Here is what we are working on in the month of January:

5^th Grade- Students will be working with a song for the Chinese New Year. We will add a recorder part, learning F and low C, which will complete the entire C scale on the recorder. Students will also be adding several melodic and rhythmic instrumental parts to this song, creating an entire ensemble. We will also be learning about the famous composer Ludwig von Beethoven, and his contributions to the Classical Period.

4^th Grade- Students will be exploring a New Year’s piece, adding Boomwhackers to create three different chords; tonic, dominant and subdominant. We will also start learning our songs for our 4^th grade musical “The Nightengale”. This is a Chinese folk tale that we will be performing with movement and singing. We will be discovering about the different characters, and learning about the Chinese culture. The performance will be Wednesday, March 28^th at 7:00 pm.

3^rd Grade- Students will be learning about the famous Ragtime composer Scott Joplin. We will look at a number of his compositions, adding unpitched percussion accompaniments, and other rhythmic activities. We will also explore the different instruments in the Brass family. Students will also be able to illustrate the melodic contour of different songs.

2^nd Grade- This month we will begin looking at our 2^nd grade musical “The Cuckoo”. This is a musical tale of the Mexican folk tale of how the cuckoo lost her colors. We will learn about the different characters in the story, and learning the movement and music for the first few songs. The program is scheduled for Thursday, March 8^th at 7:00 pm.

1^st Grade- This month we will be exploring the melodic contour of different songs, and how the pitches move higher, lower or stay the same. We will also be learning how to determine the difference between a song in the meter of 2 or 3, using movement and rhythmic instruments. We will also be learning about the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Kindergarten- We will continue our journey through the alphabet with our animal songs including “Icky Inchwork”, “Jump, Jackrabbit”, and “Kung Fu Koala”. We will be learning how to identify different timbres (tone colors) of instruments and voices. We will also learn how to read quarter and eighth notes, and create our own short rhythmic patterns with instruments and movement.