Julia Dombek (the music teacher) here! Today I’ll be invading your regularly scheduled Monday e-blast to fill you in on some of the great things happening in the Johnson Elementary School music room.
First and foremost I just wanted to say that I hope you all had an
excellent
February break with your families. The end of February vacation means that spring will soon be on its way - and on that note, I wanted to inform you of the
Johnson Elementary Spring Music Concert!
On
May 7th at 6:30pm
, the 3rd and 4th graders will get a chance to show off their musical side. Please put it in your calendars, as I’m really hoping to see you all there!
Now, since it’s only my second year here at Johnson, this will be my first time putting on a concert with students. I’m really excited about it - as are the kids! But what will be happening at this concert?
Well, if you have a 3rd grade student, you may know (all too well) that 3rd grade is the year that all Natick students receive recorders. I wanted to take this concert opportunity to show you what these kids (and instruments!) are really capable of when a little hard work and self-reflection is put in. Look forward to a fun recorder-centric 3rd grade performance!
As for the 4th graders, get ready for the return of the Johnson musical tradition - the one and only “Rhythm Ostinato” is in the works! If you have an older child who attended Johnson a few years ago or earlier, you may have heard of the “Rhythm Ostinato” put on annually by the previous music teacher, Mark Jodice. For those of you that have not heard of the Rhythm Ostinato, the basic idea is that students create their own musical patterns on whatever instruments we have available. With a little help from me, we experiment with different ways of layering together these patterns to form a one-of-a-kind musical masterpiece. Though we only started experimenting with ideas a few weeks ago, I’m already seeing such amazing potential - and the hands on effort from each kid has truly been astounding me. Here is a little video clip of just one of the many student-led musical ideas (hopefully this attachment works!):
If you’re curious to see more, be sure to come see the
Johnson Music concert on May 7th!
As you may now know, I’ve been staying after school on the days that I teach (Thursdays and Fridays) to offer a bit of extra recorder help to any 3rd grader that wants it. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of kids that have showed up and put some real work and effort into practicing and learning this instrument! It’s exciting for both them (and me) to see first hand how hard work and effective effort can result in growth.
Did you know that
second grade students
are learning about the instruments of the orchestra? If you have a child that is interested in learning more about the orchestra and various instruments, this is a really fun interactive website where they can do just that!
And, if you’re interested in a more hands-on live experience, did you know that one of the best orchestras in the entire world lives right down the road from us? The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the worlds premier orchestras, and they put on a few family friendly concerts aimed toward children a few times a year. There just so happens to be a concert happening in just a few weeks - check out the below link if you think your child might be interested!
If you have a 1st grade or a Kindergarten student, we’ve focused some of our recent music classroom efforts on reading and feeling different rhythms.
Keep them on their toes and ask them to read the rhythm pasted below for you! Bonus points to anyone who can guess what song this rhythm is from.
And with that, my lengthy musical update must come to an end! I look forward to writing again in the future!
Best,
Julia
