Music with Teacher Charmagne

Lower School Spring Concerts

Wednesday, May 19th in the Meetinghouse

Schedule: Kindergarten and 1st grade program begins at 6:00 pm.  Students should arrive by 5:40pm.  Sing program (2nd-5th) begins at 7:00 pm.  Students should arrive by 6:40pm.

Dress code: Girls may wear spring dresses or dark slacks or skirt and white or light colored shirt.  
Boys should wear nice pants and a white or light colored shirt.
Shoes rather than sneakers, please!

In kindergarten and 1st grade, the children are anxious to sing together and try solo performance in class. The maturing process has been evident in activities that require increased focus and efficient use of time. Each week we seem to be able to accomplish more during class time. The leadership role of the 1st grade in the holiday program was very effective in instilling responsible and cooperative demeanor and motivated kindergarten students to "grow with the flow". I have also been very pleased with the positive response to classical listening experiences and the comprehension of the children when given directions of what to identify in the music. Our developing repertoire for the spring program continues to advance in level of difficulty.

The second and third grade classes are always bursting with enthusiasm and eager for challenge and performance. They are a huge asset to our "Sing" group and anxious to be featured as soloists. Every music teacher should have such a problem as too many willing performers.

The fourth grade is finishing up a unit on rhythmic reading and are very impressive with their mastering of what we have covered. As a result, we will be able to advance the curriculum to include melodic reading very early in 5th grade if not by the end of this year. We are also beginning a unit on music history which has been well received and appreciated by the students.

In fifth grade, we are studying music history, melodic reading and of course, adding vocal repertoire. We have begun playing xylophones to apply our melodic reading skills and I am very pleased with how they have been able to coordinate the rhythmic and melodic skills on sight.

I would also like to share with the GFS community the special programs we have featured recently. On December 1st, grades 3, 4 and 5 visited the Kimmel Center to experience a youth concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Their response to the concert and our preparation for the occasion was very positive and their enthusiasm was obvious. We also enjoyed a performance in our meeting house on February 16th by a group of students who are majoring in string instruments from West Chester University. They played their instruments in an informal setting engaging the students in a question and answer format which will, hopefully, encourage their interest in pursuing private lessons. It is my goal to engage in such activities with all instruments of the orchestra and lead the way to getting our students to begin playing instruments at this age appropriate time!!