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This quarter, 4th Grade Music begins by focusing on the fundamentals of music. These include dynamics, note duration, strong and weak beats, tonal center, vocal timbre, and layered ostinatos. Later in the quarter, students will learn about tempo, syncopated rhythm patterns, note reading, and wind instrument timbres.  

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This quarter, 5th Grade Music will focus on the musical concepts of expression, articulation, and dynamics. In addition, students will learn to read and perform different rhythm patterns in a variety of music, using pitch syllables and hand signs. 
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Michael Wiles is excited to be teaching performing arts at AST for a seventeenth year. Prior to working at AST, he taught music for two years at Taipei American School. He holds a doctorate in education from the University of Durham with an emphasis on creativity education, and a diploma in performance studies from the Royal College of Music, London. His research has been published in Musicae Scientiae, the Journal of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music. He is passionate about teaching, learning, and nurturing students’ artistic talents. Michael lives in Taichung with his wife, Jenny, and looks forward to another amazing year as part of the AST community. 

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