Music Time? Let's Rhyme! Empowering Students Through Arts

Funded Apr 4, 2016

"Wow! Somebody bought these for us?!" The students at Vineville Academy of the Arts were thrilled to find even more ways to rattle, ring, click, thump and boom in the music room! Two books by Randy DeLelles and Jeff Kriske, "Tyme for a Rhyme" and "2nd Rhyme Around," both contained nursery rhymes with music for children. By putting rhymes to melodies and accompaniments with Orff instruments (new glockenspiels and bass resonator bars in addition to xylophones we already had), students were able to build vocabulary and fluency skills in reading. Students also learned concepts in music, including form, pitch, timbre, rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics and ensemble while making choices of how to put pieces together to perform.

Students loved performing pieces like "Hey Diddle Diddle" in which they read and sang the lyrics, performed movements, played a bordun (repeated pattern) on xylophones, bass bars and glockenspiels, and added sound effects with drums, maracas and triangles for the A section! They then loved making up their own chants using the instruments and then putting the parts together to make a complete piece of music in ABA form! I wish you could have heard their creations: their vocal meows, barks and moos accompanied by the instruments were precious as the B section! The students were motivated learners actively engaged in making music, which I know will continue in later grades.

Thank you so much for donating funds to make this project possible. The kids loved the instruments and making music with them, and they were very appreciative of your generosity as evidenced by their smiles and laughter!”

With gratitude,

Ms. Parker