Elective courses in the Lake Tahoe Unified School District are a vibrant part of the curriculum. In preparing young minds for a complex world, art and music education teaches collaboration, cooperation, and problem solving skills that will lead students to success in all aspects of life. Students at South Tahoe Middle School have the unique opportunity of participating in the elective wheel where they explore a variety of seven different courses throughout the year, such as robotics and art. Although the elective wheel is not a new program to the middle school, music is in its first year on the 6th grade elective rotation. Music’s addition to the wheel has helped students to discover, appreciate, and value their talents, the talents of others, and the beauty of music. With the new addition of the music course, students have been passionate about learning the ukulele. The ukulele provides an affordable, accessible way for students to learn the fundamentals of music through fun, engaging, performance-based activities. The ukulele class is in need of song books, method books, and replacement strings to keep the music going!
My Project
Our students need music books to learn to read music and play songs on the ukulele! Ukuleles are used in our 6th grade exploratory music class and will be the center of the curriculum. Through this hands-on classroom experience, many of the National Standards for Music Education are covered, including the basics of melody, harmony, rhythm and musical notation within a meaningful context. Many skills are developed that are essential not only for creating music, but in learning other subjects. The skills also build character and responsibility. Approximately 200 students will use the ukulele books this year and for years to come! Students will learn tuning, strumming and rhythm, accompaniment, melody, singing, hand coordination, sight-reading, and many other skills They can see the string becoming shorter in length to create a higher pitch versus the lower open pitch. Students learn about history with the development of the instrument, how it is made, how sound is produced, and what events were occurring at the time. They can learn about the origins of the instrument, its history, and the culture of the music being experienced. Students assist classmates with learning, develop teamwork in playing together, and creativity in making their own songs! They will also learn responsibility through taking care of their instrument, tracking their practice time, and monitoring their progress.
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