Music Fundamentals

What a week that we spent to learn about transposition and create our own Body Percussion patterns! We created a 5-part Body Percussion sheet music and everyone participated in the world premier ensemble and took turns to listen and try each part! It was really fun to layer the rhythm too!

Due to the nature that most of our students did not have music learning experience prior to joining the Samueli Academy, to differentiate the three different minor scales, natural, harmonic, and melodic, was difficult. But we are learning!

Our student learned the transposition skills from working on the board in front of everyone and individually on paper. To prepare for the music final, the reviews have begun. This week we focused on the topic of rhythm. One of the students became the teacher for a few minutes to explain to the class how he work on transposition. His direction was precise and clear. That helped a lot of the students to understand how to move the music around on staff lines.

In our spare time, which was very little, we studied the marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, and ocarina. The marimba originated from Africa and traveled with people who moved to other continent. It became the Guatemala's national instrument!

Ocarina is a fun little instrument, originally made with clay all around the world. It comes in different shapes and sizes and materials. Who knew a pumpkin could be an instrument?

If you have any questions about "Music Fundamentals", please send an email to Ms. Lee at KLee@samueliacademy.org.

Who is Ms. Lee? - Click here to read about her.

This page was last modified Friday, 4/25/2025