Polar Express Concert

On Thursday, December 7th, 2017, the FRES chorus put on a winter concert entitled Polar Express.  Students in the 3rd through 5th grade chorus performed songs from the movie including "Rockin' On Top of the World", "Hot Chocolate", and "Believe".  There were also performances by our 4th and 5th grade percussion ensemble and 4th grade recorder ensemble pictured below.  Our art teacher, Ms. Lyn Riggs, created the background for the stage which included a picture of the bell from the movie.    We would like to give a special thanks to the FRES PTA, the FRES custodial staff, the third grade team, Ms. Lyn Riggs, and all of the other staff who worked hard to make the program a success!  We are looking forward to having a wonderful performance for the spring semester.

NC Symphony 2017

In September, the fourth grade students of Forestville went to see the North Carolina symphony perform.  Students heard works by Brahms, Copland, Khachaturian, and other composers.  Below are pictures from the field trip.

2017-2018 Ensemble Auditions

Chorus and percussion ensemble auditions will be held from Tuesday, August 29th, 2017 until Friday, September 8th, 2017.  Auditions will be held from 8:45 a.m. until 9:15 a.m. in the music room.  If you would like to audition for chorus, please prepare one school appropriate song lasting no more than two minutes.  If you would like to audition for percussion ensemble, please prepare to read and play rhythms in 4/4 time involving quarter notes, quarter rests, beamed eighth notes, and beamed sixteenth notes. I am looking forward to having an exciting year with all of our chorus and percussion ensemble members!

Lou Sanders Music Award 2017

Congratulations to Kelton Montague and Genesis Quezada-Lopez on being awarded the Lou Sanders Music Award! This award is given in honor of the late Lucian Sanders, Jr.  Mr. Sanders was the head custodian at Forestville for many years.  He died suddenly in August of 2014 after having a heart attack.  Students who receive the Lou Sanders Music Award show excellence in music and embody the spirit of Mr. Sanders.  Mr. Sanders was known for his comical nature, his love for talking to students and staff, and for supporting the staff in many ways. He was also known for working with a spirit of excellence.  Since there were many different aspects of Mr. Sanders' personality, two students were chosen to receive this reward to show the different facets of his character.

Kelton Montague was the first recipient of the 2017 Lou Sanders Music Award.  Kelton often shared his comedic nature with students and staff by telling funny stories and jokes to his peers and teachers.  Kelton also loved to talk in the same manner that Mr. Sanders did.  He often supported the music program by being willing to move and set-up equipment for rehearsals and performances.  Kelton was a member of the chorus and percussion ensemble.

Genesis Quezada-Lopez was the second recipient of the 2017 Lou Sanders Music Award.  Genesis displayed characteristics of Mr. Sanders' work ethic during the school year.  She always completed assignments in music class with excellence and was willing to support the chorus in any way that she could.  When soloists were absent during rehearsals she would step in as their substitute.  She also served the chorus by singing a solo on the Spring concert and she led the FRES class of 2017 in their class song entitled, "Best Day of My Life" by the American Authors.  Every time that she served as a substitute for her peers or performed with the chorus, she displayed a spirit of excellence in the same manner that Mr. Sanders did.

We congratulate Kelton Montague and Genesis Quezada-Lopez for all of their hard work this year and for carrying on the legacy of Mr. Lucian Sanders, Jr.!

Kelton Montague

Genesis Quezada-Lopez

Kelton and Genesis

Forestville's KYDZ Radio Show

            On Thursday, May 4th, 2017 the Forestville Road Music Department hosted its first KYDZ radio show as the 2017 spring musical production.  Students in our 4th and 5th grade chorus performed popular songs from the radio.  Some of the songs performed at the spring concert were "Best Day of My Life" by the American Authors, "Fight Song" by Rachel Platten, "Roar" by Katy Perry, "Uptown Funk" by Bruno Mars, and "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift.  Our 4th and 5th grade percussion ensemble also performed bucket accompaniments to popular songs like Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". 
           The production included performances by the FRES dance troupe, the Knightdale High School percussion ensemble, and our 4th grade recorder ensemble.  We would like to give a special thanks to Ms. Lyn Riggs for making the KYDZ background for our stage (pictured above), the 4th grade team for supervising students in their rooms on the night of the concert, our custodial staff for setting up equipment for the show, the FRES stage crew, the PTA for selling food at the school's concession stand to provide our guest will refreshments during the show, and the parents and teachers who attended the show.  We would also like to thank every student who participated in the show to make it a success.  We are looking forward to putting on a great show in the fall!

Spring Concert: Thursday, May 4th, 2017

Our spring concert will be held on Thursday, May 4th, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in our school's cafeteria.  There will be performances by our 4th and 5th grade chorus, percussion ensemble, dance troupe, and recorder ensemble.  Food will be sold at our PTA's concession stand.  The event will be kicked off with STEAM night hosted by Mrs. Ringwood. The biannual book fair will also be held throughout the night.  Check out the commercial below for information regarding this event.  We hope to see you there!

Preparing Students for College and Beyond

As an educator, I strive to prepare students to be college and career ready when they graduate from high school. In order to reach this goal, not only do I ensure that my instruction will accomplish this task, but I also seek other opportunities to help youth prepare for life after high school.  As a church musician in the Goldsboro area, I came into contact with a high school student at Eastern Wayne High School by attending a church in the Wayne County area.  Alana Roberson is a 9th grade student at Eastern Wayne and is a member of the drum line in the marching band.  She came to visit Forestville this week during her spring break.  Since she aspires to work in the field of music after graduation, she volunteered to assist me in the classroom with different activities that were performed during our weekly music classes.  In the first picture below, she is holding up rhythmic symbols for third grade students to draw in their specials notebooks in order to assist them in memorizing the symbols. As a percussionist, she also practiced with our percussion ensemble and will be performing with them and members of the Knightdale High School band for our upcoming spring concert which will be held on Thursday, May 4th, 2017.  In the second picture, she can be seen practicing with the percussion ensemble. We hope that Alana experiences great success in the field of music after she graduates!

Stars in East 2017

On Thursday, April 6th, 2017 the 4th and 5th grade chorus at our school performed in the annual Stars in the East talent show at East Wake High School.  They performed an arrangement of Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" by Tom Anderson.  Our soloist was Angelinee Venegas-Mejia, a student in Ms.Smith's 4th grade class.  Angelinee and the members of the chorus did a phenomenal job at the show and encouraged the audience members to fight for their dreams.  Below you can see pictures from the dress rehearsal for the event and from the night of the show.  We are looking forward to performing at the show again next year!

Mimi Herman at Forestville Road

Mimi Herman came to conduct a poetry workshop for our 4th grade students on Monday, April 3rd, 2017.   She did many interactive and fun writing activities with students that increased their excitement about writing.  We are glad that she visited our school and we hope that our 4th graders continue to explore the joy of writing as they continue their education!

Spring Concert 2017

Our spring concert will be held on Thursday, May 4th, 2017 at 7 p.m. in our school's cafeteria.  There will be performances by the Forestville Road chorus, percussion ensemble, 4th grade recorder ensemble, and percussionists from the Knightdale High School band.  We look forward to seeing many of our parents and students there!

Mimi Herman at Forestville Road: 4/3/2017

Mimi Herman will be at Forestville Road on Monday, April 3rd, 2017 to conduct a poetry workshop for our 4th grade students.  The purposes of her workshops are to develop students’ abilities to use the techniques of poetry and to improve writing across the curriculum. She will be working to develop their understanding of imagery, line breaks, and stanza breaks.  They will also learn to use the “writer’s movie camera,” which records images using all five senses. Lastly, she will help students learn to translate personal experience and imagination into the writing of poetry. We are looking forward to having Mimi here at Forestville!

Number Drummer Workshop

Today I attended a Number Drummer workshop at the United Arts Council's office located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina.  Troy Kryzalka provided teachers with many tools to help them use music to teach mathematical concepts related to counting, multiplication, division, addition, money, patterns, skip counting, fractions, probability, ratios, and algebra.  I am looking forward to sharing these strategies with the students of Forestville in the future.

Percussion Ensemble

Students in our 4th and 5th grade percussion ensemble have been working hard to prepare for our upcoming spring concert on Thursday, May 4th, 2017 at 7 p.m.  Members of this ensemble have been practicing bucket accompaniments to arrangements of various popular songs.  Below you can see pictures of students practicing at one of our weekly rehearsals.

4th Grade: Recorders

Our 4th graders have been learning how to play the song "Hot Cross Buns" on recorder in music class. To practice at home, students can watch this video.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Music of the Civil Rights Movement

During these days surrounding the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, students have been learning about music of the American civil rights movement and how spirituals played an influential role in uniting people for the cause of fighting inequality in the United States.  Students in grades K-5 have been singing songs featured in the Spotlight on Music textbook series that are dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contributions to society.  Some of the spirituals that students performed, discussed, and analyzed are "Down By the Riverside", "I'm on My Way", and "We Shall Overcome".  An arrangement of the well-known spiritual, "We Shall Overcome", is featured in the video below.  We hope that everyone at Forestville has a great MLK holiday on the 16th as they celebrate the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.