Instruments We Play

Percussion

A percussion instrument is an instrument that you tap, shake, or scrape to create sound. Students play a variety of unpitched percussion instruments including drums, maracas, claves, cabasas, guiros, triangles, tambourines, and more! We add percussion instruments to songs and chants, read, echo and improvise rhythms, create and layer ostinatos (repeated patterns) and create sounds to accompany stories and poems. We also use the Orff instruments (xylophone, metallophone, glockenspiel) frequently as part of the creative process. We continue to incorporate these instruments into ensemble playing throughout K-5 music.

Recorder

Students begin recorder instruction in January of 3rd grade and continue throughout 4th grade. The recorder is a beautiful instrument when played properly. Its history dates back to the 1300s! Students build so many important musical skills through the recorder, including music literacy, musicality and fine motor skills. It's pretty hard to coordinate fingers, tongue, and breath all at once! For these reasons, the recorder is an excellent first wind instrument and helps prepare students to join band.

I use a variety of methods to teach the recorder, and we are seldom sitting and reading from a book- we are moving, singing, playing in small groups and large ensembles, improvising and composing! 3rd and 4th graders also participate in a program called "Recorder Karate," where they test for "belts" (ribbons tied to their recorders) by playing songs of increasing difficulty. Students LOVE recorder karate! Please see the "Recorder" tab for helpful resources.

Ukulele

I learned to play the ukulele in grad school and became really excited about its possibilities in the music curriculum. We were so lucky that the BPO was able to purchase a class set of ukuleles for us! Students play ukulele a little bit in 2nd and 3rd grade, but really get into it by 4th and 5th grade.

Why is the ukulele so great? It's both a melodic and harmonic instrument (students can pluck the melody, strum the chords, AND sing along), it's easy for students to find success, it's the perfect size, and it has more of a place in pop culture than ever! We can play all kinds of repertoire on the ukulele, from folk songs to calypso to pop. We use a variety of ukulele resources and books in class, and a lot of material and chord charts can be found online. The ukulele is becoming a popular instrument in classrooms all around the country.

Thinking about buying your own ukulele? We use Kala sopranos in our classroom. They are high quality and have a great sound, and will only cost you about $60. There are many other great brands out there (I have a Lanikai), but avoid the super cheap ones under $30- they won't sound good! Also, make sure you tune your ukulele- in the beginning, it will go out of tune frequently. If you're an adult and want to get in on the fun, I'd recommend the concert size- it's a little bigger than the soprano size, so may be easier for you to play.

Keyboard

5th graders get to play the keyboards from April-June! Each student will have his/her own keyboard and pair of headphones.

Skills we learn:

Getting to know the piano keys and proper hand position/fingerings
Playing with the right hand and left hand, independently and together
Playing, improvising and composing songs in 5-finger position
Reading bass clef
Adding the I and V chords to the melody
Learning the right and left hand fingering for the C major scale

Students who take private lessons can practice more advanced skills and repertoire.

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