3/15/16
Kindergarten Music Notes….
Greetings!
I can never get used to how quickly the school year goes by each year. I used to think it went fast when I had children in school, but now it seems even faster! I’m sure you’re experiencing the same thing.
You may have noticed that your kindergarten student has brought home some papers for music lately. I encourage the children to share them with their parents, but sometimes things are lost in translation, so here is what we have been doing.
We spend a lot of time in kindergarten music working on listening skills of all kinds. Earlier the focus was on recognizing different families of musical instruments. One assessment that is done is to have the students listen to an instrument that is representative of a musical group and then identify which family it belongs to. They are pretty good at this already.
Another very basic assessment has to do with their ability to discriminate between fast and slow tempi in music. We do this in a variety of ways, but the more recent have been paper assessments. Since kindergarten students are not all linear thinkers and I am not assessing their spatial awareness, some of their papers may look a bit chaotic. I have them mark each listening example with a specific color, and that allows me to see that they understand the concept, even if they haven’t marked it in the correct place.
A few more recent assessments have been dealing with pitch discrimination and some of the beginning activities related to rhythm awareness. These can take the form of games, songs, or paper assessments. As always, I am also listening for each student to get comfortable with his/her singing voice and gain control over the ability to match pitch. This is a skill that varies with each child and each one discovers it at his/her own pace.
As we move into the third trimester of the year, we will continue to reinforce these concepts through a variety of activities. In addition, we will continue to encourage proper vocal technique and becoming comfortable with the voice, as well as reinforce the concept of active rather than passive participation in music. With the end of the school year approaching, we will also start some pre-music-reading activities and performance skills.
I welcome your comments and questions. Please feel free to share with me any concerns you may have regarding your student. I can be reached at Horizon Elementary, 892-2225, ext. 3517. Leave a message and I will return your call. Because I travel between three schools it is usually more efficient to contact me via email. My email address at school is [email protected].
Thank you,
Mrs. Lynne Zimmermann
Elementary Music Specialist
Plymouth School District