On Wednesday, March 6th, 2024, the Barton Pond Chorus participated in the annual Pieces of Gold showcase. They performed the song "This is Me" from The Greatest Showman. The students had an exciting time participating in the show and enjoying performances from schools across Wake County. We want to thank all Barton Pond staff members, parents, and community members that supported us in this endeavor! Below you can see pictures from the night of the show!
On Thursday, December 14th, 2023 at 6 p.m. we had our annual winter concert at Barton Pond. The chorus performed the musical Flakes by John Higgins and John Jacobson. There were also performances by our school's percussion ensemble and ukulele club. The kindergarteners ended our show by performing some holiday tunes in a grand finale. I want to thank Terri Nicotera, the minister of music at the North Raleigh Presbyterian church, for working with the percussion club this semester to prepare them for our winter concert. Cara Hahn, a former 5th grader at Barton Pond, returned from Pine Hollow Middle School to perform for us on the violin again. She performed movement one of Vivaldi's Concerto in A minor, Op. 3, No. 6 and did a phenomenal job. I want to thank our art teacher, Mrs. Annie Pakes, for creating snowflake necklaces and making a Flakes sign for our performance. I also want to thank Clyde Murray for making the Barton Pond weather report that preceded the show. The video was a creative way to start a musical about snowflakes! The North Raleigh Presbyterian Church hosted a reception for us following the event. We are grateful to them for their hospitality. We had a blast at this event and are looking forward to our spring concert! Above you can see pictures from the event and below you can see the weather report that preceded our concert.
Today the 4th graders at Barton Pond attended the annual 4th grade symphony field trip. Students heard works by Scott Joplin, Amy Beach, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Joseph Brackett, Jr., Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zequinha de Abreu, and Jacques Offenbach. I am looking forward to attending this field trip again next year! Below you can see pictures from the event.
From Saturday, November 4th, 2023 to Tuesday, November 7th, 2023, I attended the 2023 North Carolina Music Educators Conference in Winston-Salem at the Benton Convention Center. I was able to experience some great workshops that focused on ukulele, modern band, recorders, boomwhackers, incorporating fitness into drum instruction, integrating literacy into the music classroom, and music technology. Music educators attending the event also got to participate in an inspiring performance and presentation given by Grammy award-winning educator Mickey Smith, Jr., who is originally from Louisiana, and now resides in Florida. Smith encouraged teachers to keep on teaching and persevering despite challenging circumstances and to encourage their students to do the same. He also told the workshop attendees about his book titled The Adventures of Little Mickey: Keep On Going. The book explains how Smith was not a good musician when he first started playing the saxophone. He kept practicing and eventually became a talented musician. He now teaches middle school band in Florida and won the 2020 Grammy Music Educator Award. His book inspires readers to be relentless in the pursuit of their goals. At the conference, I also had the chance to talk to my middle school band teacher, Mrs. Heidi Sue Iseminger-Ross, who taught me music at East Wake Middle School. She was one of the reasons that I kept on practicing as a percussionist to reach my career goals. I had a phenomenal time at this event and I am looking forward to attending the conference next year! Below you can see pictures from the event and listen to Mickey Smith, Jr.'s book.
On Friday, October 27th, 2023, Barton Pond hosted its 2nd annual Glow Party to celebrate the school reaching its fundraising goal! At the party students danced, played games, received glow in the dark tattoos, and got to sport some really cool glow-in-the-dark accessories like sunglasses, bracelets, and necklaces. Our artistic bullfrogs got a chance to display their glow-in-the-dark artwork created under the direction of Mrs. Annie Pakes, our distinguished art teacher at Barton Pond. The Barton Pond percussion ensemble performed at this event under the direction of our music teacher, Ms. Stephanie Sanders. They played an arrangement of "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Sammy Foster and an arrangement of "Uptown Funk" by Tom Anderson using electric green glow-in-the-dark drumsticks. The percussion ensemble had a great time at this event. The students in this club are looking forward to participating in the event again next year! Below you can see pictures from the glow party.
On Wednesday, March 6th, 2024, the Barton Pond Chorus participated in the annual Pieces of Gold showcase. They performed the song "This...
