Hello everyone, and welcome to the 2007/2008 Music Room. This year we will continue to expand on concepts practiced from previous years. I am happy to say that we have made great progress musically in all grade levels, and I hope to continue that growth. This year we are offering many different music groups for grades 6-8. Full band rehearsals are now taking place in the school day in addition to the small group lessons. Middle school chorus has become an elective and is now 28 people strong, quite a bit of growth from last year to say the least. This year I am also happy to say that the Percussion Ensemble has returned and will be performing in the Winter and Spring Concerts.

As for what is going on in the General Music Classroom, here is all you need to know:

Gr 8: We are continuing to practice notation. We are reinforcing pitches and rhythms learned last year, and will be learning a few new rhythms this year. The 8th grade students are also beginning their unit on opera. We began by discussing what their preconceptions of this kind of music was, and are learning what is true, and what is false about their thoughts. We will discuss various composers, as well as vocabulary pertaining to opera, and will study one opera which is yet to be determined.
*Please make sure your child has their parent form signed as well as a music folder.*

Gr 7: We are continuing to practice notation. We are reinforcing pitches and rhythms learned last year, and will be learning a few new rhythms this year. The 7th grade students are also beginning their unit on musical theater. We will study the history of American musical theater, as well as talk about some of the more famous shows. We will also discuss what goes into making a musical and will have a vocabulary formed from that discussion.
*Please make sure your child has their parent form signed as well as a music folder.*

-More to come for other grade levels-