Welcome to the Finger Lake Elementary School Music Home Page!

2021-2022 School Year

Dr. Garth Hangartner

The Music Room at Fingerlake Elementary School

I believe in active participation for each class period.

We play, move, and sing

Each student has an assigned "Music Station" with a drum, xylophone, drum sticks, mallets, and a small handheld percussion instrument. Students rotate through the stations so they gain experience with different sizes/types of drums and xylophones.

Additionally students sing, play handbells, hand chimes, play recorders, play in band, sing in choir, learn the ukulele, explore music technology, and move to music. There are also opportunities to play the bass bars, bass drum, roto-toms, cymbals, tam-tam, pan drums, and all manner of small percussion instruments.

Students also have ample opportunity to improvise, expand, and compose their own music, or additional parts to something we are learning in class.

I use a lot of flying toys like spinners, parachute men, planes, helicopters, and butterflies to teach vocal exploration.

Classes can earn Flyer Friday, where they get to use all my flying toys!

Curriculum

Our district curriculum is Game Plan.

Additional materials are drawn from Fierabend, Kodaly, Dalcroze, Musication, Orff, online resources, and the myriad of books and music in my own library.

Schedule of Classes

Class periods are 45 minutes, with zero passing time. Classes begin at 9:30, and are in the following order: 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade

COVID Mitigation and Safety in the Music Room

I want our classroom to be as safe as possible for all our students! At the beginning of each class several students spray down and sanitize all the instruments in the classroom. Then each student is responsible for drying off their station before we begin class. For further safety and to minimize the generation of aerosols and droplets we are not offering choir or band (2020-2022). When we are on level green we will play recorders and sing.

How to Connect With Me at School

Please contact me by email at: garth.hangartner@matsuk12.us, which I check at 3:15PM

Llamas and the Music Room

Llamas are super cool animals, each with their own personality -- and they are just so quirky. There are a lot of llamas in my classroom. When you come to music class, see how many you can count. I might just be wearing a llama shirt too...

Primay Instruments

Mandolin Family: mandolin, mandola, and octave mandolin; electric and upright Bass

Ensembles

Anchorage Mandolin Orchestra (mandola and octave mandolin)

Associations

Classical Mandolin Society of America

Education

Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Composition and secondary studies (cognate) in French Horn, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Master of Music in Composition, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Bachelor of Music, University of Alaska Anchorage

Bachelor of Education, University of Alaska Anchorage

Feierabend Certification

Public School Teaching

Finger Lake Elementary School, k-5 General Music, Band, and Choir

Reddington Junior/Senior High, Choir and Drama

Anchorage School District, Teacher Aide for Itinerant Band and Strings

Student Teaching/Practicums in Anchorage

Bowman Elementary School, k-6 & Music Intensive

Wendler Middle School, Band

Mountain View Elementary, k-6

Goldenview Middle School, Band

University and College Teaching

Wright State University, Miami University, Cincinnati Christian College, College of Mt. Saint Joseph, University of Cincinnati Raymond Walters College, and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

Graduate Assistantships

Music Education Department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Composition and Theory Department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music

Thanks for Visiting, come again soon!