Here's what we're up to in music class!

Kindergartners have been singing songs about farm animals, sometimes adding handheld percussion instruments. We've just begun learning about Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel, which we will see performed in March.

First-graders have been working with steady beat. (If you have a first-grader, ask him or her to show you part of the "Syncopated Clock" dance!) We've been introduced to quarter notes and are about to meet the quarter rest.

Second-graders have been practicing sight-singing the pitches G, E and A. We've heard the story of how "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written, we've deciphered some of the lyrics, and we are learning to sing it correctly, without the extra melisma which is so often inserted.

Third-graders are very excited because they can begin learning on October 5th to play the recorder! Don't forget, there's a great recorder concert coming up Friday evening, October 7th--see the previous post. They've been doing a little of everything: sight-singing pitches, comparing durations of note values, playing instruments, and performing and even leading rhythmic canons.

Fourth-graders learned to sing Washington's state song and have been working with the Orff metallophones, glockenspiels and xylophones to distinguish their timbres and use them effectively in orchestration.

Mrs. Arends is preparing recorder music and getting ready to attend a music educators' mini-conference in Kirkland on October 14th and 15th.