Shawnee Elementary School

Music Department

Mr. Avery has a B.S. in Music Education from the University of Dayton and a M.M. in Wind Conducting from Butler University. He has studied conducting with Dr. Timothy Swinehart, Harvey Benstein, and Stanley DeRusha. Mr. Avery has 14 years experience as a high school band director, as well as, adjunct faculty at the University of Dayton. He is also a marching band adjudicator and clinician and a former member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps, from Rosemont, Ill. Mr. Avery has been a music teacher in the Xenia Community Schools since 2000.

Tami Savard has a B.S. in Music Education from Central Michigan University and a M.M. from Wright State University. Ms. Savard has been teaching instrumental music in the Xenia Community Schools since 1992. Prior to coming to Xenia she taught in New Lebanon and Ramstein, Germany.

What's going on in the general music classes at Shawnee?

KG
The students are practicing identifying and moving at slow and fast tempos. They are also working to identify upward and downward musical direction both aurally and in written notation. The students are learning to aurally identify instruments.

1st Grade
The 1st graders are learning beat patterns in sets of two and three. They are also learning to aurally identify instruments from the brass family. The students are practicing aurally identifying same and different phrases.

2nd Grade
The students are learning to identify whole, half, quarter, eighth notes and rest, with the corresponding dotted notes. They are also learning simple time signatures and how that relates to measures. The 2nd graders are able to count rhythms using the above notes and rests.

3rd Grade
The 3rd graders are reviewing pitch names and note duration. They are also singing folk songs from Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii, and France.

4th Grade & 5th Grade
The students are in the final weeks of the recorder karate program. The students are progressing through the nine levels of the program. Currently, Mrs. Germano’s class is ahead in the classroom standing and many students have their purple belts (level 5) and some even having their blue belts (level 6). Students should practicing at least 60 minutes per week at home.