Grade 2 Music Update

Hello Grade 2 families,

Here is an update of what we have been up to in Grade 2 Music so far this year.

We began our year with some simple fun with music, by learning two new songs, in order to sing all together with the rest of the school at our first assembly. We learned the Beatles’ “ObLaDi ObLaDa” as well as the Hebrew song “Acheinu”. We spoke about the meaning of the songs, which relate to family and people we care about. We sang the songs together with the entire school at our first Rosh Chodesh assembly, which we have each month. These assemblies are a great opportunity to demonstrate our “RUACH” and togetherness.

Since the Jewish holidays have ended, we have focused on understanding rhythm in songs. Students were able to clap along to syllables in a song and learned to count how many syllables are in each line of a short song that we practiced together.

In our newest unit that we just began, we started to learn about musical notes and rests and practiced understanding the difference between whole notes, half notes, quarter notes and eighth notes. We will continue learning this for another couple of weeks, before beginning to learn Chanukah songs as well as their meanings and how they relate to the miracles of the holiday.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with your children and I look forward to a year of fun and learning ahead.

Moreh David Kogut

About Your Music Teacher

Dear OJCS Families,

I am honoured to be back, teaching music at OJCS once again this year. I am privileged to have met many of you and I hope to meet all families this year. I wanted to introduce myself and let you know about me and what I have done to lead up to my role in OJCS.

I was born and raised in the Montreal Jewish community and a graduate of Hebrew Academy high school. I graduated Dawson College from the Social studies program, completed my psychology degree from Concordia University and completed my Master’s of Jewish education and administration from Azrieli at Yeshiva University. I also attended Yeshivat Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem. I am a Chazan and have lead services in many Orthodox and Conservative synagogues in Montreal, Seattle and Ottawa.

This will be my 17th year teaching at a Jewish day school. I worked at the Seattle Hebrew Academy for 12 years as a music and Jewish studies teacher. I also taught at the Torah Day school of Ottawa for three years, before joining the OJCS team as a music teacher in the lower school and the Rabbinics teacher in the middle school. I am also a Bar and Bat mitzvah teacher and have been training students for over 25 years.

My goal for music at OJCS is primarily to have fun! I offer the students a more energetic class full of fun, laughter and music. I teach Jewish songs throughout the year and engage different classes with different types of music related projects, including instruments, song recordings and music video production. Each month, the school organizes an all school assembly for Rosh Chodesh, where all students come together to sing along to our songs of the month, among many other fun and unifying activities that we participate in together.

Please always feel free to reach out to me about your children or about the music program. I love hearing from you! I will always respond to emails. d.kogut@theojcs.ca.

Thank you and have a wonderful year!

Moreh David Kogut

Grade 2-5 Music

Hello OJCS families,

Welcome back to school! I am excited to have the privilege to be teaching music to your children once again. I will be in touch throughout the year by posting updates on this blog. I will send emails to each class with a link to this blog and I ask that you subscribe to the grade level that your children are in, so you can continue to see my updates. I will post regularly, so that you can follow what we will be doing in class and encourage your children to practice at home for any songs or lessons that we learn in class.

To begin the year, I have decided to teach two songs to every class from Grade 2-5. Our goal is to learn to sing these songs, so we may all join together as a school and sing together, bringing the unity and RUACH (spirit) that will create pride in our school and our studies. The first song, is a classic by the Beatles, called Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da. This song represents life, endurance and positivity.

The second song is a Jewish song called “Acheinu”. this is a very well known Jewish song that represents unity in the Jewish people. I am including links to both of these songs below, so students can listen and get to know the songs better this week.

I’m wishing all families a successful start to your school year. Please don’t hesitate to be in touch with me at any time. I will reply to all emails at d.kogut@theojcs.ca.

Acheinu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZaiZ1E95u0

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRtAO-nffz0

Hallel Song of the Month – Tevet

Dear OJCS Family,

This month, the Hebrew month of Tevet, we are learning our third song of the Hallel prayer service. This song begins with the chant of the verse “Pitchu li…” in the traditional Hallel nussach (melody) and continues with a song at the words “Odecha, ki anitani…”. Grades 2-5 are learning this song in class and we will all come together to sing as a school at our next Rosh Chodesh assembly for the month of Shevat, on Thursday, Jan 30th. The words in Hebrew and English transliteration are below.

Enjoy!

Moreh David Kogut

פִּתְחוּ לִי שַׁעֲרֵי צֶדֶק

אָבֹא בָם, אוֹדֶה יָהּ. זֶה הַשַּׁעַר לַיְיָ

צַדִּיקִים יָבֹאוּ בוֹ

אוֹדְךָ כִּי עֲנִיתָנִי וַתְּהִי לִי לִישׁוּעָה

אֶבֶן מָאֲסוּ הַבּוֹנִים הָיְתָה לְרֹאשׁ פִּנָּה

מֵאֵת יהוה הָיְתָה זֹּאת הִיא נִפְלָאֹת בְּעֵינֵינוּ

זֶה הַיוֹם עָשָׂה יְיָ, נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בוֹ

pitchu li sha’arei tzedek, avo vam, odeh yah.

Zeh hasha’ar ladonai tzaddikim yavo’u vo.

Odecha ki anitani vattehi li lishu’ah.

even ma’asu habbonim hayetah lerosh pinnah.

Me’et adonai hayetah zot hi nifla’ot be’eineinu.

Zeh hayom asah adonai, nagilah venismechah vo.

Hallel songs

Hello OJCS families!

We have been learning songs for the holiday prayer service of Hallel in our music classes. Each month, OJCS holds an all school assembly in honour of the new Jewish month on the monthly holiday of Rosh Chodesh. It is traditional to say the Hallel service in our morning prayers on Rosh Chodesh. At our assemblies, we sing one song from Hallel, as a school all together.

Here are recordings and the words to the two songs that we have learned so far this year.

Betzeit Yisrael

H’ Zecharanu Yevarech

Words for both songs:

Betzeit Yisrael and H’ Zecharanu

Grade 2 Music

Music in Grade 2 this year has been fun and educational. This is specifically a Jewish music class, where we learn songs in both English and Hebrew and connect them to ourselves as young Jewish students. We have been learning songs that correspond to Jewish Holidays and learning why we sing them and why they are important to us. Some songs we have learned are “Avinu Malkeinu”, “Ki Mitzion” and Vekarev Pezureinu”. We also always take some time to talk about the Holidays and learn some more facts and reinforce what they are learning with their Hebrew teachers.

As the year progresses, we will continue learning songs for Jewish holidays, we will learn songs for Shabbat and spend some time learning more songs from birkat hamazon/grace after meals. We will be doing class recordings of many of the songs we learn and they will be shared on the blog, as we record them. We have also had the chance to learn about the guitar, which is the instrument that I use in class to lead the songs that we sing. We have learned about how it produces sound, as well as the names and functions of many of the parts of the guitar. We also had the opportunity to have an electric guitar in class and understand how it works a little differently than an acoustic guitar.

The energy in our music classes has been very positive and it’s been an exciting time, where learning feels a little different than it does in other parts of the day!

Avinu Malkeinu

In Kindergarten to Grade 2, we are currently learning a new song for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The song is Avinu Malkeinu in the classic tune. You can listen to it and practice it here and be prepared to sing along at whichever synagogue you may attend for the High Holidays.

Avinu Malkeinu Chaneinu Va’aneinu

Ki Ein Banu Ma’asim

Ashe Eemanu Tzedakah Vachesed

Vehoshi’einnu

אַבִנוּ מָלַכֵנוּ

אַבִנוּ מָלַכֵנוּ חַנֵנוּ וָעַנֵנוּ

כִי אֵין בָנוּ מַעֲשִים

עֲשֵה עַמֵנוּ צְדָקָה וַחֶסֶד

וְהֹשִׁעַנֵוּ

Grade 2 Music

In Grade 2 music we’ve been doing a lot of great things! Since our last post, we’ve worked on singing and school spirit by learning and performing the OJCS anthem. The class has also been exposed to a variety of instruments and we’ve discussed how they work, make sound, and are played. We’ve also more recently been developing music reading skills and identifying rhythms. And of course we’ve been having fun along the way!

Grade 2 Music

In Grade 2 music class, we have been doing many great things! As you can see in the video, the students have been learning a warm-up song which they sing at the beginning of every class to get them in music mode. We have also been learning all about different kinds of instruments, some common and others less-so. As a class, we’ve been looking at identifying instruments, how to play the instruments, how the instruments produce sound, and other unique qualities about each of them. We’ve also been having a lot of fun and doing many games along the way. I hope the students are having as much fun classes I am. Let’s keep up the great work!

Check out the singing! Grade 2