Shabbat Shalom 03/04/2010

The requirements of learning music and learning to play an instrument, build connective tissues in the brain that help the right and left spheres work together more efficiently, helps improve memory and helps to increase one's coordination. But, all of that aside, the one thing we know about music is that it brings us pleasure and promotes well being!!

Our kindergarteners are exploring musical concepts using Saint Saens' "Carnival of Animals". These concepts include: high to low and low to high pitches, fast compared to slow tempi, whole notes=4 beats, waltz time ¾ time signature, staccato/legato and major thirds using the cuckoo bird.

1st grade music is tapping into the world of rhythm via poetry and Haiku. They are comparing and contrasting the "rhythm of the words" to the beat of the poem. These budding musicians created their own rhythmic charts using quarter notes, quarter rests, and eighth notes. Their knowledge of J.S. Bach's life as well as his compositions and techniques of sequencing in music is impressive.

Using the piano, the 2nd graders continue to learn formal note reading on the grand staff as they explore a myriad of songs in our piano books. We are learning about the life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the large scale instrumental Sonata form.

In 3rd grade our students are progressing in the piano class as we delve deeper into the art of learning to read music and play piano. We also apply our musical knowledge as we learn to play the recorder and create arrangements on the instruments of the various songs that we are studying.

4th grade is studying an original American art form, "The 12 Bar Blues" They are learning about some of the great Blues and Jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Ray Charles. Our musicians have also been playing around with a variety of blues bass lines and improvising short phrases on our instruments, too! They are also exploring African-American children's songs to round out their experience. The 4th graders have also progressed into a new piano book with familiar classical pieces such as the "Can-Can" and the "William Tell Overture".

Ready, set, shift!
The 5th graders are now entering into their third and final rotation of their musical year. A musical trimester includes choir, winds and guitar. In choir the students sing the Solfege Scale and learn to sound out the songs. In the winds class they learn about the flute, clarinet and trumpet and work on producing good tone on the instruments as well as play some elementary songs. Our guitarists learn about the components of the guitar, as well as, how to produce good sounds playing notes and chords. They also become familiar with top guitar artists.