VIDEO BELOW: Members of the fifth-grade choir at Logan Elementary during spring 2010 rehearsal and performance
From AAPSNews Service
A group of fifth-graders at Logan Elementary School have tuned up their voices this year, giving them a chance to sing together and consider studying vocal music when they move on to higher grades.
Music teacher Misty Noble started a fifth-grade choir at the school last fall, with about 16 students choosing to take part. They meet once each week for 25 minutes – with students giving up their lunch recess to be involved.
Noble said she floated the idea of the choir when the school year began and started working with the group in November. There are no auditions; any fifth-grader can be involved, she said. Some of the students participate in other community singing groups such as the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale or a local church choir; others have no singing background but want to give it a try.
“I feel it’s an important tool here at this level, to get them excited about middle school so they can continue singing,” she said. “They will have so many choices at middle school.”
Plans call for the choir to sing at the Logan graduation and they also performed at the band, orchestra and vocal school concert on June 1. During a March performance, Noble said she allowed to students to pick their own musical number: They chose Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and performed it with Jackson’s trademark white glove.
Noble said the camaraderie and friendships that have formed are just as important as the teaching of the music. “That’s happening in here,” she said.
Addition of the new choir has excited younger students too, she said. Fourth-graders have already approached her about being part of the choir next year. “Ideally, I would like a choir of about 35,” she said. “I’m hoping it will build next year. It takes a few years for a program to get going.”
