Welcome to Second Grade!
We're learning to read music!
I am very excited to teach second grade how to read music "just like grown ups!" Students learn to read music much like they learned to read the English language.
1. Listen, listen, listen: Babies listen to us speak English for months before they begin to babble. In music, we listen to a lot of music!
2. Repeat: Babies start cooing and babbling and repeating after us. In music, students "echo" me to develop their vocabulary.
3. Experiment: Babies start saying words (or at least attempt to!) In music, students "improvise" or make up their own music with the new vocabulary.
4. See It: After a LONG time of mastering our language aurally and orally, we teach them the alphabet and phonics. In music, we "echo read" music so they can see it and say it in small, digestible chunks.
5. Independence: Later, students read words. First, "sight words" and later unfamiliar words. In music, we have "sight songs" (or songs they already know) and unfamiliar songs.
6. Writing: After all these YEARS of the human language, they begin to write letters and words by copying and later move on to write independently. In music, they begin by copying music and later move on to writing creatively and independently.