In Lily Corathers’ music classroom in early March, students were sounding out the notes to a joyful song.
“Picture yourself, your dreams, like horses on a carousel,” the students sing as Miss Corathers guides them through the notes and lyrics. “A colorful world is spinning and turning around you.”
The group of students in Miss Corathers’ room is small, but their voices are among the thousands of students nationwide who are marking March as national Music in our Schools month, as declared and celebrated by the National Association for Music Education.
The song Miss Corathers is teaching her students is a beautiful melody, but there is more going on than just a pretty tune.
Students who study music are developing their language and reasoning skills, mastering memorization, building character and learning pattern recognition.
Here are some of the ways Herkimer CSD is celebrating Music In Our Schools Month:
March Mania
At Herkimer Elementary, students participate in “March Mania,” where two classical marches go head to head and the students vote on their favorite of the two. March Mania kicked off March 2 and will continue throughout the month. There is a new matchup of marches played by the United States Marine Band every day, resulting in the top Sousa Sixteen, Enlisted Eight, and Fidelis Four until we find out what march students from all over the country, including our own, like best.
American Young Voices
At all levels, our ensembles are working hard to prepare for our upcoming events. One of these events is American Young Voices. Herkimer fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders will be representing HCSD in June at American Young Voices. The song Miss Corathers’ students have been practicing — “Pinwheels” by Francisco Nuñez — is an official MIOSM song for 2020 and will be performed at the American Young Voices concert.
