Hello, 2013-2014 school year!

We are back in full swing here at Park and music class is no exception!

Kindergarten and first grade students are working on steady beat and music opposites.
During the first weeks of school we learned a rhyme to help us remember the difference between steady beat and rhythm.

"The beat is the pulse that stays the same; the beat is the pulse that doesn't change.
The rhythm is the pattern on the top of the beat. It changes and it changes and it sounds really neat!"

Second graders did a great job showing what they know about Solfege and rhythm with our Student Learning Objective (SLO) Pre-Assessments. I am now able to identify areas of strength and areas to work on for each second grade student. We will work on Solfege and rhythm throughout the year and take a Post- Test on the same material in April. I am excited to see how our second graders grow!


Third graders are learning about the term 'ostinato'. Ask your third grader to perform an ostinato for you. Ostinatos we've worked on so far are "boomda boomda" in "Sarasponda" and "Mon-keys Ev-ery-where!" in "The Animal Fair".

Fourth through sixth graders are working on their rhythm skills in different ways. Fourth graders practiced rhythms last week on barred instruments, while fifth graders are using the Pink Panther theme song this week to practice dotted rhythms.

Sixth graders are creating their own rap songs about things at school using some new syncopated rhythms ("ti ta ti") and rhythm patterns we already know.

There is a lot going on in music at Worthington Park!

Details coming soon about out Winter Concert! (Can you believe we are going to start singing about snow soon?!?)