MASS PARTICIPATIONStudents from transitional kindergarten (TK) through 5th grade attend Mass every Thursday at the elementary school. Upper elementary students serve as commentators, lectors, cantors, percussionists, greeters, gift bearers, ushers, sacristans and sound engineers at these Masses. The 5th graders also have the opportunity to be altar servers. Each spring, 4th graders interested in becoming altar servers receive training at the elementary school if they would like to serve in this role once they enter 5th grade. From our experience, school Mass participation fosters greater participation in home parishes.

In addition to weekly Masses, the students participate in Masses to commemorate special occasions such as Holy Days, the Crowning of Mary in May, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving and the 5th Grade Graduation Mass. The elementary students also join the LMC middle and high school choir in singing at the annual All-Schools’ Walk For Catholic Education Mass celebrated by the bishop. Furthermore, the elementary students celebrate Catholic Schools Week by serving in various capacities in the Sunday Mass at church, from singing in the choir to doing the readings.

CULTURALLY DIVERSE CURRICULUM Students from preschool through 5th grade attend music classes once a week. During these classes, they engage in various activities from singing hymns and non-religious songs to playing a range of age-appropriate ensembles. The older students also study music theory.

The elementary school students learn to sing in several different languages: English, Spanish, Tagalog (Filipino), Native American, Zulu (South African), Yoruba (Nigerian) and Hebrew, to name a few. In addition to learning to sing these songs, the students are told about their cultural background. The 4th and 5th graders are also exposed to non-western music through their participation in the angklung ensemble comprising tuned bamboo shakers from Indonesia.

MUSIC APPRECIATION & CONCERT ATTENDANCEUpper elementary students attend two symphony orchestra concerts each year, one in the fall by the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and the other, in the winter by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. In order to prepare for these concerts, the students are taught about the composers and the repertoire they will be listening to, which ranges from classical to contemporary music. The students are exposed to orchestral instruments and concert etiquette in music class. This helps them better appreciate the concerts.

ELEMENTARY MUSIC AND LITURGY

Stephanie TanTeacher: Elementary Music & Liturgy Bachelor’s Degree: Mass Communications (Honors), minor: Business Management,Science University of MalaysiaMaster of Arts: Musicology from Science University of MalaysiaPh.D in Musicology/ Ethnomusicology: University of Michigan

CHRISTMAS PROGRAMEvery December, all the elementary students perform in the school’s Christmas program. Two programs are held each Christmas, one for the lower elementary (4-year-old preschool through 1st grade) and the other, for the upper elementary (2nd through 5th grade). In addition to singing Christmas carols, the lower elementary students play instruments including kazoo, boomwhacker, bell and chime ensembles. The upper elementary students perform in bell, xylophone, glockenspiel and angklung ensembles. On occasion, students have also played the piano and violin in these programs. Several soloists perform each year in addition to our group ensembles.

FIFTH GRADE BANDSee additional information on the comprehensive band program that begins in 5th Grade Elementary Band with Joe Jarvie, Band Director.

MUSICAL PARTICIPATION & PERFORMANCES

PERFORMING IN AN OPERAThe older students at the elementary school have the chance to perform with Opera For The Young, a touring opera company from Wisconsin that comes to the school yearly to work with the students. Two months before the performance, the students begin learning the repertoire for the opera they will be performing during their music classes in school. In these classes, they are also introduced to aspects of western opera such as its history, musical terminology and different singing styles. After the workshop with the opera company, the students put on a performance for the whole student body with members of the opera troupe. In 2015, they performed an adaptation of “Beauty and the Beast” by Andre Gretry. In 2016, the performance was Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and this year the students performed an adaptation of Donizetti’s “Elixir of Love.”

CITADEL STRINGSSee information regarding this collaborative opportunity with the Citadel Dance and Music Center for LMCE students.

At the beginning of each school year, the elementary school holds a singing competition, “Fifth Grade’s Got Talent”, in which groups of 5th graders compete against each other. This fun event also requires each group to accompany itself with at least one homemade musical instrument.

SCENE AUCTION PERFORMANCE The elementary students of various grades have also, in the past, been featured performers at the school’s annual SCENE Auction Dinner.

“FIFTH GRADE’S GOT TALENT”