RMS GUITAR SQUAD Debuts at MCS ArtsFest - Dr. Cash Enjoys Performance!

May 22, 2010 - Members of the RMS Guitar Squad and Choir performed at the inaugural Memphis City Schools ARTSFEST. Our school was one of only fifteen in the entire district invited
 to perform at the event!
The performance began with an original 12-bar blues jam in E major. Isiah Rankin sang the Bob Marley classic "Three Little Birds", and Octavia Coley (pictured above) sang an original 12-bar blues she wrote earlier that week. Isiah was joined by Olivia Kennedy for the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling."Dr. Kriner Cash (MCS Superintendent, wearing yellow shirt in photo on right) and Dr. Linda Kennard (Curriculum & Instruction Executive Director) clapped and sang along throughout our performance. Dr. Cash even posed for photos with the ensemble after the performance.

Click Here to watch the videos on the "Guitar" page of our Music & Media Network.

Music Class in the News

On Wednesday, May 18th, reporters from the Memphis Daily News and the Memphis Flyer visited our classroom to learn how we integrate technology into our music program. Our visitors were treated to a live video "jam session" between our class and our violin-playing friends in Fairfax, VA, followed by a demonstration of the various Promethean ActivBoard applications - notation, composer lessons with audio and video elements, interactive review games, and songwriting software.

(Photo: Lance Murphey, Memphis Daily News)

Memphis Daily News writer Richard J. Alley begins his article with the following:

"The walls of a cinderblock city school classroom in East Memphis are hung with posters of John Coltrane, King Oliver, Otis Redding, Elvis Presley, Billie Holiday and a 78-inch interactive whiteboard called an ActivBoard.
In a medium whose foundation is built on the bar chords of the blues and sound of the sax, technology has been introduced to engage children and introduce them to those a world away in Ken Greene’s music class."

Click here to read the entire Memphis Daily News article.
(download .pdf version)

Halley Johnson of the Memphis Flyer says:

"Six students sit facing a large projector screen in Ridgeway Middle School's music room with djembes, or African drums, at their feet. Teacher Ken Greene fiddles with the controls of the computer that sits at his desk, and a classroom in Fairfax, Virginia, materializes on the screen. These students are wielding violins, and their teacher gives the Ridgeway students a thumbs up. Greene leans forward and asks, "Do you mind if we jam with you?'"
Click here to read the entire Memphis Flyer article.
(download .pdf version)

RMS Global Project Video Presentation Posted

Sixth grade students Avery, Chandler, and Lilit filmed and co-produced our Ridgeway/Memphis presentation for our "colleagues" in France, Brazil, and India. The video is part of a global project that has connected our students here at Ridgeway Middle with students in the above-mentioned countries. We have already watched the presentation from our friends in France and added our comments on their Voicethread. We are anxiously awaiting presentations from our friends in Brazil and India.

Watch our presentation video below!

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RMS General Music FILM FESTIVAL featuring the music of Samuel Barber

Seventh grade General Music students have developed films inspired by Samuel Barber’s
 Adagio for Strings. The films were created by the third and seventh period classes using the “arch form”
 of Barber’s Adagio for Strings as their dramatic template.



Students were instructed to create stories that develop tension throughout the ascension of the arch 
form (a long crescendo), reach their dramatic peaks when the music climaxes, then resolve the stories 
as the music winds down. The results were very creative and quite impressive!



WATCH BOTH FILM BELOW, then VOTE for your favorite by clicking on the VOTE NOW! link at the bottom of the page. The winning film will be announced on Friday, April 9th.

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VOTE NOW!

Our First LIVE VIDEO CHAT with Our Partners in FRANCE is a Success!

On Friday, March 19th, Mr. Greene's eighth-grade general music class met their French Global Collaboration partners face-to-face through a live video conference session using Google Video Chat. We encountered a minor technology issue (audio issue) at the start of the session that was quickly addressed. Neither six-hour time difference nor ocean between would keep us from connecting! Minutes into the start of our fourth period class we were able to see and hear each other clearly.

Students on both sides of the Atlantic were delighted to finally speak with and see each other after several weeks of emailing and posting voicethread comments on our project web site. The live exchange was guided primarily by the students' spontaneity and enthusiasm. We held a group discussion on personal interests, got to know a little more about our respective partners, sang a song together (The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love"), and opened the door to a world of exciting possibilities regarding cultural exchanges and educational opportunities.

Video of the event will be posted later today.

RMS GUITAR SQUAD: Off To A Rockin' Start!

The RMS Guitar Squad may only be a couple of weeks old, but the students are playing as if they have been participating in the program for months! The video below - filmed last Friday, February 5th - shows just how well these young guitarists are performing. The 12-bar blues in 'A' demonstrates the students' ability to perform a simple song (Nat'l Standard 2) in a group while reading from a standard 12-bar blues diagram (Nat'l Standard 5) and maintaining a steady beat.


We will also discuss the history of the blues (Nat'l Standard 9), the characteristic use of elements such as repetition, and the common structure of 12-bar blues lyrics (Nat'l Standard 8).

The video has also been posted on the Little Kids Rock web site . LKR is the organization that provided us with the guitars. Thank you, Little Kids Rock!