Showcase and Recital Program 2025

[Click here for 3rd Year and Bridge Recital]


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Student Showcase

Friday, April 25, 2025 @ 5:30

Teacher: Ms. Bethany Harris


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1659635080178.pngSound Beginnings

This fun program for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers provides a solid music and preschool foundation to prepare even the youngest students for a lifelong love of music and learning. This semester we had several songs that introduced us to Spanish! Some of our friends are going to share 2 of our songs with you!


Palo Palo & Uno, Dos, Tres

Featuring: Ana Banov, Summer Broadbent, Gwen & Liam Cottle, Naomi Fisher, Thayn Fullmer, Joah Gerdes, Brady Goodin, Natasha Leiva, Jackson Shelton, Miles Taylor


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1st and 2nd Year Showcase


1st_year_header.jpg1st Year Students

Michael Broadbent 
 Nora Dokos 
 Jiya Gerdes 
 Lizzie Knight 
 Sam Knight 
 Logan Lenkersdorfer

2nd_year_header.jpg2nd Year Students

Sterling Beckley 
 Zoe Fisher

Tanner Lenkersdorfer  
 Marilyn Liljegren 
 Stockton Merrill 
 Ezra Mitchell 
 Micah Orton 
 Evie Riggs 
 Ava Shelton 
 Graham Taylor


In keeping with our teaching philosophy, this performance will be full of playing and music but NOT full of talking. So follow along with this program to learn the names of our talented performers and a brief explanation of the musical concepts demonstrated by each song! 


LET’S PLAY MUSIC…………… All Students 

We are learning to hear common cadence pulls in all kinds of music as part of our ear training. We can also read the notation for each cadence on the staff. They can even sound good together! 


PRIMARY CHORDS SONG…. AUTOHARP: Lizzie ♪ TRIANGLES: Jiya

The three chords in this song make up 90% of what we hear in the music we listen to; that’s why we use the primary colors to label them. We have actions to help us remember what each of the chords does.

 

DINOSAUR SONG…………….. TONE BELLS: Nora, Sam 

This song helps us read music on the staff as we follow the steps & skips and play it with our bells; this is preparatory to playing keyboards in 2nd & 3rd year. 


EL GALLO…………….. AUTOHARP: Logan 

This song teaches us to hear harmonic rhythm through the chords.


CAN’T BUG ME CHANT……… 1st Year Students 

We can keep a steady beat, subdivide a beat, identify the music notation for all these rhythms, and ‘sight read’ them in any order you challenge us with. 

 

OLD PAINT……………………… TONE BELLS: Logan ♪ AUTOHARP: Michael 

Once we understand how our primary chords work, we can use them to make music! This song has only one chord – the red chord! We can play broken chords on our bells and play the chords on the autoharp at the same time!


BILL GROGAN’S GOAT……… AUTOHARP: Jiya, Sam ♪ MARACAS: Lizzie, Michael 

This song helps us count 4 beats between each line of the song, whether we tap each beat or just count it in our heads; we’ve learned to read a chord map.


A FROG WENT A-HOPPIN’…. TONE BELLS: Jiya, Lizzie ♪ CLAPPING: Logan, Nora  ♪ STAFF BOARD: Sam

This is an ostinato played in harmony with our singing; we can read these ‘leaps’ on a staff; a leap is anything bigger than a skip. We can hear our frog ‘hopping’ and use our hands to visualize and follow the hopping pattern.


I’VE BEEN TO HARLEM…………….. AUTOHARP: Nora 

Our smart ears can identify and tell the difference between Major (happy) and minor (sad) chords.


DO, RE, MI………………………. TONE BELLS: Michael

Solfege hand signs are over 100 years old and they help with ear training & singing on pitch. This allows young minds to see how notes move around the staff before note reading is possible. 

 

MUSIC ALPHABET……………. 2nd Year Students 

This year, the students have learned all the names of the white keys on the piano! We are well on our way to becoming fine pianists! Listen and you’ll see how smart we’ll get as we sing our music alphabet. 

 

TURTLE SHELLS………………. KEYBOARD: Evie, Graham 

An important skill of reading music is the ability to quickly see the relationship between two notes. This relationship is called an interval, but we like to call our intervals turtle shells! Listen to how well we know our intervals! 


I AM ROBIN HOOD……………. KEYBOARD: Marilyn, Micah, Tanner, Zoe

Playing rhythms correctly can be difficult. We have learned to do this by first feeling the rhythm through full body involvement. Listen for the dotted quarter & eighth note rhythm on the keyboards as we “shoo-oot the arrows!” 


HOW TO SKIP.…………. KEYBOARD: Ava, Sterling, Stockton

We learned this song in First Year to help us recognize skips on the staff. This year we have learned to play skips on the piano. Understanding the differences between steps and skips has helped us as we’ve learned to sight read!  


THE CATERPILLAR SONG……………………. KEYBOARD: Graham, Stockton, Zoe

We can play hands together in “contrary motion” which is where our hands mirror each other. Our finger numbers are the same, but we’re playing different notes on each hand.


HICKORY DICKORY DOCK……………………. KEYBOARD: Evie, Marilyn

We can play hands together in “parallel motion” which is where our hands are playing the same notes, but they aren’t playing with the same finger numbers on each hand.


TINGA LAYO……………………. KEYBOARD: Ava, Sterling, Tanner ♪ MARACAS: Micah

We can change a block chord into a stylized calypso chord to add excitement! We can also add another instrument for a fun accompaniment! 


DON’T PUT YOUR TRASH….. All Students (AND AUDIENCE!) 

Musicianship is much more than just playing the piano. True musicians can hear music in their heads, even several different parts at a time. This song exhibits the children’s developing talent of singing in harmony. 


After a hearty round of applause for these fabulous young musicians, each will be presented a certificate. Then we’ll take pictures!

A special thank you to all the loving parents who are helping their children along this journey. This program wouldn’t be the same without you! 


 LET’S SAY GOODBYE………. All Students (AND AUDIENCE!) We’ll see you next year!


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3rd Year & Bridge Recital

Friday, April 25, 2025 @ 6:15

Teacher: Ms. Bethany Harris


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3rd Year Students

Eva Fisher
Georgia Liljegren
Ethan Porter
McKay Schmidt


Original Compositions

All pieces are composed and performed by the students themselves!

 

Little Parrot…………… Ethan Porter 

“My song is special because I love parrots. If you listen carefully, you will hear a parrot flying.”



The Brook…………… Eva Fisher 

“My song is special because I love it. If you listen carefully, you will hear a sparkling gurgling brook.”



Cooking Noodles…………… Georgia Liljegren 

“My song is special because it makes me feel hungry. If you listen carefully, you will hear water boiling.”



Elephants vs. Hyenas…………… McKay Schmidt 

“My song is special because It makes me feel happy. If you listen carefully, you will hear very low notes and very high notes!”



Bridge Students

Alyssa Harris
Beckett Morrill
Ella Mae Newman
Violet Taylor



Original Compositions

All pieces are composed and performed by the students themselves!

 

Skipping into Spring…………… Ella Mae Newman 

“My song is special because it is about spring. If you listen carefully, you will hear kids skipping.”



A Cold Winter Storm…………… Violet Taylor 

“My song is special because I wrote it. If you listen carefully, you will hear snow falling.”



Stuck in the Desert…………… Alyssa Harris 

“My song is special because I modified my song from last year and I made improvements. If you listen carefully, you will hear sand blowing.”



Ancient Egypt…………… Beckett Morrill 

“My song is special because it’s Egypt-y. If you listen carefully, you will hear the traps.”



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Hey Ho, Nobody Home……………. All Bridge Students 

This song is in the key of e minor and we will play and sing it in a round. Such a tricky song, but this creates some very beautiful harmony!


Simplified “Primary” Songs

All pieces have been simplified by Ms. Bethany utilizing the primary chords!

 

Amazing Grace…………… Ella Mae Newman 



Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing…………… Violet Taylor 



This is the Christ…………… Beckett Morrill 



Gethsemane…………… Alyssa Harris 


After a hearty round of applause for these fabulous young musicians, each will be presented a certificate. Then we’ll take pictures!

A special thank you to all the loving parents who are helping their children along this journey. This program wouldn’t be the same without you!