Hello TES Families,
Greetings from the music room! For those who do not know me, my name is Mr. Chippo and I am your child’s music teacher. We have been off to a fantastic start these past couple of months, so please enjoy some highlights below from a “day in music class.”
Welcome Time: We start every music class off with “welcome time” which looks different for each grade level. K-2 students often start with a hello song, where we move and sing (together and solo). Perhaps your child has mentioned Bobo or the copycat, who often make an appearance during this time. Meanwhile, older grades build their listening skills by attending to short musical excerpts in a variety of styles. We have gotten impressively skilled at using musical vocabulary to describe a piece of music and explain why we like/ don’t like certain songs!
Movement Time comes right after welcome time. For younger grades, this might look like copying the teacher or a student leader’s motions, demonstrating some basic movement vocabulary (flowy motion, bound motion, freeze, etc.), while upper grades may focus more on concrete dances that involve specific choreography. All students have continuously worked on coming up with their own creative movements as well!
Singing Time builds fundamental musical skills in all children. As I tell the kids “your singing voice is the only instrument that will be with you wherever you go.” Our earliest singers practice simple vocal exercises and learn songs with a limited vocal range as we build complexity with each passing year. At TES, singing time culminates with our grade 4 chorus class where students prepare several concerts a year. Grade 4 families, check your Rooms messages from this morning where I provided details on our December 18 Winter Sing-along performance!
Instrument Time is a favorite of all students. At Thacher, we are very fortunate to have a wonderful instrumentarium where students can explore a variety of instrument sounds. All students get opportunities to play our barred instruments (think: xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels), which like most topics, will increase in difficulty as students age. We also have various unpitched percussion instruments like egg shakers, rhythm sticks, castanets, and so much more! Instrument time helps build fine and gross motor skills while developing instrument technique and reinforcing many musical skills we cover in other areas!
Goodbye Time: We often end music with a simple goodbye song and a short review of the topics we cover in class on a given day. With that in mind, this seems to be a great time to say goodbye to you all! Thanks for reading about what we do in the music classroom. Please feel free to take a peak at the photos below! As always, reach out with any questions at all–I love hearing from you!
All my best,
Mr. Chippo, M.M.Ed
Music Specialist
Thacher Elementary School
jchippo@attleboroschools.com
