John Ross third-graders say ‘Compose Yourself’

Courtney Bryce
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND March 13, 2008 12:15 pm

— John Ross Elementary students learned about famous composers during the third-grade production of “Compose Yourself.”
“I have done this show before,” said Jason Engelke, music teacher. “I knew the content and I wanted the students to learn more about composers.”
He said students are more likely to remember the composers and the periods of their music if they perform what they have learned instead of learning through class work.
The story began as a group of students visited a museum to do research for their Famous Composer Reports assigned in their music class. The students fall asleep from boredom and soon find themselves surrounded by various composers, including Bach and Beethoven, after statues of the composers come to life.
Madison Bules, a third-grader, played the role of Mozart and said she enjoyed learning about him.
“He did a bunch of neat things in his childhood,” she said. “He wrote a bunch of musicals and he was intelligent.”
Bules said she learned that music was special in the composers’ lives.
Carter Cain, a third-grader, played the role of one of the students.
“He’s the guy that always says ‘Dude’ and stuff,” he said.“He’s kind of the cool guy.”
Cain said his favorite character was Beethoven because he didn’t know the composer was deaf.
Engelke said one of the songs “Can You Hear” highlighted two of Beethoven’s works including, “Moonlight Sonata” and “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”
Each class performed a waltz or other classical dance during the performance. The students also were in charge of the technical aspects of the program. Engelke said a lot of students always sign up for the three positions on the tech crew.
“They’re very enthusiastic,” he said. “They have exhibited a strong sense of theatrical workings.”