Hey, You, What!

Thursday music was an interesting mix with all of fifth grade, all of first and Ms. Lopez's fourth graders getting their first music class of the year. First grade learned a chant and body percussion piece "Sing With a Ying," with text by Dr. Suess. This piece allow the kids focus on how things like dynamics (soft and loud) tempo (fast/slow) and timbre (quality of sound) can be manipulated for different effects.

Fifth Graders (pictured) also learned a body percussion piece "Hey, You, What" by Keith Terry, a percussionist and body music specialist from the Bay Area. Keith has developed a great system for breaking down complex rhythmic ideas into manageable chunks. The process of understanding music this way, is a little bit like the decoding the kids have been using since first grade to pronounce and understand new words.