One of the many things that I am passionate about in music education is the fact that it truly is a universal language. No matter where you are from around the world, they have music of some kind as well as dance and the playing of instruments. Teaching students at Goodrich school about the different cultures of some of their classmates and where their families have come from helps them to understand each others unique differences, but it even more so shows them how similar they all really are. The first two cultures that we are learning about are people from the Phillipines and people from Mexico. We will continue to learn about the many other cultures represented in our school as the year goes on, as well.
The first two videos here show 4th and 5th grade students performing dance steps to a modern Filipino dance called Tinikling. There are three basic steps that the students learned to apply to the different sections of the piece of music we selected to perform them with. They worked so hard to get the steps right and at times they were a bit challenging for them. I am so proud of the work they put in and the end result looked awesome!
The second set of videos here show the 1st and 2nd grade students performing two different Mexican folk dances. Between September 15 and October 15 we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month as a nation and I like to showcase some of the hispanic cultural aspects in my class as well. The first dance, La Raspa, is a fun and energetic dance that the students ask for again, and again. It is catchy and you will have to watch to see their favorite part (they like being a little sassy). The second dance is also from Mexico and was featured on the TV show, America's Got Talent. Los Machetes has a bit more complicated steps so you will see how concentrated they are when performing it! Enjoy!
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