This site is maintained by Mr. Aaron Booz, music and band teacher at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in the Bethel Park School District in southwestern Pennsylvania. You can always contact me with questions at booz.aaron@bphawks.org.
To learn more about music in all levels of the Bethel Park School District, visit our Music Department Website.
Monday, February 2, 2026
For this month’s blog post, I am sharing some recent information about how learning music in school is beneficial for young, developing minds.
1. The first link is to an article in the journal Education Week:
“New research suggests that the complexity involved in practicing and performing music may help students’ cognitive development. Studies released last month at the Society for Neuroscience meeting here find that music training may increase the neural connections in regions of the brain associated with creativity, decision-making, and complex memory, and they may improve a student’s ability to process conflicting information from many senses at once. Research also found that starting music education early can be even more helpful.”
Read the whole article here.
2. This second link is from a study in Kansas, where researchers found that regardless of students’ initial grades or individual advantages, those who joined music electives in 5th through 12th grade were the highest achievers at the end of high school:
Kansas University research establishes link between music education, academic achievement
“Analysis showed that students engaged in music programs outperformed their peers on every indicator: grade-point average, graduation rate, ACT scores, attendance and discipline referrals. Overall, the study demonstrated that the more a student participates in music, the more positive these benefits become.”
Read the whole summary here.
3. Here is a link to a short, fascinating video sent to me by a Lincoln parent that explains what happens inside your student’s brain as they play music.
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Monday, January 5, 2026
by Mr. Booz
Happy 2026! It’s good to be back to school after our winter break. This blog gives a rundown of what each grade level is learning in Music Classes.
In November, my blog post explained that our fourth graders were able to read, write and sing five different solfege pitches. (Solfege is a way of labeling different notes for singing and reading – you might recognize the sounds “mi, re, do”, as solfege syllables.) Now, in January, we will be adding the final three solfege pitches – “la, ti, and do”, and this allows us to sing, read, and write songs that use all eight solfege syllables. Practice with solfege allows students to mentally read and comprehend pieces of music, and our fourth graders have just entered a more advanced level of musical understanding!
Also this month, all of our third grade students are receiving their recorders. Recorders are small, plastic melodic instruments that are held like a clarinet, and they take practice to learn to play correctly and with a good sound. I emphasize to the students that even though recorders may look like toys, composers have written for the recorder as a classical instrument for hundreds of years, and we need to treat them with the same respect that we give to any other musical instrument. Here’s how we use recorders in 3rd and 4th grade in Bethel Park:
In January, we begin with just one pitch [note], and we gradually add complexity and more pitches as we go through the school year.
We play songs using the same solfege pitches that we learn to sing, read, and write during third grade.
Later, in fourth grade, students will play songs that use 5, 6, and even 7 different pitches.
Playing recorder is a way to demonstrate our knowledge of pitch, rhythm, and music-reading, and recorders prepare children to learn other musical instruments in the future.
Our second graders have now learned four different group folk dances over the course of the school year. With names such as “Jubilee Rag”, “Old King Glory”, and “Grumpy March”, these dances provide the children with an energetic, full-group performance experience, connect the children to the history and culture of early American life, and provide them with a good opportunity to show their classroom teacher an impressive group performance at the end of the class. These folk dances continue in third and fourth grade, and our second graders are off to a good start!
The third week of January will be a very special time for our first graders. They will be playing their first piece of music on Orff instruments! (Orff instruments are xylophones and other barred percussion instruments of various sizes.) Playing these instruments allows the kids to practice playing as part of a group of musicians, as though they are members of an orchestra or band. Although the songs and patterns that we play and sing are very basic for now, the level of challenge in playing these instruments will gradually increase as they move through the rest of their elementary years!
Lastly, over the next four months, our fourth grade Strings and Band students will be learning new pitches, increasing their technical skills on their instruments, and learning to play more cohesively as a group in preparation for their Spring Concerts. (You can always find Lincoln music dates at our Calendar page.)
I hope you and your children have had a good start to the year 2026. Thanks for reading, and please continue to check our music page each month for new updates!
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Tuesday, December 2, 2025 by Mr. Booz
Happy Holidays to our Lincoln families! Our theme this month is how kids can explore music beyond the regular school day.
Singing in a Chorus: There are several local opportunities for our students to experience choral singing. I always recommend an excellent organization called Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, which already has a few Lincoln students as members. Any third or fourth grader is welcome to attend their rehearsals and see if they would like to join. PYC also has a South Hills Neighborhood Training Choir, which rehearses at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair on Tuesday evenings starting in January. This group is open to all first and second graders, with no auditions, and it’s a good way for elementary students to try out choral singing and see how they like it. I would encourage any of our students to try the Neighborhood Choir.
Private lessons outside of school: Now and then, parents ask me for private teacher recommendations for voice, piano, guitar, or drums. Here is what I can tell you from research and experience:
Private singing lessons are best saved for the high school years. In elementary and middle school, singing in a choir is the best way to develop the voice, as well as a love of singing.
Generally, the best instrument to study before age 9 is piano, and I can recommend several good piano teachers. Piano lessons can be a great experience for students even as young as age 3!
With the right teacher and small-sized instruments, bowed string instruments (violin, viola, cello) are a possibility in early elementary, or even before.
It’s best to wait until children are old enough (and big enough!) to handle guitar, band instruments, or percussion instruments. In addition, a student should have a very well-developed sense of rhythm before starting to play percussion, including drums.
You can always check to see what's coming up for our students in music on the Music Calendar Events Page of this site.
Best wishes for an excellent Holiday season, and I’ll look forward to seeing your students in January for the second half of this 2025-2026 school year!
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Monday, October 27, 2025
by Mr. Booz
We’re two months into the school year, and it’s time for an update on just some of what’s happening in Music classes at Lincoln. Take a look:
First Graders are continuing to explore their singing voices and to learn simple songs that help them learn to sing in tune. In addition, they have started to play classroom instruments such as sand blocks and hand drums in order to practice finding and keeping a steady beat.
Second Graders are singing songs with more complexity, and they are reviewing last year’s skills in reading and writing simple rhythm patterns. They are also building their musical independence by playing 2-part songs on xylophones and other barred percussion instruments.
Third Graders have started singing rounds and canons, which are songs that include harmony - two different pitches sounding at the same time. Also, they can now read and write a variety of rhythms, and are now starting to read 3 pitches on the musical staff. This is a big step forward in their music literacy - the ability of all students to read and write music, just like middle school and high school students do.
Fourth Graders continue to advance beyond the skills they learned in third grade. For example, they know the letter names of the treble clef staff, they can read and write 5 pitches, and they spend a few minutes in each class listening to a recording and identifying elements such as style, mood, and instruments heard.
Fourth Grade Band students have learned a Halloween song, and can read and play five different notes on their various instruments. They are now about to learn a sixth pitch and will soon start to learn several pieces of December holiday music.
Fourth Grade Strings students also have a Halloween song, are also about to learn holiday music, and will be learning to use their bow in addition to playing pizzicato (with the fingers) on their instruments. String players can also read and play an entire eight-pitch major scale.
I continue to send home with all students in grades 1-4 a Music Class “Ask Me” Page during the 2nd or 3rd week of each month. Please look for those arriving around November 5-7 this month, and I invite you to ask your child sometime to sing you a song from Music Class, or at least describe to you what they are learning with this material.
Also, the Neighborhood Training Choir-South of the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus has open enrollment for any students in grades 1-2, and information is linked here. PYC provides generous financial assistance, and is a great musical experience for young students.
Happy Thanksgiving to your families!
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Monday, September 29, 2025
by Mr. Booz
Picture this:
First graders, learning to sing in tune, and moving expressively to classical and jazz music...
Second graders, finding the steady beat as they sing, and playing fun singing games...
Third graders, reading and writing rhythms, and performing on classroom instruments…
Fourth graders, reading and writing pitches, and performing on classroom instruments without teacher assistance...
Band students, reading and playing several pitches on their clarinets, trumpets, flutes, saxophones, trombones, and baritone horns, with good posture and hand position.
String students, reading and playing several pitches on their violins, violas, and cellos, in pizzicato style.
We’re just 6 weeks in the new school year, and the above is just a small sampling of the skills that Lincoln students have been building in their music classes.
Our students learn all of the "music appreciation" concepts that you may remember learning when you were elementary students - the instruments of the orchestra, composers, and musical time periods, etc. However, in Bethel Park, we place a high priority on students as musicians. Lincoln children also learn to sing, play, read, improvise, and write music with independence, and as a part of a musical team. It’s still early in the school year, but our young musicians are off to a good start!
“How are students graded in elementary music classes?” I evaluate students both informally and formally:
Informal evaluation: As the students sing, play instruments, and move to music, I listen and watch carefully. Based on what I hear and see, I plan further instruction to build the musical skills of the whole group, and of specific individuals.
Formal evaluation: Eight to ten times each marking period, students in music class are formally assessed on their musical skills and knowledge. This includes grading on the following:
Finding and tapping a steady beat to a piece of music.
Singing, alone or in a small group.
Correctly echoing, decoding, reading, or writing pitch or rhythm patterns on musical syllables, such as “do, re, mi”.
Performing on instruments (such as xylophones, hand drums, recorders, etc) with musical accuracy, and with correct posture and hand position.
Short quizzes of musical knowledge, such as instruments of the orchestra, identifying different styles of music, or identifying the similarities or differences in recorded music.
For report cards, Bethel Park School District has just this year updated its grading levels to the following:
3 - Exceeds Expectations
2 - Meets Expectations
1 - Approaching Expectations
0 - Does Not Meet Expectations
Please note that a grade level of “0” or “1” in Achievement doesn’t mean that your student is doing a poor job in Music; it just means they are still working on one or more areas of musical skill. I can tell you from experience that all of our 4th graders leave their elementary years with excellent musical fundamentals that will serve them for the rest of their lives; we just all develop skill at different rates, and as long as their Effort and Behavior grade levels are good, they are on the right track!
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for our next blog post update next month.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2025
by Mr. Booz
Welcome to the 2025-2026 school year! Each month, I will make a blog post on this page about what is new and exciting in your child’s Lincoln Elementary School music classes, grades 1-4. Here are a few updates to get us started in this new year of music-making:
Around the second week of each month, all year long, I will be sending home with each student an “Ask Me…” page. This will provide you the opportunity to ask your child to tell you (or demonstrate for you) something they’ve learned in music class, whether that is a song, some musical knowledge, or a little bit of music for them to perform for you. The first of these will be coming home around the second week of September.
Over the next month, Mrs. Sheffer will be starting the first lessons with her Fourth Grade Strings students, and I’ll be starting with the Fourth Grade Band. Those families can check their email to find details from us, and I have Band information also at this link. We’re excited to get our fourth graders started on instruments!
The Pittsburgh Youth Chorus is an excellent local program that many of our Lincoln and Bethel Park students have enjoyed in the past. There are opportunities for students in grades 1 through 4, and they are having open rehearsals now, so students can attend and see if they’d like to join. No audition is necessary, and I would encourage any of our students in those grades to try it. Visit www.pittsburghyouthchorus.org, and check their fliers about their Neighborhood Training Choir, Youth Choruses, and special needs programs for more information.
In elementary general music classes, students are assessed on a variety of musical activities, and students will receive grades on the "Achievement" section of their quarterly report cards. Bethel Park School District has just this year updated its grading levels to the following:
3 - Exceeds Expectations
2 - Meets Expectations
1 - Approaching Expectations
0 - Does Not Meet Expectations
At our Lincoln Open House evening on Thursday, September 4, all families are welcome to stop by the music room and say hello, and to ask any questions you have about music at Lincoln!