Swain County Schools K-5 Music Program
Rachael K Lewis
Swain County Schools
Music K-5 Mission Statement
Music has the power to change your child's life. It is an incredibly vital and important part of your child's comprehensive education. Students at East and West participate in music once a week for 1/2 a year. In music class, students discover their creative abilities, build social skills, and develop music foundations that will last them a lifetime. Students explore music by creating and playing music in class, improvisation, understanding history and culture and performing and responding to music. Students have the opportunity to participate in a concert at the end of each semester. The mission statement for the Elementary Music Program is that all students will be prepared to further their interests in music after they leave fifth grade.
Why Music Education?
More Music, More Life!
Music, more than any other activity, has the ability to strengthen and build new areas of the brain. Music inspires creativity and develops every single area of critical thinking. Students who study music are more likely to graduate from high school, and to score higher in both reading and math on the SAT. Reading music and playing music stimulates the entire brain. Singing has been proven to stimulate reading fluency and playing the piano has been scientifically proven to improve math scores. Music is a powerful vehicle for emotional well being and self-expression. Music bonds us to others and helps us understand our culture. Music brings us joy and ultimately, is imperative to our humanity.
Orff Instruments
Carl Orff believed in an educational philosophy of involvement and experience first, with understanding and intellectualizing coming later. By using Orff instruments, which are xylophones with removable bars, all students can participate in quality music making experiences. Students use Orff Instruments to improvise, compose, explore rhythms, and learn to play multi-part Ensemble music. Composing and Improvising are very high-level critical thinking skills requiring students to make choices, refine choices, synergize with others and try new ideas. These instruments are very high quality and expensive and we are always seeking funding to add more xylophones to our program. If you are interested in donating, please contact the school.
Sing
Singing is breathing! Singing gives us good health and creates lasting memories! Singing is good for the brain! Singing teaches us reading skills, vocabulary, pronunciation, culture, and social skills. Our program teaches Kodaly pedagogy. Students learn to sing the notes of the scale using Solfege and hand signs for each musical pitch.
Dulcimers
Recorders
Fourth-grade students learn to play the recorder. This simple wind instrument dates back to the early Rennaissance period. Students learn proper playing technique, breathing, fingering, and how to read music on the treble clef using B A G and E. If you would like to purchase your student a recorder, I suggest www.westmusic.com. They have some really nice ones for under $5.00.
Dulcimers are lots of fun! An Appalachian original, this four-string instrument is really easy to play and super accessible for the beginning music student. Students in grades five have a fifteen-week dulcimer unit in which they learn to play "Hot Cross Buns," "Bile Them Cabbage Down," "Great Big House," "Skip to My Lou", and "Old House, Tear It Down." Students in fifth grade perform on the dulcimers. I love it when students tell that they want a dulcimer for Christmas or their birthday! If you are interested in buying a dulcimer for your child, www.musciansfriend.com has great prices on Applecreek dulcimers, which are great student instruments.
Hand Bells and Boom Whackers
K-2 students make music together with handbells and boom whackers-which are plastic pipes that come in different colors and sizes and are tuned to the major scale. Students are able to use these instruments with color-coded cards to start learning about music theory, rhythm and chord changes at an early age. Students also develop music reading fluency and visual tracking skills by following bell music videos.
Contact Me
I’m here to make sure your students have the best experience in elementary music possible. If you have questions about music class, please don't hesitate to contact me. I use class dojo!
828-488-0939 or 828 488 2119
