The audience eagerly awaited the start of the final PTA sponsored Cultural Arts Assembly.  This was the first cultural arts assembly that the kindergarteners have ever attended and they couldn't wait for it to begin.

In walked Brass Pacifica playing New Orleans jazz!

Ask your child what instruments the musicians in Brass Pacifica played.  The quintet included two trumpets, 

a French horn, a trombone, and

a tuba.  Students were shown how the instruments were similar and how they differed.

The origins of brass instruments was discussed including the use of the conch shell to call people to gather and the Herald's trumpet used to introduce royalty.

Can you identify these?  They include:

Front row, left to right: Shofar, bugle, Herald's trumpet.

Second row, left to right: Bugle, conch shell.

Background: Trumpets, French Horn (on its side), tuba.

Each instrument was discussed and then featured in a solo piece.

All of it was interactive and done with humor.  

Everyone, musicians AND audience had a wonderful time.

To demonstrate how length of tubing affects the sound of a trumpet vs. a tuba, a student volunteer unrolled the length of tubing in a trumpet (a bit more than a yard) 

and then another student headed across the cafeteria to show how much tubing is in a tuba!

One lucky student at each assembly got to conduct Brass Pacifica.  Many hands went up to volunteer.

Here, students show how you should conduct music that has a slow tempo. 

Our maestro was then asked to vary the tempo of the piece to demonstrate how differences in speed affect the mood of the song.

Our Pennekamp students truly enjoyed this terrific performance by world class musicians.

Thank you to Jennifer Boxer and Deslee Mercier for chairing our cultural arts committee and to Karen Haas-Goldberg and Liz Neal, incoming chairs for their assistance.  A huge thank you to  the Pennekamp PTA for sponsoring the cultural arts assemblies at Pennekamp