For national Music in Our Schools this March, Waynesfield-Goshen music and band teacher Dennis Crites decided to do something different to get younger elementary students interested in music: having sixth-graders and junior high band members play for students younger than them at W-G.
Crites said he wants to get the younger grades involved and interested in being in music by having their older peers, who are just a few years ahead of them, play songs on their band instruments.
At W-G, kids can join band in fifth-grade, but Crites wants to get young minds thinking about music early. Since many of the younger students see older students as role models, he thought having them play for each other would help them see music in a different way.
See Friday's print edition for the full story.