Mr. Ray's
Music Classroom

 

Click on the musical note to learn more about Mr. Ray 

Goal
The overall goal of the music program at Dixie Elementary is to expose our students to many different aspects of music, helping to develop their thinking and reasoning skills in ways that will transfer to other academic areas.  We do this through teaching the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) music objectives that have been set forth by the Texas Education Agency.

The music program at Dixie is built primarily on American folk music.  Each year students expand their repertoire of American folk songs and dances.  In music classes, Mr. Ray uses several folk instruments to accompany children’s singing.  The folk instruments he uses are: guitars, mountain dulcimer, hammer dulcimer, autoharp, banjo, mandolin, dulcijo, and bass.

The mountain dulcimer is an instrument indigenous to the Appalachian Mountains with its origins dating back to the early 1800’s.  Early dulcimers were made from American hardwoods such as walnut, cherry, and chestnut.  Dulcimers are diatonic instruments that usually have either three or four strings.  Sometimes called lap dulcimers, the player holds the instrument in his lap and strums across all the strings using a pick.

All fourth and fifth grade classes enjoy a mountain dulcimer unit in the fall.  At the conclusion of this unit students may audition for a place in one of several mountain dulcimer ensembles.  The fifth grade advanced mountain dulcimer ensemble represents Dixie by performing at various venues throughout the year.  Many of our dulcimer students have gone on to successfully play string instruments in the orchestra programs of middle schools and high schools.

Every spring Dixie hosts the Dixie Dulcimer Festival at Camp Tyler.  The dulcimer festival features workshops taught by nationally known mountain dulcimer teachers.  Average attendance at our festival is over one hundred students coming from a number of schools, including schools from as far away as Houston.  Our festival has been featured in a national dulcimer magazine, “The Dulcimer Player’s News.”  The 2008 festival will be our tenth one.

Students in third through fourth grade also learn some basic skills on the autoharp in a unit taught each spring.  Some other instruments students play in Dixie music classes are: drums from around the world, resonator bells, and hand chimes.  Movement and dance are also regularly incorporated into our music classes.

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