2011-2012/5772 ANNUAL REPORT - The Rashi School

THE JOY OF MUSIC
The music program underwent significant
change this year. Students wrote their own
music, created music videos, and built
musical pieces through representational
blocks. The new program is based in music
theory, analysis, and composition, with
lessons designed to incorporate several
aspects of music education and modes of
learning. With visual, aural, and kinesthetic
approaches to content, the curriculum
enables children to learn from different
perspectives and allows for differentiated
instruction for children at various levels of
musical ability.
From kindergarten children studying the
orchestra and learning about group musicmaking
to fourth graders writing music
using a series of visually-oriented techniques
called iconic composition, Rashi students
embraced the joy of music at new levels.
A highlight of the year was the third grade
opera performance when our students reenacted
the bibilical story of Noah and the
flood, singing in the classic operetta styles
of aria, recitative and ensemble. Students
learned how to connect music to text and
use their voices to tell a story in song.
This summer the music curriculum has been
rewritten, and we look forward to even
more impressive musical experiences in the
coming year.
The ability to create
something musical, hear it,
see it, and be recognized
for the work gives students
confidence in themselves
as musical people. This
experience is one that they
will carry with them into
other aspects of their lives.
– Elissa Johnson-Green,
Music Teacher
Above left: Students created
music compositions through
visual representation using pattern
blocks of different colors
and shapes. They assigned a
musical phrase to each shape,
placed the shapes in patterns,
and played the patterns on an
xylophone as a whole piece.
Center: A scene from the Noah
opera.
Right: A musical theater
production of the Joseph story
within the Grade 4 Siyyum
Bereishit.
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