singing rarely
Beginner - Does not participate in the singing at all


Task - Charlie Over The Ocean


Charlie Over the Ocean is an activity wherein the leader moves around the outside of the ring, He sings each line of the song, which the group repeats responsively. He taps a students at the end of the singing, and that individual so designated, chases the leader around the outside of the ring and tries to catch him before the leader gets to the vacated space.



Area of assessment
Beginner
Competent
Advanced
Mastered
Solo Singing




Group Singing




Wednesday 25 September 2013

Grade 3 - Assessments

The Summative Assessment for Melody and Vocal Expression is pasted below. The students have been informed this week during class about this assessment and have been explained about the rubrics being used.

Summative Assessment - Melody and Vocal Expression - Grade 3


Concepts :- Form, Function


Musical skills:- Solo singing, Pitch Matching, Steady Beat, Memorisation


Rubrics for Solo Singing


Mastered - Sings the correct pitches and rhythm while exploring the voice with creativity
Advanced - Sings most of the correct pitches and rhythm while exploring the voice with creativity
Competent - Sings a few correct pitches and rhythm while exploring the voice with creativity
Beginner - Does not respond


Rubrics for Group Singing


Mastered - Participates in the singing throughout the activity
Advanced - Participates in the singing most of the time
Competent - Participates in the singing rarely
Beginner - Does not participate in the singing at all


Task - Who’s that tapping on my window


The students are all ask to sit together as one person is chosen to be the leader. The person sits separately with his back towards the rest of the students. The entire class sings, “Who’s that tapping on my window? Who’s that knocking on my door?” 2 students are chosen by the teacher as the class sings this. The first one is supposedly ‘mummy’ and the second ‘daddy’. The ‘mummy’ then sings “Mummy’s tapping on the window” followed by the daddy singing “daddy’s knocking at the door”. The students are asked to explore their voices as they sing this as a solo. Exploring their voices to sound different but at the same time matching the pitch and rhythm as they sing.



Area of assessment
Beginner
Competent
Advanced
Mastered
Solo Singing




Group Singing





Grade 3 - Concentration (Movements)

As we reviewed the Concentration activity, we decided to take it a step further by adding movements to the steady beat. The leader has to create movements which is followed by the class, the same class that is also focussing on their listening skills and waiting for their name to be sung and then will have to sing back their name on the same steady beat, as they still continue with the movements. And it definitely looks well co-ordinated too. The keyboard in the meantime is helping the students not only keep up with the steady beat but also match pitch. 

Friday 20 September 2013

Grade 1 - The Chinese Fan

Rote learning, not apt in academics, but in singing, maybe yes. Here the students learn the melody of this tricky song which is sung over and over again because the actions demand the same. So as the students have fun doing those actions, they learn this song as well.




Grade 2 - I Have Lost My Closet Keys

Dynamics of loud and soft singing is what is required to help the person find the 'lost' keys.

A student is asked to go outside the room and then another student in the class is asked to hide the keys. Then the student who has been waiting outside comes back inside the room looking for the keys. The rest of the students who are seated in the class, keep singing "I have lost my closet keys, in my lady's garden" in a continuous loop. They sing loudly when the student who is searching for the key is close to the key and softly when that student is away from the key. Their goal is to help that student find the key. Usually its always found with the help of the 'dynamic' singing - lol, unless Mr. Cabral decides to be naughty. Find out more from your children about what is it that I am referring to.......................




Grade 2 - Grumpy Grizzly


Grumpy Grizzly - An evil, wicked, magical bear who doesn't like his sleep to be disturbed. And hunters who are looking out for this magical bear. Dynamics used are loud and soft while singing. And then a chase to save yourself from that magical bear who will turn you into stone. 








Grade 1 - Hill Hill

Understanding how dynamics affect singing, students in this activity are utilising their knowledge of 'forte' and 'piano' (loud and soft respectively) to sing the Hill song. A short song with a fun ending to it, has kids trying out different tricks to stay in the game. Sol, La and Mi are the notes used in this song.

In this engagement, after singing the song either 'forte' or 'piano', as decided by the one taking the turn, the students have to get across the hill in a manner as mentioned by the teacher. If you are out, you freeze there itself, thus making it difficult for the others to pass. Doesn't it sound like fun!!!






Tuesday 17 September 2013

Grade 3 - An Austrian Went Yodelling

Yodelling is a tricky part in singing as you need to get to your falsetto and back to your normal singing range. The students have fun in this yodelling activity as it also tests their memorisation skills. There is a slight delay and mismatch between the audio and video output of this recording.




Grade 3 - Concentration

Focus and concentration, something we all need to work on. This call and response activity has one and all focusing on the steady beat and listening carefully to when their name is sung. The execution part requires that student to sing back on a steady beat while continuing with the body percussion. The person who gets out is usually asked to turn around and keep a steady beat and is asked to get back in the game in the next round.


Monday 16 September 2013

Grade 1 - The Old Gray Cat

Dynamics play a very important role in music. In this activity, students understand more about loud and soft music and respond accordingly. Children love this game as it also has them running away from the old gray cat. Following instruction by listening is another important concept imparted in this song.


Friday 13 September 2013

Assembly Grade 2 and Grade 3 - Happy Birthday with dance Grade 2 E

The students have been learning the birthday song and today they even sang it at the assembly. Grade 2 E had been working on creating simple dance movements to the music as well. Have fun watching our students dance to Happy Birthday in this video. The chorus is from a Disney Happy Birthday and the verse (melody and lyrics) have been composed by me.






Grade 2 A - The OIS Song



With beautiful lyrics composed by the students of OIS themselves, this song sends out a powerful  message about OIS. Melody and music arrangement by one of our very own music teachers, Mr. Stephen, this song also explores the vocal range spanning over an octave. Just the right thing for our Melody and Vocal Expression Unit as well. This has been taught to the entire primary. Here is Grade 2 A singing it during one of their regular music classes.


Tuesday 10 September 2013

Grade 1 - Green Sally Up

Do our lyrics have to make sense all the time? Can we have fun with some words that do not make any sense. Here is a no-sense song that is also Modal (between major and minor keys) and has some beautiful African harmony in it. The students have to keep a steady beat as they concentrate on singing this beautiful song.


Grade 2 - PE In Music Class

Reinforcing the steady beat concept in music, which is such an important aspect, here is an activity that uses a ball to keep the steady beat. Care is taken to see that the students who are out, do not feel left out of the activity and asked to continue singing and given the responsibility of helping the other students keep the steady beat by clapping along. Sol La Mi and Do are the notes used in this song. 

Grade 3 - Who's That Tapping On My Window?



As we advance with the Melody and Vocal Expression Unit and understand more about using our voices in different ways, here is an activity where the students are allowed to use their creativity to explore their voices to sound 'different'.


Grade 3 - Landlord



Harmony - Not an easy thing in music. Is it really possible to sing in different voices at the same time. Can we really do more than just sing at the same time?? Here we have our students from Grade 3 who themselves had created this body percussion to go along with this jazzy version of the Landlord song. Its hard trying to do both together at the same time. But as we know our students don't give up. The students also get an opportunity to work with each other and help each other in their short comings to make it happen. 

Display Board - Grades 1, 2 and 3

There is a display board down on the 2nd floor near the pit area that is used as a common Music display board. It mainly features the following:-

1) Learner Profile of the month - How we use and follow our PYP Learner Profiles through Music.
For August - we understood about how we were COMMUNICATORS in Music. This month its PERSPECTIVE

2) Composer of the month - "You are never too young to create".
We get to know more about our composers through facts revealed out here, but the name is not put up. Students are expected to INQUIRE and find out about the composer. The students can drop in their names on a chit of paper in the box attached and at the end of the month the class that has attempted most is acknowledged on the display board.

Last month it was 4A

3) Interesting facts about Music - Did you know that Termites ate wood faster when exposed to Rock Music. Similar interesting facts displayed.

So if you have a moment, please stop by and take a look at the Music Display Board on the 2nd floor near the Pit Area. 

Thursday 5 September 2013

Grade 2 - Charlie Over The Ocean



Call and Response. Solo and group singing. This activity has a mix of it all. And a bit of running as well. Students advance with vocal activity as they find themselves singing a solo and the class responds back to the soloist. The students say they find this activity very similar to 'Duck Duck Goose'.


Wednesday 4 September 2013

Grade 1 C - Doggie Doggie



A fun guessing-cum-singing game that promotes solo singing, group singing as well as creativity in exploring your voice to sound differently. 

At The Bottom Of The Sea

Sea weeds at the bottom of the sea. That's how this activity starts with all the students acting as sea weeds at the bottom of the sea. One person is chosen as the leader fish and he/she goes around looking for 'singing sea-weeds' to make them the next leader. A fun music way to get know names of students in the class as well. This is a short clip of the activity.



Tuesday 3 September 2013

It felt awesome to have 187 page views just from last evening!!! Not sure if everyone who seen the page yesterday would be able to view it everyday, but I can assure you, you will have posts almost every working day from my end. I would like to clarify a few things about these posts:-

1) The students in this video are recorded during their normal music class schedules and so emphasis is laid on the activity and not the video recording.

2) Although the same activity is conducted in the entire grade, only one video will be uploaded per activity. I will try my best to upload atleast one video of each and every class engaged in a musical activity for every semester.

So keep reading and I will be glad to fill you in with more as the year passes by.

:-)

Grade 2 - Doe A Deer

Grade 2 singing Doe A Deer, a well known song made famous in the musical 'The Sound Of Music'. The kids here learn about the different notes in a major scale and what other words sound like them. Memorisation of words as well as being exposed and being able to sing in a wide range covering an octave in music are some of the learnings in this activity.

Grade 1 - Elevator

Apart from being exposed to an octave range in singing, students here also get acquainted with how pitch can move from low to high. The concept is helped by this activity wherein the students are asked to form teams of two or three to represent a floor in a departmental store and finalise on one product they would be selling on that floor. They prepare an advertisement of what they are selling as well and then at the appropriate time in the song take turns to sing their part. This way, they would be part of a 'duet' or a 'trio', thus being able to hear themselves better than they would as a class and focus more on singing.


Tuesday 27 August 2013

Grade 3 - Whacky Do Re Mi


Grade 3 - Whacky Do Re Mi

Another fun way of learning about the notes in a scale as well as exploring a good range in singing (octave). This version of Do Re Mi has been sung in a lot of schools world wide. The students in this activity are also keeping a steady beat with the bells as well as singing in two different groups (harmony). Its fun to see how even little students in Grade 3 can sing in different voices at the same time and keep a steady beat with an instrument as well.



Monday 26 August 2013

Grade 3 - Circle Round The Zero

Grade 3 - Movement And Song Activity

This activity consists of movement and song as the students skip around singing in search or a new 'action partner' for themselves.

Circle Round The Zero

Sunday 25 August 2013

Grade 1 - Introduction Activity

Here is an activity that helps students as well as the teacher know the names of other students in the class. This activity comprises of students using a steady beat as they solo sing their names to that steady beat. It is also a form of Call and Response, where the rest of the class replies back to the particular student who sings his/her name.



Bumpity Bumpity Yellow Bus - Name Game Grade 1