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Next year in the Fair Grove Middle School a new fifth grade band class taught by Middle School and High School Band Teacher Natalie Palomo will be introduced.
Having another year of band will help improve the overall band program. Palomo said, “It will help in a few ways. Having an extra year of middle school band will mean that our incoming freshmen will be more experienced by the time they get to high school, and over time, the overall experience of our high school band will be higher. In addition to this, it allows me more time to work with kids and move at a pace that will ensure success in a detail-oriented manner, which again, will only increase the quality of our band students over time.”
Students will have the option to join the fifth grade band during the spring. Green explained, “Our fourth grade students will be presented information about fifth grade Band in the Spring. Mrs. Palomo and her high school band students will work together to identify the students for next year’s class.”
Starting next year, students will have the opportunity to sign up for a fifth grade band class. Middle School Principal Marc Green said, “Student’s in fifth grade who elect to participate in band will forgo their opportunity to take an Art or Music class.
The class will be structured very similarly to the current sixth grade band, where the main goal is to teach the basis of how to play music. Palomo said, “Beginners start at the very beginning-we go over how to read music, including rhythmic notation and pitch notations, and how to actually play that music on the various instruments. This includes things like assembling the instrument, proper posture and hand placement, embouchure, and tone production. Then we slowly develop all of these together to perform band music.”
The decision to add another band was decided earlier this year. Palomo stated, “To be honest, I just asked this year! I don’t think there’s a specific reason behind the timing, I just decided to ask and it was approved, so it’s happening.”
She added, “I teach fifth grade anyway, and I love teaching band, so I just wanted to give it a shot. I love my fifth graders and they’re often really interested in the instruments in my room, so it seemed like a good idea to just jump in and let them actually try it.”
Green said, “We are really looking forward to starting up the 5th grade Band class. I think it is a great opportunity to get a good number of kids involved at an earlier age.
