This spring, all 5th graders learned how to create music using Garage Band with Ms. Sheridan. They worked to learn the basics of composing digital music as well as how to record their own original ideas. Students worked with Ms. Black in Art to design an album cover that could represent their final song. We hope that you take some time to peruse our gallery and listen at home. These unique pieces of music and art represent a lot of learning and we are excited to share them with you!

We've been busy during the entire month of May preparing and performing concerts in grades K-8. It has been wonderful to finally return to having in-person concerts, come rain or shine! Thank you for the time you made to support your child and their musical growth. They loved be able to share their learning with you.

4th graders participated in a xylophone relay race last week. It was amazing! They had 3 minutes in each round to teach themselves a short excerpt of music and perform it for the class. In all 5 rounds of our relay, each team worked together and shared their knowledge to complete the task. I was proud of their group work and musicality! The parts they learned will be combined in our next class to create the accompaniment to one of the songs from the 2nd grade musical. 4th graders will be joining with the 2nd grade this year to perform this musical and they are very excited at the opportunity!

2nd graders have been earning the maximum amount of stickers on their chart each day. This means they are following the expectations in the music room and being amazing student musicians! Our music room expectations are:

• Follow directions.
• Raise your hand to speak.
• Be safe. Be in control of your body.
• Care for people and instruments.
• Try your best!

When they follow these expectations and fill their sticker chart they earn a musical reward. Each reward is different and gives them a break from our usual classroom routine. For this particular reward, students explored my virtual music room and chose from a variety of musical games, activities, stories from my music library and exciting performances. The Google Chrome Music Lab was a favorite activity. Ask them to share it with you at home!

4th graders have been listening to and analyzing the well known song "Can Can" by the French composer Jacques Offenbach. It was composed in 1858 as part of the operetta “Orpheus in the Underworld". In this video, you can see two classes performing body percussion that coordinates with the three distinct sections that repeat in this piece of music. An activity like this allows students to build their musical skills through reinforcing the concept of pulse or steady beat, developing gross motor coordination, internalizing the form of the song through critical listening, and requiring cooperation and collaboration with a class of students working to stay together in time to the music.

Our middle school Chorus has begun reducing our distance a bit in rehearsals and the change in sound has been really exciting. They are a strong, skilled group and they've been so patient waiting through highly distanced rehearsals and COVID protocols. I'm thrilled to announce that we have concert dates for June! We hope to bring back our traditional ARTS NIGHT event on Wednesday, June 8th at Pierce. However, if Covid continues to limit large gatherings, we will use our back up date of Wednesday, June 15th, at Brookline High School. Using this larger space will allow for greater distancing but will still allow for our students to have a real performance on stage!

This month, we've welcomed our Northeastern intern, Carly Monson, into our Chorus family. She is a singer and pianist and we've enjoyed learning some new choral warm-ups from her. This week, we had a "Fun Friday" activity and it really was fun! The kids outdid themselves with some amazing karaoke performances. We can't wait to share our music with you in a few more months.