Music Class Schedule
Bridlewood students in First through Fifth grade attend Music class once every six school days, and Kindergarteners attend once on a five-day rotation, at the times listed below.  Please note that these times are new this year.

                                                         8:50-9:35 - Fifth Grade
                                                         9:45-10:30 - Third Grade
                                                         10:40-11:25 - Fourth Grade
                                                         12:10-12:55 - Kindergarten
                                                         1:05-1:50 - First G rade
                                                         2:00-2:45 - Second Grade

Music Rule
There is one rule in Music class: Respect "PAYS." Each of the letters of the second word, "PAYS," stands for the thing to which we are to give our respect:     
                             P is for property (taking care of all the "stuff" in the Music room)
                             A is for adults (Mrs. Thomas and any other grownup who may come in.)
                             Y is for yourself (making good choices, doing your best work).
                             S is for other students (taking turns, using your manners, being polite)
Respect PAYS because we can get more accomplished, learn more about music, and have more fun!

Music Grades
The LISD grading scale for Elementary Music is 3, 2, 1, with 3 being the highest. Because several concepts and assignments are assessed, and those grades averaged as in other academic subjects, Bridlewood students may receive a number grade followed by a decimal, such as 2.5 or 1.7. Please address any concerns regarding Music grades directly to Mrs. Thomas (link at the bottom left side of this page).

What is music?
This question is answered below, from the "President's Podium," by Kay Anderson, in TMEC Connections (XXI:1, Fall, 2006), p. 2.

WHAT IS MUSIC?

MUSIC IS A SCIENCE. It is exact, specific, and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor's full score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.

MUSIC IS MATHEMATICAL. It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.

MUSIC IS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. Most of the terms are in Italian, German, of French; and the notation is certainly not English - but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.

MUSIC IS HISTORY. Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and/or racial feelings.

MUSIC IS PHYSICAL EDUCATION. It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, cheeks, and facial muscles in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphramatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sounds the ear hears and the mind interprets.

MUSIC IS ALL THESE THINGS, BUT MOST OF ALL, MUSIC IS ART. It allows human beings to take all these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate: humanism, feelings, emotion, call it what you will.

Music is the thing for which our students long in the very core of their being. It is a means to express the inexpressible. It tells us who we were and what we have become. Without it, much of the flavor of our civilization would be lost.

Contact Mrs. Thomas