You will hear strains of "My Country "Tis of Thee" and " America the Beautiful" from first grade through fourth grade these next few weeks.  Patriotic songs are an important part of everyone's music repertoire, and children love to sing them.  We will be adding our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" as well.  Your children should be able to join in at every baseball game this spring and summer!  It would be great to have the whole family sing these songs together. 

Can you read music?  First graders are reading songs with So and Mi.  Second and third graders know the pitches Do, Re, Mi, So and La!  That means they can read those pitches on the music staff!  They are getting better and better and are also beginning to write their own melodies.  Look for a musical Valentine at the end of this week! In fourth grade, the students are adding Fa and Ti and high Do.  That's the whole scale!  We're ready for the "Sound of Music!"

We are starting out busily working on music skills of all kinds as the New Year begins.  The Christmas Program gave us great energy and much pride, but now we are catching up on other lessons.  Each grade is working on rhythms appropriate to their age; reading them, writing them and using rhythms in improvisations.  The kinders are studying opposites in music; fast and slow, high and low, loud and soft.  First graders are learning to read So and Mi on the music staff, while second graders are reading and writing So, Mi and La.  Third graders are studying the "Form" of music, using Introduction, Interlude and Coda.  The fourth graders are learning to sing and play instruments in "canon" and will also add two new notes to their recorder playing repertoire.  The fifth graders are beginning their study of Instruments of the Orchestra.  It is a very busy season - making music!!