Welcome back Wildcats!  When you come to music, we will be learning about music from China to celebrate the 2008 Olympics and all of the athletes who worked hard to get to Beijing this summer.  All students will practice singing songs from China while using an "echo Mic" to develop Vocal skills.  Students will also get to accompany themselves on several of our musical instruments while learning to improvise using the Pentatonic scales common in Asian Music.  

This year you will notice we have added "Bell Plates" to our instrument collection.  Bell plates are very much like the Hand Bells used in many church music programs. Bell Plates help develop discipline, attention, reading and listening skills while students practice.  Students improve their skills in reading and performing rhythmic notation, while enjoying the beautiful, soothing tones of the Bell Plates.

At Central, we believe that all people and especially ALL children are musical in multiple ways. All students will be coming to music once a week with their homeroom classes where we will do a lot of Singing and Moving to rhythms. We learn introductory techniques for playing Ukuleles, Xylophones, Autoharps and Pianos. Fifth grades play recorders and read beginning band music.  We discover musical games from around the world and the sounds of different cultures. We play percussion instruments from various countries as we “shake, rattle and roll ! “ We talk about the important role music has played in every culture and historical time period. Students have the opportunity to Improvise and Compose on our musical instruments and with our voices, and have a chance to write down their sounds in pre-notational pictures as they draw music!  Students learn to follow a musical score while singing and read music with fun pictures called listening maps. 

In Music, students learn to work as a team or ENSEMBLE. They learn to express their feelings and knowledge musically as they perform with each other.  The best performances are sometimes selected to share with staff and family in school music programs. Parents are invited to be a part of any music activities at Central whenever possible.  At home, family members can support your child’s musical efforts by being an attentive audience when they want to sing, draw, beat or dance for you. Keep in mind that children’s creative abilities emerge at different rates, often not seen or heard until their late teens and that an elementary child should never hear that they cannot “draw or sing”.