A late fall posting

The year is moving along quickly and I am having a great time singing and playing with the students of Forest Park. The fifth and fourth graders are belting out songs that mention states and cities of the United States. The fifth graders are well into their reaquaintance with the recorder, and the fourth graders are moving rapidly to try and catch up.

The third and second graders are memorizing a waltz and swing number for the February 5th performance, and are also working to perfect material in Spanish. The musical segment of the program will be rounded out with some groovy '70s material.

The first graders and kindergartners have been singing songs about cars and trucks but are now moving into seeds, flowers, gardens, and that sort of thing. There will be continue to be dancing and games along with drums and other percussion.

A Music Update

All students are practicing material for the yearly performances.

The kindergartners and first graders are having fun in music class with drums and occasionally, dances, games, and performances by members of the class who pursue extracurricular music. A good part of each class is used for building a repertoire of songs that fit the performance theme of the year.

The second and third graders theme has changed and now Spanish songs are being learned, as well as some others that go with a ballroom dancing type of theme. We've also spent some time accompanying ourselves with instruments that are new to the school this year--tone bars. If each student in a class has one, and is assigned to a group along with others whose tone bars work together to make a chord, separate groups can play at the appropriate moments and replace a guitar or piano in providing the harmonic foundation of a particular song.

The fourth and fifth graders have been singing songs related to their performance theme and also have begun, or begun to reacquaint themselves with the recorder. So far they are making great progress and will have instrumental numbers as well as songs to perform in the spring.