What's Happening in Music Class?

Kindergartners have been learning singing games and have just finished the story of William Tell. Now they're learning what an opera is, and we'll study Rossini's overture for his opera of the same name. After we become familiar with it, we'll see the overture and the apple-shooting on a DVD of the opera.

First-graders have begun reading quarter and eighth notes and quarter rests. They know that Bach was born in the Baroque period to a family of musicians. We're about to begin learning to recognize the sounds of piano, harpsichord, and organ--only two of which Bach ever played.

Second-graders have been reviewing the pitches A, G, and E. We are about to add F so that we can work with the "mi-re-do" sound of A-G-F. And we are about to learn the story of how the Star-Spangled Banner was written, which will help us understand the words, and then we'll learn to sing it correctly, with the melismas in the right places.

Third-graders have been performing pieces with rhythmic and melodic ostinati (short repeated patterns). They are beginning rhythmic and melodic improvisation. And they are learning "This Pretty Planet", which they will perform as a round against the fourth grade for the all-school sing-along on the day before Thanksgiving.

Fourth-graders have reviewed the treble staff and have been focusing on the timbres of the Orff instruments--glockenspiels, metallophones, and xylophones. They used the instruments to play a bit of gamelan music. And they sing Washington's state song beautifully and enthusiastically.