On Wednesday, Jan. 18, the MISD fifth grade band students put on a performance for the fifth grade Band Curriculum Night. This band is comprised of all the fifth-grade band students from West Mercer, Island Park, Lakeridge and Northwood Elementary schools.
This is the first time that this band has ever performed together.
“We’ve been working as a band since the beginning of October, but these particular songs we started before the beginning of December.” Band Director David Bentley said.
Because these students are typically just beginning to explore music, the focus is not necessarily on the notes and rhythms themselves, but more on the fundamentals of reading music.
“We really work on the fundamentals of note reading, and rhythmic reading and tone production. The idea being that when they have all those skills they can really begin to read music and interpret on their own.” Bentley said.
They played a total of eight pieces, all from Essential Elements Book 1, a music book that is the basis of most band kids’ knowledge. The selection included many well-known titles, such as: “Au Claire De La Lune”, “London Bridge”, “Mozart Melody”, “Aura Lee”, “When The Saints Go Marching In”, “Old MacDonald Had A Band”, “Ode to Joy”, and lastly, “Hard Rock Blues”.
Hard Rock Blues is a tune that has been played by the fifth-graders for over 20 years. “You gotta like Hard Rock Blues, the little tune that gets everybody’s feet tapping.”
These fifth graders work incredibly hard to make music, and their work has not gone unnoticed.
“The kids are so fun, they are really, really great. They are enthusiastic, they really just work hard and do what you ask them to do, and work hard to get better,” Bentley added.
The work of the fifth-grade band directors is also incredibly impressive. These directors are David Bentley, Parker Bixby, Haley Smith, Torrey Kaminski and Brian Yarkovsky.
The kids are so enthusiastic and you could see that all throughout Wednesday’s performance.
“The kids are so fun, they are really, really great. They are enthusiastic, they really just work hard and do what you ask them to do, and work hard to get better.”
