Peters
Township
School District

header address info
424 Bower Hill Road Venetia, PA 15367		Phone: 724.941.6251 Fax: 724.941.0918

Teacher Pages

Bower Hill Music

Physical Education

Sub-Menu

Teacher Pages

Bower Hill Music

Physical Education

Bower Hill Music

Bower Hill Music Room

WELCOME to the virtual presence of Mr. Tupper's music room. At Bower Hill Elementary School, all first, second, and third grade students visit the music room twice a week for instruction from a music specialist. Through this page you can access information about what is taught at each grade level as well as examples of work produced by our students.

Consider using a click to "like" the Peters Township Music Department on Facebook below. Information on music performance opportunities through out the district are available there.

America: Brave and Free for You and Me - Third grade performance

What happens in Mr. Tupper's music class?

"Music class is just singing, right?"

This is the misconception that drives many people's theories of what music class is in an elementary school. Music class is so much more than that! School districts throughout the country have recently started making extreme cuts into funding for arts education. Now more than ever it is essential that all community members understand the value and importance of an excellent education, which must include the arts. This page is an attempt to share some of what happens in my classroom. I believe the arts to be one of the most effective vehicles to help children develop the skills needed to be successful in the 21st century. Computers may automate many administrative jobs. Foreign outsourcing may remove even more manufacturing careers. One career attribute that can't be digitized or outsourced is creativity. A public school elementary music program is taught to all children. It's goal will never be to turn every child into an artist.While not every student will become an artist, the arts can nurture creative outlets and skills that will carry on throughout a lifetime. This page illustrates some of the ways that 21 st C learning skills are taught in my classroom.

Soundrop is an iPad app that has been a helpful tool for fostering creativity in my music classroom. Children are challenged to explore angles and height to create a musical pattern that could inspire music, not just random bouncy sounds. Once a pattern has been established, children are challenged to aurally identify the pitches played. This pattern then becomes an ostinato pattern over which children are given opportunities to improvise. They learn to play within the rhythmic and tempo boundaries created by their Soundrop ostinato. Good melodic ideas are shared and developed between neighbors. The instruments that they play on are Orff instruments, pitched mallet instruments including xylophones and glockenspiels. Children set them up to play a C pentatonic scale. This matches perfectly with the Soundrop app which utilizes the same scale. Education is charged with the need to provide children with the skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century. Reality requires financial decisions that may control the path education finds to achieve that goal. Hopefully this video will help provide tangible evidence that music class isn't just singing. The arts provide an outstanding opportunity to teach learning and innovation skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration and most importantly creativity.

Many thanks to all the Bower Hill students who explored and learned through the creation of this video!