Major Generals Song Lyrics

Here are the lyrics for the Major General Song. I dare you to try to sing it in tempo.

I am the very model of a modern Major-General
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news
(pause)
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse
(x3)
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus
I know the scientific names of beings animalcules
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General 

Mr. Kozak

Who's Gonna Stand Up?

Long time no talk.

Because my school celebrated Earth Day today, I decided to have Grade 2 listen to the three versions of Neil Young's Who's Gonna Stand Up (and Save the Earth)? They enjoyed the acoustic version, were humbled by the orchestral version, and rocked out to the live version with Crazy Horse - so much so that we made a rock video with them individually playing air guitar, air drums, or singing.

I wasn't sure if they fully understood the message, since even most adults don't understand the severity of the issue or are in denial to it's causes.

As I was quietly finishing a rubric in my room, I heard a student sing the refrain from across the hall:

"Who's gonna stand up and save the world?"

This quiet little boy's voice singing the world's biggest question suddenly struck me hard.

It continues to ring in my mind...

All the best,

Mr. Kozak

12 Bar Blues thanks to Chuck Berry

First of all, I'm still around! Keep posted for more music education. Now then... Students,

Now you know a little about the 12 bar blues progression thanks to Chuck Berry and his legendary 1958 song "Johnny B. Goode", made famous (again) by the 1985 movie Back to the Future.

The opening guitar riff is taken note for note from the horn section of the song Ain't That Just Like a Woman from Louis Jordan (1946).

The song is so important in music in rock and roll history that it was put on the Voyager 1 Golden Record (by direction of the amazing Carl Sagan) and launched into space. (Voyager 1 is still traveling at 17 kilometers per second and is 19,571,030,000 kilometers from the Earth (yes, that's 19.5 billion).

Just remember I - IV - V - I for next class.

Mr. Kozak

The 6 most insane pieces of classical music in existence

Hello students and parents,

I thought I'd share this article with you. The 6 most insane pieces of classical music in existence.

Happy listening - or not.

Mr Kozak

Music and fire

Students of fire (and music),

This is a 2D Ruben's tube with sound.

"Yes, I really want to light it up."

Mr. Kozak

The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopricy

In your Music Journals:

Write a two sentence summary about The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopricy.

Listen to the song Television, the drug of a nation. Put the lyrics into your Journal.

Write a summary of what the song is about.

HINT: there are website to assist you. Remember to use and hone/sharpen your BIG6 research skills.

The Hip Hop Years - review part 1

The Hip Hop Years

Questions for review:

Where did hip hop start? When?

What type of environment was it?

What type of music was hip hop a reaction to?

What equipment was necessary to make the music?

What part of the song was used by DJ Kool Herc?

BONUS: What is the logo on the orange hat?

What were B Boys/Girls?

What does this dancing and music express?

What three things did Afrika Bambaataa do?

What was the Zulu Nation?

What did the police do about their illegal block parties and why?

Beat matching by knowing the tempo

Grade 9 Students,

To assist you with your mashups, you can use this online metronome tool to tap the tempo of the song you hear. This will give you the beats per minute (BPM) of the song.

When you do it for both tracks and they are the same tempo (for example, 113 BPM), then you can combine them in GarageBand.

MAKE SURE the beats line up. Even though the two songs might be the same tempo, they will be out of sync and the song's rhythm will be bizarre.

It take patience to do this - trial and error.

Mr. Kozak

The consequences of location and reverb when recording music

This video is an amazing demonstration of how the environment affects reverb. Fantastic editing.

Mashups Part 2

Students,

Here's an article explaining how to find the BPM of a song.

Mr. Kozak

Mashups Part 1

Students of music,

Making mashups is not easy, but the end result can be very, very cool.

Remember the basic rules:
1) The two songs have to be in the same tempo
and
2) The two songs have to be in the same meter

We listened to two examples (Radiohead with Dave Brubeck and James Brown with The Beatles)

If you use your BIG6 research skills, you can probably find a good tutorial to help you.

You can also find song banks listing songs with the same BPM (beats per minute)/tempo.

Good luck mashing up!

Mr. Kozak

Nelson Mandela - 1918-2013

A sad day for one of history's most magnificent citizens, Nelson Mandela.

A great opportunity to listen to some music sung in the Xhosa language.

Rest in peace.
Chris Kozak

This is your Brain on Improv

TEDTalks are an amazing collection of videos that really bring concepts to life inside the mind.

Here is one relevant to what the Grade 7 students are doing right now about improv and the brain.

Mr. Kozak

 

Remix assignment

Grade 9 Students,

The GarageBand file to use is in the StudyWiz gallery called 'Remix Assignment'.
Here are the instructions:

Mr. Kozak

David Suzuki's Carbon Manifesto

For those of you who wonder why I changed my theme...

Dr. David Suzuki's Carbon Manifesto.

Mr. Kozak

Grade 9 Today (November 13, 2013

Today:
- Define “arpeggio’ in your Music Journal
- Complete your arpeggio. Upload to StudyWiz. In your Music Journal, tell me what notes you played.
- Complete your ethereal arpeggio. Upload to StudyWiz.
- If your arpeggio was major, make a new one in minor, or vise versa
Mr. Kozak

Amazing Music Site! - BBC Bitesize

Everyone,

This BBC site is a wonderful resource for learning about the elements of music, listening to samples of music, music history, popular music, and world music. It's chat board is changing formats to a blog, so stay tuned. I highly recommend it.

Mr. Kozak

Fair Trade chocolate and music

Students,

Halloween will soon be here, and that means lots of people will be buying chocolate to give out.

Unfortunately, most chocolate is not fair trade.

Watch this informative video to find out more about what fair trade is and why you should make this year a fair trade Halloween year.

Listen to the melody of the Ghanian instruments. You'll be humming the tune by the end of the video.
Mr. Kozak

The San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra

Students,

Learning about classical music can be a little bit scary. There's so much to know about the history of the music, different composers, and sometimes the music can be less exciting than pop music.

Take a look at the San Fransisco Symphony Orchestra website for kids. Write in you Music Journal about whether you think it's too childish for you, but see if you can use it to learn something new about the symphony. 

If the site seems like it's not your level, then check out their regular site. Make notes in your journal about:
- what music they are playing in the future
- how many players are in the symphony

Mr. Kozak

Adjectives to describe music - websites

This website as well as this one are great, wonderful, exemplary, outstanding websites to build your vocabulary to talk about music.

Mr. Kozak