Remembrance Day and Thank You!

A big thank you to all parents and students who took the time to come and visit me in the music room during our Student Led Conferences!  It was wonderful to meet new parents and to catch up with others.

After the fall break, we have had a new instrument join our classroom.  Thanks to you and Parent Council, we have a new electric piano!  It is so important for students to learn to sing in tune and a piano can be an effective tool for this but only if it is in tune.  If it is out of tune, students will learn to sing out of tune.  Not anymore!  Our Yamaha Clavinova model CLP480 will never require tuning.  It also has powerful built in speakers which will come in handy for assemblies and concerts.  I have even been using the spooky organ sounds for Halloween.

Please join us on Friday, November 7th at 10:45am for our Remembrance Day assembly.  Mrs. Fraser's Grade 6 class has been working especially hard on two beautiful choir pieces which even have four special soloists.  It will also be a great opportunity to hear our new piano.

-Mrs. Irwin

Getting started!

We are well on our way in the music room.  Students have been busy learning songs, music games, and a variety of instruments.

Our Grade 6 class performed a mini concert for the Admin Team as well as the grade 4 and 5 students.  It was a piece called "Splash of Blue" based on rhythms and themes from the famous Blue Man Group.  We will most likely be performing this one for our Spring Concert in May because it was such a big hit!

Mrs. Irwin

Welcome to Music!

My name is Catherine Irwin and it’s my second year as the Music Specialist here at Catherine Nichols Gunn.  This is my tenth year as an elementary music specialist with the Calgary Board of Education.  I have taught music at Mayland Heights, Greenview, Eugene Coste and Douglas Harkness.  It is a pleasure teaching here at C.N. Gunn and I am thrilled to be a part of your community again!

I am an Orff trained teacher with my Level II in the Orff approach to teaching elementary music.  The Orff approach was developed by composer, Carl Orff.  The Orff Method is a way of teaching children about music that engages their mind and body through a mixture of singing, dancing, creating and the use of percussion instruments (i.e. xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels, and non pitched percussion). 

I look forward to getting to know your children and making magic happen in our Music room.