Second Grade Composers

It's been exciting to watch the Second Graders develop this year. We've worked on both rhythm and pitch to get ready for reading music. They've just learned their first scale (a 5-note set called the pentatonic scale which is used in many folk melodies—as well as the black keys on the piano). The children can play melodies pretty well on the barred instruments, and they're almost ready to read from a full 5-line staff.

I decided it was time to do some composing, so each section wrote a melody for a poem about clocks that get up and dance (it's part of a story they'll perform for their concert on February 25). All the melodies turned out to be wonderful, so I enlisted the help of 11 judges to decide which one to use for the concert. The one written by Mrs. Lindeman's class won, but it was a close race. It'll be a beautiful addition to the concert!

All four melodies in their rough draft and final forms.