What's Up in Music Class?

Kindergartners are learning to sing "Sakura" in Japanese and English and to sing "San Sereni" in Spanish.
First-graders are adding the pitch "A" to the "G" and "E" with which they are already familiar.
Second-graders are beginning a beautiful song they will perform for Earth Day.
Third-graders have been studying Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and now are listening to Gian-Carlo Menotti's The Telephone.
Fifth-graders have been studying the blues and now will look briefly at Gershwin's Porgy and Bess before hearing The Telephone.
Mrs. Arends takes tap-dancing lessons Monday evenings, and plays Zimbabwean-style marimba music Wednesday evenings and recorder music Thursday evenings with like-minded friends.

Opera for Everyone!

We have engaged Northwest Opera In Schools, Etc. (NOISE) to come in March and perform a complete opera for OWS students in Kindergarten through Fifth grade. It's by Gian-Carlo Menotti, whose best-known work is Amahl and the Night Visitors. This opera is The Telephone. It's sung in English, is only 25 minutes long, and depicts a love triangle: Ben, Lucy, and Lucy's telephone. I've been acquainting the students with this work during our regular music classes. Kindergarten, First, and Fourth have heard the whole thing, Second has begun, and Third will begin after our midwinter break. I hope that, before the performance, every single student will be able to tell you why opera singers sing so loudly!