Painting Jazz

Our students no longer go to a music teacher for their specials. My school decided that since we were beginning a Dual Language program that they would offer Spanish as the elective instead. I feel like instruction about the arts is really important. So I've tried to pick up the slack a bit in class and still introduce musical concepts. We talked about jazz music this week. 

I love the story of Louis Armstrong and how a police officer gave him a trumpet which started him down a road that would end up making him very successful. It's amazing to me how sometimes one little act of kindness can change someone's whole life. Brainpop has a pretty good video about him and about how jazz is different from other music.

So we listened to some different jazz songs and then I let the music play and asked them to paint what the music made them think of. I got a lot of rainbows and butterflies-but I also got some who I think were very creative in their responses.

"people in the past"

"a calm day and peaceful"-this little girl worked way after everyone else was done putting in all the details.

This one looks like a stained glass cave to me-my favorite painting of the day!