Did my child go to music today? Find out what they did here!

I meet the Kindergartners today, they are so sweet! We learned each others names, and told each other about what we liked. (most of them said, Skunks... because that was what the first person said!) We looked around the room to see what we noticed that was musical. Their eyes went right to the painted instruments on the wall. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they knew the names of most of the instruments. Rock on!

2nd grade came and I met a new student who is very sweet, she and told me that in her previous school she learned about Australian instruments. How fun! We learned about steady beat and how important it is for a band or choir to master this very easy musical idea.

1st graders learned about the importance of the diaphragm when singing. They were excited when they learned that if they touched their stomach, they could feel those muscles moving. They sang their names to me on two pitches, some did more than that, and they did this while feeling their stomachs move up and down, in and out. Very fun! I also met some very sweet new kids today in 1st grade!

Jonah's Wailers Choir: Grades 6, 7, 8( I know, pun on words!) met today and we welcomed the new 6th graders and got them familiarized with how things work in the older choir. I asked them to come up with goals to meet for the year. Here are some of the things they came up with: Fuller, more supported sound, pay attention to smaller details, such as dynamics and balance among the groups, invite more of their peers into choir (especially the gentlemen) and to work on less songs, but choose more difficult pieces to sing. Here are my goals for the choir: To achieve a higher rating than last year in Music Festival, Ask for parents to volunteer their voices during sectionals, to possibly lead a class or just observe what happens to increase student awareness, and to have at least 45% of the students participate in Solo and Ensemble this year. We are all excited to start the year!

6th grade handbells is going to be challenging this year. There were 19 kids that showed up today, wanting to play. If you know about handbells, you know that a typical choir is 11 kids. We may end up having to audition, or split the class into two groups like last year. If your child is interested in being in the zero hour morning class (Tuesdays from 7:15 am-7:55 am), please let me know. There will be a sheet that goes home for you to fill out and return with your preference.

4th graders were told today about the layout for the year, and what to expect in music class.
Here is a quick run down of their curriculum for the year: Sept- Nov 6- Chimes, Nov 9-Jan 15- composers and composing, Jan 19-end of the year- Recorders. More to come on the progress of this class!
What a great first full day of school!