Welcome Back!

Lower Grade Music - September Newsletter

Dear 58 Families,

Welcome back! I hope you had a fantastic summer and are as excited about the new school year as I am! For those of you new to P.S. 58, my name is Stephen Cedermark, the lower grade music teacher here at P.S. 58. This year, I’m so excited to be working with Pre-K students (in monthly cycles) for the first time, in addition to Kindergarten, First, and Second graders. During the month of September, we’ll be getting to know each other through song and dance and begin to build musical communities within our classrooms while focusing on learning the following musical concepts:

Pre-K
• Identifying individual tones and dynamics
• Identifying dynamic and pitch contrasts
• Understanding improvisation through movement

Kindergarten:
• Identifying individual tones and dynamics
• Identifying dynamic and pitch contrast
• Understanding improvisation through movement
• Understanding call and response through song and movement

First Grade:
• Understanding pitch matching and tuning
• Understanding the relationship between music and visual art
• Beginning to understand the different parts of a song

Second Grade:
• Listening to and identifying multiple instruments in songs
• Identifying musical timbres and the instruments that create them
• Tuning individually and with an ensemble

Throughout the year and within each unit, students will begin to make connections between what music sounds like and what music looks like. An emphasis on developing a foundation in musical literacy will prepare students for our 3-5 strings program, with upper grade music teacher Sarah James. To facilitate this, students in Pre-K through 2 will use the Kodaly syllabic system to identify different musical patterns that will differ in complexity based on their level and prior knowledge. In addition, students will learn the appropriate vocabulary terms associated with note-value and dynamic symbols.

Please visit my blog at www.ps58makesmusic.blogspot.com for regular updates on what is happening in your child’s music class, and feel free to contact me at ps58makesmusic@gmail.com. I’m looking forward to an amazing year with your kids!

Mr. C