MPS students tour Smith Music. from Morinville News on Vimeo.
by Stephen Dafoe
Morinville Public School Grade 1 students have been learning about music, how music is recorded, and trying their hands at playing a variety of musical instruments. The school has sent five classes to Smith Music over the past two weeks as part of the school’s field trip program.
The last of the trips took place Oct. 27 and students had a chance to sing a couple of songs, have them recorded and played back with special effects, so it sounded like a choir of monsters. But the lesson did not stop there. Students took to the school’s stage to play piano, percussion, and stringed instruments, rotating through four stations, so every student had an opportunity to try each of the types.
MPS Grade 1 teacher Braelan Keeler said she believed the field trips were important to students.
“We’re having a great time exploring our community and the different activities we have in our community,” Keeler said. “We find that Grade 1s don’t have a lot of knowledge about the groups they can belong to in this area, so we like to expand their knowledge of areas they can build on, areas of interest. They sometimes don’t know there is a place they can be musical and explore different instruments and get their hands on different instruments.
For owner Paul Smith, the classroom visits to his business are another opportunity to share his love of music.
“We’re really excited to have students come in and play music instruments and have the experience with their classmates,” Smith said. “We want to be part of a community that lets kids play hockey and soccer and music and karate, all those things so we [the community] can help children find the thing in life they are passionate about.”
Students sing Happy Birthday and have the song recorded for playback.
