Exploring Music

It's that wonderful time of year again when the orchestral instruments are coming out to play! Over the next three weeks, we're going to learn about the brass, woodwind, and string families. Our children will get to try a variety of instruments from each family during their next couple music classes, and we'll also be learning about some of the science behind how the instruments work.

Why no percussion? If you're one of my families who has come to observe a music class, you know we focus on percussion much of the year through our Orff and African drumming activities. Outside of recorder, however, it's unusual for us to have an opportunity to spend quality time with other instrument families.

Starting next week, be sure to ask your children which special instruments they got to play in music!

Even starting this post saddens me. I'm starting to fear that the Songs Across the School Project may not get completed in the time we have left. Things still in progress include:

• Instrumental Parts. I've had very low response to this, and we may not have enough time left for new people to get on board.
• Solo Recordings. I still have about 20 kids to record, and can only get through 2-3 per day it seems.
• Large Scale Recordings. The equipment for this just arrived.

Couple this with the fact that some equipment is still waiting on around $700 in funding, and I think I'm looking at more than I can accomplish in our time left while still giving the kids a good, well-rounded music education. Needless to say, this is very discouraging at the moment.

Whether or not we finish by May, Songs Across the School will live on. Whatever our structure is next year, I'll be picking up where we left off and continuing the effort. It's a disappointment, to be sure, but I take heart in the fact that we will have sixth-graders here next year, allowing kids who started this project this year to continue the vision.

That said, I'm not giving up on the work that is left. If, by some miracle, we can finish this before May 28, we will. Thanks for your continued support.

I don't usually post personal stuff here, but I feel like I need to share this news with all of you -- especially since it will affect my time in the classroom in April. My wife and I will be delivering our first daughter on April 7, so I will be out the rest of that week and probably the entirety of the next week.

• We will have no Orff rehearsal on Wednesday, April 7. I don't know about rehearsals the next week yet. I may come in just to meet with my Orff musicians on Monday, April 12 and Wednesday, April 14.
• This will also slow down work on our Songs Across the School project.

This is a huge event in our lives, and I hope for your support and understanding even if it does disrupt some things we're doing in the classroom.