How can a choir or music group practice together while sheltering at home? Our grades music teacher, Ms. Mallard, used her talent and ingenuity to create these wonderful videos demonstrating a four-part harmony on flute and with voice for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students, who would usually be practicing their parts together as a part of the spring music curriculum.

“I figured out how to use this app Acapella … I have often wished I could sing more than one vocal part at a time, and now I (virtually) can!” says Ms. Mallard. “I plan to use this app more throughout the spring as a way for the students to continue with their ability to sing and play with multiple parts, and to have an experience of singing in rounds.”

Ms. Mallard explains, “The ‘Siyahamba’ recorder video for 6th grade was posted in the Google Classroom as well as a video where I walk through each of the parts individually. The students also have a copy of the sheet music. We had begun working on this song for recorders in music class and were just starting to broaden into using multiple recorders and parts.”

Listen to Ms. Mallard play all four parts in the video below.

For the 4th and 5th grade, Ms. Mallard recorded the four-part harmony for the song “Bring Me A Little Water Sylvie.”

“They already know this song and the body percussion pattern, so now they can practice singing with all the harmony parts in there,” says Ms. Mallard. I have not yet made individual tracks, as I wanted them first to sing what they could remember and what was already in their bodies. The assignment was also to teach the body rhythm and singing melody to someone in their household.”