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Fourth-graders perform ‘The Season of Joy’

Education

Written by Brian McCauley

Wednesday, 17 December 2008 09:00

Sunflower Elementary fourth-graders entertained their families and friends Dec. 8 while the video cameras rolled and camera flashes lighted up the gym. A colorful red and green backdrop accented “The Season of Joy” program, a collection of songs for younger voices by Teresa and Paul Jennings.

Ashley Levigne, surrounded by fourth-grade classmates, entertains with actions to “Yankee Doodle Santa.” (Photo by Kevin Gray)

Ashley Levigne, surrounded by fourth-grade classmates, entertains with actions to “Yankee Doodle Santa.” (Photo by Kevin Gray)

Music teacher Mary Argeropoulos has used many of the Jennings’ pieces in the past and said she truly appreciated the way they instinctively know how to write for kids voices.

“The Jenningses wrote four of the seven songs and then took other traditional songs and arranged and adapted them to fit the needs of the performers,” she said.

All classes opened the program by singing “Season of Joy!” Linda Irvin’s and Blaire Burke’s classes sang “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” Laura Alderson’s and Pam Wolford’s classes “A Perfect Winter Day,” whereas Erin Kuchar’s and Lisa Cerros classes sang “I Wish.” Irvin’s, Burke’s and Alderson’s classes sang a rousing “Yankee Doodle Santa,” and Wolford’s, Kuchar’s, and Cerros’ classes did the same with “Here We Come A-Caroling.” All classes closed the program with “Peace On Earth.”

Soloists included Peyton Weatherbie, Trey Slyter, Tabitha Foster, Joey Stagner, Jeffrey Hill, Ethan Palsmeier, Marcella Dees, and Tiffany Wolverton.

There is much more to a music program than simply standing before an audience and singing. Students began working on “The Season of Joy” in late September.

Argeropoulos said she first had the students listen to the songs on compact disc, followed by looking at the written music, lyrics, tempos, melodies, and tricky spots.

“Each class had four songs to learn, some in small groups and some in large. Once we learned the songs and the students felt comfortable with them, then we did some solo singing, where each student sang a little section out loud and I gave them written quizzes over each song to evaluate how we were progressing,” she said.

Right before Thanksgiving, hand actions and movements were added to the songs. “From there, we just practiced, practiced, and practiced,” she added.

Argeropoulos explained how the program was used to track and meet the National Standards for Music Education.

“We utilized six of the nine content standard areas,” she said.

Of the six, the fourth grade students accomplished singing alone and with others, reading and notating, listening to, analyzing and describing music, evaluating music and music performances, understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts, and understanding music in relation to history and culture.
Evaluation is the final step in any project and the students are currently evaluating their performance, including discussion and answering questions about what went well and what could have improved.

“The students are doing a great job using their critical eye to evaluate and judge their own performance,” Argeropoulos said. “I thought the kids did a fantastic job performing, and I know they had fun doing the program. It was nice to have such a wonderful product at the end of all their hard work,” she said.

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