It is so exciting to see the capability of our young Bulldog Musicians! We are happy to be exiting the musical doldrums of January. Our third graders have learned about the patterns behind notation systems, and are now transitioning to reading music. While the process has been a little short of exciting, they will very soon see the payoff of having a whole new world of music available to them to play!
Our 4th grade students as well as our cellists and bassist are also solidifying their music reading skills in a little competition against each other by going through the exercises in the book. The book has a great way of introducing one note at a time to strongly reinforce note reading skills and serves as a great reference for students. They will also get to explore more popular sheet music as their note reading improves, so they can practice their endurance and fluency of note reading.
Our 5th grade Intermediate and Advanced students are making leaps and bounds in applying our music skills to real-life scenarios. Our Band students are working on a recording of the Olympic Theme to be used over the announcements as Bodkin brings awareness to this exciting global event. Our violin and viola students displayed our Changemaker traits through creating arts-based items for the residents that were housed at the Winter Relief Shelter at Our Lady of the Chesapeake Church. The items included wallets, small coin banks, and journals, all of which could hold a card that directs them to a recording of some students performing Tomorrow. They did a lovely job presenting the items to Ms. Donna Moran, Stacey Beres, and their new pastor, Father Stephen Hook. Please view the recording at https://youtu.be/6wkWxnZjP2Q. It’s located on the Bodkin ES Music Youtube channel.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to help the students stretch their wings in this new semester! -Ms. Carol Cox”