What exactly it is that I do

When I was in music class as a kid, I remember sitting and listening to "The Hall of the Mountain King" and imagining what was happening in the music.  I remember singing patriotic songs and performing.  I remember walking in a parade at my elementary school while holding the American flag.  Music class was a place where you sat, you sang, you listened and you might have even gotten to play a small tambourine or jingle bells if you were lucky.  Or of course the recorder.  Mine was yellow in third grade and I loved it.  (though to be honest, I was terrible at it when I was younger.  Embarrassing to admit, but true!)

My role as a music teacher is so incredibly different than what it was when I was a kid.  We still sing.  We still listen.  But there is so much more to it.

By the time students leave Ethridge, they should have a numerous amount of information and skills that will help them in middle school, high school, college and beyond.  If they choose not to participate in music after elementary school, it still affects them as music is everywhere and I hope that what they learn here at Ethridge helps them appreciate it.

Here are some skills we work on throughout the year in each grade level:

Kindergarten:
pitch (high/low)
dynamics (students confuse that music getting louder is higher and music that gets softer is lower... BIG one to teach in kinder)
tempo (speed)
steady beat (another HUGE one that is reinforced in as many ways as can be thought of)
voices (singing, talking, shouting, whispering)
movement (self-space, group space, moving in a circle, in, out, back and forth, and moving with a partner)
patterns (AB, ABA form)
listening skills (can you hear ____?)
instruments (four families of instruments, what they look like, sound like)

First Grade:
Reinforcing Kinder skills
Quarter Notes - what they look like, what we call them, finding them in patterns
Eighth Note Pairs
Quarter Rests - what does a rest do, why do we have rests, how many beats does a rest have
Repeat Signs
Writing note patterns from our songs
Finding notes and rests in songs we are singing
Beat vs. Rhythm -  beginning stage - one group keeping beat, one group keeping rhythm
Instruments - in the four families, identifying key instruments in each family

Second Grade:
Reinforcing previous skills
Half Notes
Half Rests
Tied Quarter Notes
Whole Note
Whole Rest
Ties - what does a tie do, how do we show it and how does it change the way the words are spoken
Ostinatos - adding repeated patterns while another group keeps the beat or speaks the poem
Melody and Harmony - what are they?

Third Grade:
Reinforcing previous skills
Sixteenth Note Patterns
Sixteenth note rests
Introducing the Music Staff - lines/spaces
Treble Clef
Reading basic patterns on the music staff
Forms:  Rondo form, ABA form, Canon/Round
Instrument Families - learning how the orchestra developed through the music time periods

Fourth Grade:
Reinforcing previous skills
Dotted Quarter Notes
Tempos (learning Italian words for six key tempos and practicing how they feel)
Dynamics (learning more than just forte and piano)
Crescendo and Decrescendo
Forms: Theme and Variation

Fifth Grade:
Reinforcing previous skills
Sixteenth and Eighth Note combinations (tika-ti and ti-tika)
Minor/Major sounds
Scales
Reinforcing Solfege and Hand Signs
Playing and singing in three and four parts  **Our fifth graders this year do an AMAZING job at this!!
Teamwork as an ensemble